Should police end high speed chases?

[easjer]

This question has come up a few times around here (Houston, I mean) because of the several chases we've had.

The current policy is one of non-interference, but tracking until they can corner the guy, he gives himself up or spectacularly crashes, I guess. The only endings I've seen are ones where they are able to block the suspect off with cars or the suspect crashes.

You may remember one of these chases which made national news - the suspect began speeding the wrong direction one a one way entrance ramp, hitting a car containing a 6 month old baby, baby's mother and baby's grandmother (driving). Fortunately no one was injured, but it was sheer luck only. You may recall footage of the mother jumping out of the car and whaling on the suspect.

A cop mouthed off to cameras that the police should be doing their job to stop the high speed chases, and that innocent people shouldn't be put in danger. The officer was put on administrative duties, suspended, reinstated, ordered to pay a fine and the case is now in arbitration.

Shortly thereafter, in Houston again, a high speed chase ended in a crash that killed a mother and her 4 year old son.

However, police officers have been killed or seriously injured while attempting to interfere/stop a high speed chase.

What should they do? Try to stop the guy (which can result in harm to innocent folks if a cruiser spins out or something goes wrong) or go with the hang back and track him method (which can result in harm to innocent folks if the suspect loses control of the vehicle, etc).

[Cant_Be_Faded]

I think the policy's good, cuz interfereing like shooting out the person's tires could result in more harm than good.

[CharlieMac]

Absoluetly. Especially in cases where it's just a stolen car.

[pache100]

I have truly mixed feelings about this.

If they run, 9 times out of 10, there's a reason...and not usually a good one. We can't just let them go, because if we set a precedent of that, we will have anarchy and mass chaos. Everyone will know that they can do anything they want, get into a car, take off like a bat out of hell, and nobody will do a damned thing to them, they can just get away scott free, no matter what they've done. As long as they get in a car.

On the other hand, these high speed chases do put a lot of innocent lives in danger. It makes the crooks take chances they would not ordinarily take. It makes them drag people into their drama that they would not ordinarily give a second glance.

I think the answer is to keep them under surveilance via the choppers (police, news, private, any at hand) or whatever means is available. But, by no means should they chase them in high traffic business areas or residential areas. Use whatever means they can to stop them the moment they are safely away from heavy traffic. Either sniper (not just anybody, a marksman) shooting tires, or spike strips, whatever.

But, we cannot just let them go scott free.

[TheTruth]

Tough one. Cops would have a hard go of it deciding if they are/aren't putting anyone elses lives in danger. Too many things can happen.

[CosmicCowboy]

When the cops finally catch him they should wait till the TV cameras get there and then go Rodney King on him. Just stomp the crap out of his sorry ass. He was the one that made the decision to put everyones lives at risk by running. Then the city should give them all medals instead of suspending them and prosecuting the cops.

[DieMrBond]

In Australia, only specially trained drivers are allowed to enter into a chase. BUT, they must also back down after a certain speed limit - and just let them go.

BUT, they usually lay spikes down on the road, to pop the tyres and that usually stops the cars. Nice, simple - and usually only the driver gets hurt :)

We also don't really have many car chases go on here tho... and when we do, its usually some 16-18 year old drunk thinking they were in a much faster car than they were, and that they are much better drive than they are/were.

[Guru of Nothing]

How about very long, mandatory sentences, for starters.

[ZStomp]

For every police car chase you hear about, 10-15 others were canceled.

I mean, here in San Antonio, it's rare to have one. Supervisors in charge usually cancel them because too much is at stake.

So.......9 out of 10 times its a no go. 9 out of 10 times they are being chased for something minor......

who knows....i say go for it if the suspect allegedly did something horrific. if not, let 'em go. not worth it.

[King]

I heard about some new technology where they shoot a dart that sticks to the car, and it has GPS in it. From there, they just track the suspect. I'd say they should perfect that.

As far as now, chase long enough (within reason) to get aerial support.

[Pandaemonaeon]

That's the policy? I talked to a highway patrol officer (who told me a lot of interesting things about cop work and other quirks) based in Arkansas and he said that they use spike strips to get the job done. That, and 90% of the time they're bound to make a mistake.