Police pursing fleeing cars is an essential practise to bring an end to unjust offences and protect the general public. The New Zealand pursuit policy takes place when a driver who has been signalled to stop by police fail to and try to escape apprehension, so police take action to detain the offender (Policepolicy 2010 pg 5).
This is a complex argument as police pursuits are viewed as a danger to citizens involved, causing injury or death. But fatalities are a direct result of drivers’ conducts toward the police and pursuit policy; which is continuously being amended for police to perform efficiently.
(C-Arg1)Research shows that New Zealand has seen an increase of deaths related to this issue. The role of policing on the road is at conlfict with the publics’ safety interests, police continuting lethal force chase policy despite repeat requests from the IPCA to be reassessed. (Policepolicy 2010 p 34). Statistics are rising and have confirmed between 2000 and 2008, 38% were seriously injured and 17% were killed due to the pursuit ending in a crash (Plowman, 2010).
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Those who argue to stop police pursuits, draw attention to the agency of police. This attitude is negated as recorded pursuits in 2009 has seen 28% of those that have been abandoned, which is high from 2008, which was 26% (policepolicy 2010 p 22). The policy and the restrictions put in place, equip officers to deal professionally and safely with a pursuit, indicating these percentages are likely to rise as the policy is
Marques, O. (2013, October 7). Police Operations [Lecture]. SSCI 1000 Introduction to Criminal Justice. University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Retrieved November 18, 2013
Imagine being a police officer doing your daily routine job. You are in a patrol car on the highway, watching the cars and trucks drive by. You are also looking for speeders to warn them to be more careful and maybe you’ll ticket them. It has been a very boring day for you, since you have only been called on your radio once, and it was for an accident (fender bender). Almost at the end of your shift, a blue car drives by going ninety miles an hour, but you know the speed limit is only fifty-five miles an hour. You pull the patrol car out of the gravel area that you had been sitting in and you start to follow the car. You put your lights on and catch up to them. After a few minutes you pull the person over. You get out of the car and start walking over towards the blue car. You are right about to talk to the driver and he drives off, leaving nothing but dust in your face. Now, the adrenaline is pumping in your body, but what should you do? You could call for backup or follow the blue car. Anything could happen. How far should you actually go? This is the question that will be answered in this paper. I will explain what police pursuit is and some different things officers do during a pursuit. I will also give some statistics about the fatalities that have happened in a police pursuit. I will also illustrate my opinion about how far police pursuits should go.
Dangers on roadways is an issue that describes the discrepancy between perception and reality of road rage. The media, for some odd reason, tends to make road rage a huge controversial issue. As seen on talk shows from Oprah Winfrey to CNN, they reveal to people that road rage could happen at any time and to always be looking over your shoulder. These talk shows and news programs also put fear into our minds by explaining that most roadragers often use guns to kill or injure their victims. Glassner contradicts the media's speculations by stating that out of approximately 250,000 people killed on roadways between 1990-1997, AAA attributed that one in one thousand was an act of road rage (pg.5).
Quinton, P., Bland, N., Miller, Joel (2000) Paper 130: Police stops, Decision-Making, and Practice. London: Home Office
In today’s day and age there are so many excuses for distracted driving. Lives are put at risk every time a distracted motorist is on the road, and deaths have increased by a substantial amount in the last ten years. On Thursday, April 26th, 2014 one woman’s bad judgement cost her life (Hastings, 1). Not only was she effected, but her friends and family assuredly felt a pain in their hearts. In the few seconds it took Courtney Ann Sanford to post a few words on Facebook, it was enough to distract her from the road and to drive across another lane and through a median straight into a Truck (Hastings, 1). She was immediately killed. Shortly before her Facebook post, she was sending selfies to her friends (Hastings, 3). This just goes to show
When a motorist expresses offense over the actions of an aggressive driver, the situation can escalate to acts of road
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
Apart from the apparent accident, victims may fear that the first crime will reoccur in the future. The fear, confusion, and hatred affecting accident victims, coupled with inaction by the judicial system may provoke others to also engage in drunk driving. Sometimes, the defense attorneys front a rationale that the suspect has mental issues and thus their actions cannot be counted on them because of psychological impairment (Karjalainen, Lintonen, Joukamaa, & Lillsunde, 2013). The dismissal of cases of cognitive dissonance increases the chance of the offenders repeating the action. Furthermore, even the courts know and classify these individuals as mentally ill patients in need of treatment and management of their
Each year numerous lives are lost due to careless and irrational driving. The disregard for safe driving has been a predicament to Queensland for years. For many years? police have relied heavily on speed cameras, breathe testing and heavy fines as a deterrent against unlawful drivers. Over the years fatality rates have increased, so Queensland Transport has composed a series of safe driving campaigns. On many occasions the transport department informs and advises the public about the importance of responsible driving. They propagate safe driving through the various channels of the media. Their safe driving campaign is now using effective propaganda aimed directly at speeding; drink driving and tired and reckless driving
No one can deny that driving drink has caused traffic deaths and injuries. Drunk driving is one of the most frequently committed crimes in the United States, killing someone approximately every 48 minutes. Drunk driving is “A time when humans willingly enter cages of glass and steel that move in such great numbers at such terrific speed, that subtle turn of the steering wheel can easily result in death” (Thomas). What possesses a person to get ...
It is a myth to believe that an officers job is spend fighting dangerous crimes, in reality officers spend more time handing smaller cases. For example, police officers spend a lot of time doing daily tasks such as giving speeding tickets and being mediators in disputes (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Handing out speeding tickers and handling minor disputes are far from fighting crime. Police officers spend more time doing preventive measures (Kappeler & Potter, 2005). Preventive measures involve officers intervening to prevent further altercations. Victor Kappeler and Gary Potter discussed the myth of crime fighting as invalid and misleading notions of an officer’s employment.
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes. Officers are faced with many threatening situations everyday forcing them to make split second decisions and to expect the worst and hope for the best. Police officers are given the power to take any citizens rights away and even their lives. With that kind of power comes responsibility, that’s one major concern with the amount of discretion officers have is when to use force or when to use lethal force. The use of excessive force may or not be a large predicament but should be viewed by both the police and the community.
With the introduction of the automobile in the early 1900s, laws have been instituted to protect drivers on the road. With these laws come lawbreakers who put their agenda in front of the well being of others. Tens of thousands of lives have been lost. billions of dollars have been spent, and pollution has grown exponentially because of this. drivers travelling at high speeds on roads (Hartman).
There has been a heated debate over the last few years whether police chases are worth the risk of public safety to catch a fleeing criminal. Each year these hot pursuits end in the arrest of thousands of criminals wanted for a wide array of crimes. At the same time it can cause injury and some times even death.
“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status, or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we all believe that we are above-average drivers” -Dave Barry, comedian. The number of accidents over the last ten years have drastically increased, drivers are paying less attention to the road itself. Many individuals behind the wheel of a car believe that their driving does not affect the road conditions, however it always will. The driving habits of today are catastrophic due to the reasoning that the driving will affect other lives through reckless or distracted driving, and disobeying traffic laws.