# High-speed car chases

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-speed-car-chases/218292>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 11, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-speed-car-chases/218292 "2003-12-11T05:47:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![boofy\_bloke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@boofy\_bloke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boofy_bloke)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-speed-car-chases/218292/1 "2003-12-11T05:47:24Z")

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When someone steals a car and goes on a high-speed rampage through the city, why is it that so many cops chase after them? Is it because more cars are needed to catch the crim/s or is it because the cops like going fast?

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**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-speed-car-chases/218292/2 "2003-12-11T07:06:22Z")

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It’s nothing to do with cops liking speed. I’ve yet to meet a police officer who has been in a high speed chase who enjoyed the experience. I was in a pursuit once for only about 3 minutes. It was on I-94 near (what was then) County Stadium. We hit speeds of only about 80mph, which isn’t all that fast for a freeway, but when you’re chasing someone it’s light speed!  
But I wasn’t driving the squad car. Which contributed to the fact that I was shitting bricks. I had no control of the situation.

What happens on any call, regardless of what it is, officers who aren’t busy respond. This why sometimes you get 5 squad cars showing up to a barking dog complaint. It’s the supervisor (or senior officer’s) job to call out “enough help on the scene”.  
During a pursuit you never know how much help you’re going to need. And patrol officers get sucked into calls like this like a vaccum. In 20 seconds you can have half the department chasing the same vehicle. It all happens fast. Really fast.  
But if you see 5 squads chasing a car theres a good chance that there would have been 10 chasing had a supervisor not told them to break off.

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**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-speed-car-chases/218292/3 "2003-12-11T17:54:35Z")

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Perps driving at high speeds to elude police are _highly dangerous_. They are risking the lives of other people. It’s like someone randomly going around firing a machine gun. The chances someone is going to get killed is high. So the perps have to be stopped _now_. The more police, the sooner it might stop.

(Which is why police don’t do much during a slow speed chase. The threat is far less and by not hassling the driver, they might prevent it from becoming a high speed chase.)