Should The Police Engage In High Speed Car Chases In Urban Areas When This Can Be The Consequence?

[sandyRoe]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/girl-dies-police-pursuit-crash-013537065.html#dEDu1tA

[albaqwerty]

No doubt there will be a full enquiry.
If villains didn't exist, then this sort of thing wouldn't happen.
However, they do, and there will probably be tragic consequences :-(

[ChillDoubt]

IMHO they have to. Criminals can't operate with impunity. If they set a precedent, all criminals will drive at speed when the Police are involved, knowing they have carte blanche to drive however they wish and evade capture.

Yes it's tragic the young girl has died. Make far more severe penalties for this sort of crime, not 300 hours community service or 3 years incarceration, serving only 18 months because of 'good behaviour'.

[sandyRoe]

It true we don't know the full circumstances. But it's also likely that they were only 'joyriders' who were being chased. The police need to be proportionate in their response.

[baza]

no such thing as joy riding, it's theft.

[douglas9401]

"Only" joyriders Sandy? Maybe youngsters out for a laugh shouldn't have their fun spoiled.

[ChillDoubt]

Hate the term 'joyrider'. Stealing someone else's property, thrashing it for all it's worth causing untold damage and invariably setting fire to the car(in some cases) whilst endangering the lives of the public and increasing everyone's insurance premiums is hardly joyful.

Severe sentencing for me, draconian even.

[jno]

it isn't theft, it's twoccing. If my car were taken I'd like police to try to get it back, but not at the cost of any innocent party's life.

[sandyRoe]

When I said 'joyriding' I meant it was unlikely that they were chasing a gang of armed robbers or terrorists.

[albaqwerty]

Mr Alba had his van stolen, full of work gear, he was self-employed, joyriders stole it and set it ablaze.
Nothing joyful at all.
The guy was caught and asked for another 7 cases to be taken into consideration.
I know what I'd like to consider him for...

[albaqwerty]

They might not be 'terrorists' but they still have the same effect, ruining peoples lives.

[ChillDoubt]

Unlikely, but who knows? When someone is hell bent on evading capture, they often take extreme measures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srJV88D9VeM

[Mick-Talbot]

Therefore hardly any car thieves should ever be chased and punished , Sandy?

[sandyRoe]

If it's going to cost, or even endanger, the life of an innocent child in order to catch and punish the offender, then no.

[ChillDoubt]

Blame for this is placed squarely on the car driver who chose to endanger life and limb with their criminal actions.
The Police did what we ask of them.

[Barmaid]

The trouble is, the police are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

I understand that they have to keep the safety of continuing with a chase constantly under review and have to cease the chase if they consider it too dangerous to continue. Whether they considered it was safe and decided to continue; whether they had air support to help with that decision; whether they didn't consider it we do not know at this stage (although the onboard recording equipment should help clarify those points).

It was a tragic accident which will no doubt be investigated and an inquest into the young lady's death held. However, whatever the outcome a decision to cease police chases in urban areas is not the right one. Although potentially some review of the guidelines on when to continue such cases may be appropriate.

[Mick-Talbot]

You think joyriders only kill people when being chased by police, sandy?

[woofgang]

so it was the thief who it the car, not the police. What we cant know is what would have happened if they hadn't been chased by police.

[beegeebee]

My question would be; were the Police involved in the pursuit trained to do that sort of thing? Was it simplyy the local 'Panda' style car or, was it a highly trained Police 1 driver? Howeve the relevance is a crime was committed and the perpetrator should be brought to justice but, the only downside then is, 'justice' seems extremely lacking in providing that which the public would appreciate.

[Eve]

There are protocols in place for police to pull back if it appears to more dangerous to continue the pursuit, if a helicopter is up and they can pull back etc...

Trouble is, if criminals know that police cannot continue a high speed chase in certain areas then that is where they will head for, probably still driving recklessly to avoid being picked up on cameras of if a police helicopter is scrambled.

[Stargazer]

I narrowly escaped death by a head on collision with a police car which was overtaking on a bend which had a hatched area in the centre of the road that is not supposed to be entered. It was overtaking a line of vehicles on a curve where it was unable to see the oncoming traffic. I was fortunately driving quite close to the verge and going at about 40 mph when in a split second my life was in the balance. The police car just managed to shoot through the gap between my car and the line of cars it was overtaking. This was in the countryside and there was certainly no reason for this crazy stunt driving. I thought about compaining as the station from which it had come was only about six miles further on but I realised that I would probably pay for my criticsm of said police in some other way when the opportunity arose. I think that power goes to their head sometimes and they enjoy the adrenalin rush in the chase. I do not believe that this is true of all police drivers by the way.