Innocent people will continue to die until the police stop recklessly pursuing fleeing vehicles, says the car review
website dogandlemon.com.
Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an outspoken road safety campaigner, describes the latest Independent Police Conduct Authority report on a fatal police chase as “a wakeup call to the authorities”.
“In this latest pursuit, the Police chased a car through seven red lights at speeds of up to 137kmh before the offender
smashed into another car, killing an innocent driver. Yet the police knew who the offender was and knew his address. The
police could simply have abandoned the chase and arrested the offender the next morning."
The Independent Police Conduct Association (IPCA) investigation into the crash concluded that the officers should not
have started the pursuit, and there were “multiple occasions” when it should have been abandoned.
Matthew-Wilson points out that the FBI’s experts disagree with the current New Zealand police policy.
The science is quite clear: if you want to halt the flood of deaths during police pursuits, then restrict police
pursuits to genuine emergencies.”
"Most fatal pursuits start from a relatively minor violation and quickly escalate into a major catastrophe. The FBI has made it perfectly clear that many police chases are not necessary and that such pursuits place the public at considerable risk."
Matthew-Wilson believes New Zealand needs to follow the example of several Australian states and ban police chases
except in extreme emergencies.
Between 2005 and 2008, Queensland suffered 10 deaths in police pursuits, including 13-year-old Caitlin Hanrick, who died during a pursuit outside her school.
Since Queensland police stopped chasing criminals for minor violations, there have been no deaths during pursuits.
Queensland Assistant Commissioner Mike Keating was quoted as saying that the police quietly track down offenders “after
the emotion and the euphoria of the time has settled down”.
In 2019, the New Zealand Children's Commissioner, Judge Andrew Becroft, also called for police to no longer pursue vehicles in which young people are, or may be reasonably thought to be, travelling, after the driver fails to stop.
"This is particularly driven by the brain development science relating to young people, the number of fatalities
resulting from police pursuits in New Zealand and the persuasive evidence from Queensland."
Matthew-Wilson says it's wrong to assume that police are letting offenders 'get away with it' by avoiding a police
pursuit. According to the FBI:
"research has shown that if the police refrain from chasing all offenders or terminate their pursuits, no significant
increase in the number of suspects who flee would occur."
Matthew-Wilson adds that its pointless expecting teenagers to think logically.
"The simple fact is: the part of the brain that allows an adult to make rational decisions doesn't form properly until
the early twenties. That's why teenagers tend to make impulsive decisions that often end badly. Given that teenagers
aren't going to stop and think, it's up to the cops to stop and think, instead of letting adrenaline rule their
decisionmaking process."
Matthew-Wilson says there will always be a need for police pursuits, but these should be restricted to genuine
emergencies.
"If, say, someone is being murdered, obviously the police need to take immediate action. However, FBI studies have shown
that it's often better for the police to pull back and let the offender think he's got away, then quietly move in later.
This minimises the risk to the police, the public and also the dickhead who's trying to outrun the police."