Police probe damns car chase tactics
21 December 2003
By DEIDRE MUSSEN
Police officers often launch high-speed chases without telling their bosses for fear of being told to abandon pursuit. And some ignore commands to pull out, while others join pursuits without permission.
These are some of the revelations contained in a damning internal report on high-speed chases.
The draft report, obtained by the Sunday Star-Times, calls for an urgent overhaul of policies and comes at the end of the blackest year in police pursuit history with 10 people killed to date - four of them this week.This year's tally is the worst since records began 24 years ago.
The move has pleased families grieving the deaths of their loved ones in police chases.
"Pursuits: Time to Change", written by a high-powered review team, said current rules and policies on pursuits were a confusing "mish mash".
It was unclear who controlled pursuits, abandoning them was misunderstood, rules were contradictory and exceeding speed limit policies were inconsistent, it said.
"In light of that, the present confusion cannot be allowed to continue a minute longer," it said.
One constant theme ran though its 115 pages, it said: "Something must be done about police pursuits in New Zealand and done now. That something ought to be both decisive and in many respects radical. Simply tinkering about at the edges will not do."
It said the 1996 Gibson review of police pursuits had been largely left to gather dust. "The earlier chapters in this report paint a sorry picture. Lost opportunities and lack of decision have led to muddle. At best this is awkward and difficult to explain away. But much more importantly it can have severe legal consequences. Further, it does nothing to prevent injury or death, which can and sometimes do follow from police pursuits," the report said.
It also called for an urgent introduction of police driver training for staff.
The report was tabled to police bosses the day before Thursday's horrific triple fatality, which happened seconds after a brief police chase was abandoned in Auckland. On Friday, a man drowned when the car he was driving plunged into the Tauranga Harbour several minutes after police lost him during their inner city chase.
Widespread concerns over fatal police chases prompted police deputy commissioner (operations) Steve Long to commission the review in July. "I think it's time for change as the report says. We have got to be brutally honest with ourselves whether things are working or whether they aren't working. We have to almost shake ourselves and say 'For goodness sake, let's sort this out'," Long said yesterday.
Grieving Blenheim dad Mike Devine agreed. His son, Jeffrey, 17, was killed in October when he crashed his car into a truck while fleeing pursuing police on SH 1 between Blenheim and Picton.
Devine said police told him they thought his son looked like he was speeding but had not clocked him on radar. They chased him for 5.5km at speeds up to 140kph before the crash.
"Jeff did wrong and he should've stopped but we think the end result was because of police chasing him.
"Why didn't they just leave him and speak to him later? They had his number. They're happy to ring an old lady who has been burgled and say they'll see her in a few days but they want to chase young guys who might just be going a bit fast."
Northland architect Bryon Burgess supported the proposed changes, which he learned about last week in a meeting with Long. His daughter, Erin, 18, was killed when a speeding motorcyclist being chased by police crashed into her car south of Whangarei in May. Motorcyclist Kuran Brunton also died.
"We still believe police should be able to pursue but there has to be guidelines and anything that is going to make them better must be a good thing. But at the end of the day, it will come down to whether the cops in the cars obey orders."
Last week Northland coroner Max Atkins called for big changes to police pursuit policy in light of the double fatality. He criticised police for poor communication because a second patrol car joined the chase after the first car was told to abandon it. The chase spanned 29 kilometres and reached 205km/h in speed.
North Shore-Waitakere-Rodney district commander Superintendent Roger Carson led the review team of six senior road policing staff. Four other police staff helped, with a reference group of 13 police group representatives and 12 other experts, who included former Formula One car racer Chris Amon, former Police Complaints Authority Sir John Jeffries, the Automobile Association's George Fairbairn and Transit New Zealand network operations manager Dave Bates.
While the final report would be completed next month, Long said district commanders were asked on Thursday to urgently tell all police officers that they must abandon a pursuit and pull over if ordered to by the communication centre. It would also be reiterated that the communication centre was in control of a chase.
Training would urgently begin for officers on assessing risks before starting a pursuit. Officers and controllers would also get training on chase scenarios.
"I think what we have to do is to encourage our officers to see the big picture - public safety and enforcement of the law," Long said.
He predicted fewer pursuits as police became more selective in starting them.
In another urgent step, fulltime police driving trainers would be employed early next year for each of the 12 police districts to assess and improve officers' skills for urgent duty driving.
And a trial would begin in Auckland next month with more than 60 patrol cars getting locator beacons installed, linked to a global positioning system in the communication centre to show the cars' location and speed.
Long admitted there was anecdotal evidence that some police officers were not following pursuit rules, such as failing to abandon a chase despite being ordered to.
However, he stressed that police pursuits were very rare because most people pulled over when asked.
According to the report, one car out of every 4000 cars signalled to stop, was pursued in the year to July 1 - 884 motorists out of 3.5 million.
"The majority of the pursuits are handled professionally and handled well," Long said.
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