I was browsing on something or other on YouTube and the ostensibly “related stuff” on the right happened to include a police chase video. It turns out that, wow, YouTube just abounds with them (why are so many of them in southern California?). What’s amazing is how many of them, especially some of the helicopter videos, seem like they’re just straight out of a Hollywood movie. I was really drawn in by the real-life aspect of it. All criticism of policing aside (and there’s a lot to criticize) you have to admire the skill with which many of these officers conduct the chases.
Many of these videos provide a rather dark insight into the nature of depravity in our society – some of these people leading police on a futile chase just cannot possibly be mentally sound. Like this guy. It’s a really long video and not worth watching in its entirety, but you can skip through it. The upshot is that the guy was chased and behaving erratically for hours and eventually his car was blocked in and he was dragged out of it in the presence of a huge SWAT team.
I think that youtube (and the internet, in general) abounds with just about everything, you just weren’t aware of it yet. I’m always amazed when I start some new hobby or go down an obscure internet rabbit hole that something I’ve never really thought about has rather large communities online, you just have to look for them. Welding, marine aquariums, 3D printing, just off the top of my head, all have multiple subreddits, dozens of popular youtube channels , many full blown message boards (as opposed to subreddits) where you can spend all the time you want learning quite a bit.
As for why so many of them are in Southern California. On the assumption that they don’t just have more chases than other areas or different departmental policies that manifests itself in the videos ending up on youtube, my guess is that once you clicked on a few, the tags in the video (which may have included the city or region) meant youtube continued to recommend ones from the same area.
It struck me that the commentary on many of the southern California car chases on KTLA (via their “Skywatch” helicopter) sounded rather humourously like a play-by-play of a sports event. Such, I guess, is the nature of commercial media. But still, I think the actual live coverage is fascinating. Many of the individuals being chased were armed robbery suspects, murder suspects, or carjackers.
What amazes me is these cops can be in a high speed chase driving with one hand while typing on their keyboard with the other hand. Talk about nerves of steel.
Hah! Thanks for that, it was hilarious because it was so true to life. That’s exactly how most of those LA-area chase videos sound!
Still, they’re real, silly airhead commentaries aside. Most of these people are dangerous, and it’s satisfying to see them caught and brought to justice.
Car chases are one of the most dangerous (and expensive) things law enforcement does. Not only to suspects and officers, but to innocent bystanders and private property.
It should not be allowed. Ever.
And those who would giggle like Beavis and Butt-Head over the videos are part of the problem. It’s not a video game. It’s not cool. It’s killing people.
More than 5,000 bystanders and passengers have been killed in police car chases since 1979, and tens of thousands more were injured as officers repeatedly pursued drivers at high speeds and in hazardous conditions, often for minor infractions,
Something compelling about the inevitability of it all. If it were just a perp and one or two cops, a la Dukes of Hazzard, you might have a reasonable chance of evasion and escape, but in a place like LA where they have multiple helicopters in the air 24/7, you have no chance whatsoever.
I never imagined that this little thread could possibly become controversial, but hey, this is the Dope. I guess I should have anticipated it!
I believe your comments are extremely misguided for a number of different reasons. I find the videos inherently interesting mainly for what they say about some of the dangerous idiots in our society and the risks that police take to protect us from them. It does NOT equate to approval or “[giggling] like Beavis and Butt-Head”. If that were true, then every one of us who enjoys watching a crime movie or a thriller – or is interested in a news report about a major crime – is ostensibly guilty of encouraging crime and is “part of the problem”. Or something. I’m not quite sure what your logic is here.
Secondly, as I noted above, most of these perps were suspected of armed robbery, murder, or carjacking, or in other cases, were driving a stolen vehicle in the course of escaping from another crime. I find a great sense of justice and relief in seeing them apprehended. I see no evidence that these pursuits are “often for minor infractions”.
Thirdly, in many cases police departments are prohibited from conducting pursuits when it would be too dangerous. They are rare both in the municipality and in the province where I live, and I occasionally hear on the news that a perp escaped in some vehicle that is described, but that “police did not pursue as it was deemed too dangerous”. I’m fine with that. If other police departments don’t have the same policy, maybe they should. But saying “It should not be allowed. Ever.” is way over the top.
Fourthly, some of the helicopter videos show the perps driving at a very high rate of speed even when NOT being pursued. How often do we hear about stolen cars ending up wrapped around a telephone pole even when there were no police anywhere in sight? In virtually all cases these criminals are dangerous and belong behind bars, and except for prohibiting high-speed chases in built-up residential areas, I’d rather take the risk of giving police the tools they need to apprehend them in preference to letting them get away.
The link in the OP’s post shows a chase that ended with the fugitives car being deliberately run off the road by the cops. With the car upside down and totally destroyed, they now have to stand back with drawn weapons, before dragging the perps out,
Pursuits are inherently dangerous but to say that they should not be allowed ever is a bit too far. Do you propose that he guy who shoots up a school or workplace should just be allowed to go on his merry way?
There are more and more restrictions being put in place on pursuits and that’s probably a good thing. But to ban them completely? I don’t think so.
Not to sidetrack this thread, but there is also a whole thing on “Russian Dashcams” as well, which are also interesting, but in a less adrenaline-infused and less vengeful way.
That’s crap. No one gets in a police chase so they can be famous on youtube. They’re not “influencers.” Chases would happen whether we thought they were cool, or not. Russian drivers will still be horrible whether we watch their dashcams or don’t, and people will still try to beat trains at crossings whether or not there are cameras recording it.
That’s a good point, but it’s pretty rare for a violent crime to be followed by a police chase. The vast majority of such chases aren’t in response to violent incidents—most start with a traffic infraction or a car theft. Crimes like that don’t justify the death toll from police chases.
I’ll quote the relevant portion in case anyone hits the WaPo paywall:
Ninety one percent of high-speed chases are initiated in response to a non-violent crime, according to a fascinating report from the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Institute of Justice. They analyzed nearly 8,000 high-speed chases in the IACP’s database. What they found was that the overwhelming majority of pursuits – 91 percent of them – were not initiated in response to a violent crime. Most – 42 percent – involved a simple traffic infraction. Another 18 percent involved a stolen vehicle. 15 percent involved a suspected drunk driver.
I see so many flaws in the implied argument here. Note the subhead in your link’s onebox: “why cops shouldn’t always chase criminals”. Strawman right there – no one ever said they always should. The objections being raised here are against the claim that they never should.
It also seems to me that the claim that 91% of pursuits in the study didn’t involve violent crime is a bit of cherry-picking. I don’t think a violent crime should be the only justification for a chase. A stolen car, for instance, is no small matter. Stolen cars can be serious risks to public safety; they may also be a means for those committing serious crimes to try to evade capture, or they may be the work of organized gangs working on a large scale and either exporting the stolen cars or operating chop shops. In one of the helicopter-based videos I was watching, the perp crashed the car he was driving; he then walked out into traffic, yanked open the door of a car waiting at the light, pulled the woman driver out into the street, and drove off in her car. I don’t remember what he was originally suspected of, but this act alone – which some might technically still consider “non-violent” – is not the act of someone I’d want to have loose in the community.
On the matter of pursuits for a mere traffic infraction, to the extent that those happen in some jurisdictions, it tells me that those jurisdictions and/or state or provincial laws need to be updated to prevent them. If you check out the link to the Ontario regulations I posted earlier, such pursuits are basically not allowed here. Police cannot pursue a vehicle in the case of a non-criminal offense once the vehicle or driver has been identified (e.g.- license plate observed). Police also cannot pursue anyone if one could reasonably conclude that it isn’t safe to do so. They also cannot pursue, or must terminate pursuit, if ordered to do so by any communications or road supervisor, even if such supervisor is from a different police force. There is a chain of accountability that imposes strict restrictions, and that’s as it should be. At the same time, police should be able to do their jobs in a way that best serves the overall interests of public safety.
