Hard to say. On the one hand, it’s hard to justify taking a risk of causing serious injury to enforce a missing license plate. OTOH, by banning car chases for such offences, you would esentially be giving carte blanche for scofflaws to ignore the cops when being pulled over.
It’s almost analogous to a wartime predicament, with the violator using the innocent public as a sort of human shield.
Of course, if it is possible to get hold of the guy some other way (e.g. through his license plate #), I think it’s a no-brainer.
They can also track them by helicopter, remember, with little risk to the polulace. Cops can follow at a safe distance, and then be directed by the 'copter if the guy bails out.
Yeah! I’ve always wondered why the cops in cars don’t just back off once the chopper has the suspects spotted. The perps would think they had gotten away and slow down and then it would be easier for the cops in cars to orchestrate an ambush.
I understand that a “no-chase” policy would make criminals more prone to running, but once the chopper or choppers have em in their sites, I think cops need to take a step back and re-evaluate the need for high speed chase.
And needless to say, when there is no helicopter unit available, the cops on the ground need to pursue in most situations.
As an aside, in my little one horse town we had a young police officer who wrecked two police cars in the space of two weeks. He was practicing high speed chases. We fired him.
I would assume - perhaps mistakenly - that most people who were just going to receive, say, a speeding ticket would be less likely to flee than someone who had a warrant out for his arrest. Anyone have stats on these? The report says that 60% of the initiators of chases are for minor offenses, but it seems ambiguous as to whether or not more serious violations are found once the suspects are caught. It would seem that 100% of these people would be guilty of fleeing the police, at least, which is much more serious than a busted taillight.
I can potentially see the logic in not wanting to pursue minor offenders, but I think that would just encourage people to flee. Heck, just don’t use a license plate. If a cop flashes his lights, run - there’s no way to catch you. And of course I think Susanann’s assertion that the cops should never chase anyone is ludicrous. “Wait, he’s only raped nine women and robbed several stores. That’s not ‘homicidal’ enough, so we’ll have to let him go. Maybe he’ll give himself up, though.”
I was told it is not allowed to change what someone else has said on these message boards.
Can I ask you just “what specific crimes”, are serious enough, for police to chase, if it was YOUR daughter that got killed by a police chase?
Everyone can answer.
When can police chase someone, if it is your daughter, your husband, your wife, your mother, that inadvertenly gets killed. Which crimes that caused the persuit, would you feel that it was ok?
Isn’t the real problem FOX TV and their “World’s Scariest Police Chases”? I bet a lot of the ready-to-chase attitude is the result of cops wanting to get on TV. Has the frequency of high speed chase increased since that show went on the air?
How much money do the cops who show up on that show get for their appearances? What about their police departments?
However, you are free to think it is ludicrous for letting a robber go free (for the moment), and saying it is ok for your child or mother to die in a police chase.
EVERYONE!!!, EVERY innocent person killed in a police chase, is SOMEONES’s daughter, son, mother, or father.
To specifically respond to your rather, what I think is an “extreme” example(just how many police chases are following “known” criminals who raped 9 women and robbed several stores???),
My answer is : No,
I would not want MY child dead to attempt to catch any rapist.
But that is just me. Rape is a horrible crime, but not worth “MY” own childs life. Even if the rapist is caught, the average sentence for convicted rapists is only 73 months in jail(USA Today, page 1, October 24, 2001) I would not want my child dead just so a certain, convicted rapist, could be in prison for only 73 months.
Furthermore, in my circle of women friends, we all carry guns, so rape is not an issue we have to personally deal with.
The average time severed in prison, if caught, if convicted, for murder is 96 months, manslaughter 49 months, robbery 48 months(USA Today, page 1, October 24, 2001). Are those short months, that he would be punished, “if” caught AND “if” convicted, Is that worth YOUR child to be dead in a police chase?
How are you gonna feel when the guy they chased for manslaughter is paroled in 49 months, and your child is still dead?
How many other mothers here think it is “ludicrous” ? for YOUR child to continue to live, instead of potentially punishing a robber for 48 months in todays prisons with color tv, gym time, etc?
MGibson, that is also probably a contributing factor.
I’ve long held that COPS and its progeny are a negative development in television. It says something about the health of our society that shows depicting other people making asses out of themselves in real life (as opposed to fictionally) are so popular.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think running from the cops is a fairly good indicator that you’ve done something really wrong. And IMHO, if you engage in a high speed evasion, you are a dangerous individual you have put the public at great risk. Let’s not forget that the cops did not instigate the chase. I think it is always reasonable to capture a fleeing suspect. We shouldn’t be blaming the cops, but blaming the criminals.
As for the ‘just let the choppers follow them’ argument, I think it’s flawed. You’d be hard-pressed to identify anyone from that height, even with photos. Seems to me that all a suspect would have to do is drive to a mall or a subway, abandon the vehicle, and get lost in the crowd. And in any department, there are heck of lot more cars than helicopters
And for Susanann, what if the suspect had just abducted your child? You’d be OK with the police chase then, right? Or just car-jacked your hubby and still has him in the car? Or if it’s a couple of gangbangers out drive-bye shooting at random individuals?
IMO, running from the cops should be a felony and carry a 5 year mandatory sentence.
I have a question for those who oppose chases due to the possibility of innocent lives being lost:
Why is your outrage over the possibility of innocents being mowed down directed at the police? Why wouldn’t you place that hostility at the criminal who initiated the chase? If someone has such disregard for human life that they would put in danger the life of the police and any innocent bystander that may come along, do we really want them out on the streets any longer than is necessary? Are we paying our law enforcement to actually stop the bad guys, or to merely intimidate them in the hopes of turning themselves in? If you can agree that it’s the criminal that is to blame, then why handicap our law enforcement agents to make up for it?
Yes. I already said a rapist, who would only spend an average of 73 months in jail, is not worth taking an innocent childs life. Even if the guy was caught at the time of the police chase, most rapists do it again( they dont get rehabilitated) when they get out after 73 months. The only effective way to stop rapists from ever raping again is to shoot them - that ends it for good.
Yes, I do. FYI, dead criminals commit no crimes. I personally, have no fear of dead criminals.
First of all, because nearly all criminals, do not kill people.
Most police chases are not going after kidnappers with his abductee in the car. Even if the abductee was in the car, I dont think a high speed chase is very safe either.
Secondly, because the punishment “if” they catch the criminal, “if” they try the criminal for the crime he committed(not very likely with all the plea barganing that goes on) and “if” they convict the criminal, is not very much - the average sentence for convicted rapists is only 73 months in jail(USA Today, page 1, October 24, 2001) The average time severed in prison, if caught, if convicted, for murder is 96 months, manslaughter 49 months, robbery 48 months(USA Today, page 1, October 24, 2001).
No one here yet has answered the question of which crimes everyone thinks would justify their own daughters life being lost.
Is everyone afraid to answer?
Quit being theoretical, and tell us which crimes you think a police chase is justified if it meant that YOUR own son or daughter was killed in the police chase!
Stop the chases as much as is prudent or under some sort of guide line. Don’t tell the bad guys or the good guys, just go about crime fighting.
Don’t the police use as many ways to catch people as is legal and that they have the man power and money to do so with?
Are we willing to FUND the police to the point that they do not have to chase because there are enough helicopters to cover the cities areas and crime frequency?
I have been hit by lightning twice in my life already. Who do you all suggest I complain to about the unfairness of that?
