8 years ago
5
The Case for Banning High-Speed Police Chases
On the evening of January 22, 2002, somewhere in the suburbs of Chico, California, 15-year-old Kristie Priano loaded into the back of the family minivan with her brother and parents. An honor roll student and high school basketball standout, she was to start in a game that night. Around the same time, across town, another teenage girl had just stolen her mother’s Toyota Rav4 to go for a joy ride. Informed of the theft, the local police dispatched several...
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What is the best alternate to high speed chases? Obviously things like spike strips do work but only if you know exactly where the person is going so in a big city that definitely wouldn't work. Also obviously the more you chase someone the more they are going to try to run.
In the article they talk about what I think is the best option, essentially a Batman style toy: a GPS tracker that can be fired at a car. I'm not sure the model they describe is the best option, but helicopter + fireable GPS tracker seems like about as good of an alternative as you're going to get.
On the other end of the spectrum, a lot of the surveillance "stuff" like the Stingray trackers could also help with this.
The spikes are still very dangerous though. You have to be very precise with them timing wise, or else it'll hit innocent cars, or the car being chased might see it coming and evade it. Additionally, if they see the cop ahead of them and they have enough control of their car, they can swerve to hit the cop. That's the main downfall I've heard with these, anyway.
I won't add these to the Related Links as they aren't region related, but still subject related:
16 Nov 2012 - Offenders taunt officers with Qld's 'no pursuit' policy
6 Feb 2015 - NSW Police criticise Queensland's no-pursuit policy after high-speed chase
10 Feb 2015 - Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart defends police chase policy
22 May 2015 - Queensland police pursuit policy should be reviewed: Opposition and union
I'm curious what percentage of car chases involve suspects of nonviolent crimes. If its true that 1 in 3 car chases end in a collision involving a third party, I'd hope that the percentage is low. Unfortunately I suspect my cynicism will be validated yet again.