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Bold new plan for police pursuits:
Constable Peter McAulay, 24, was hit early [on the morning of Sept. 27] after setting up road spikes to try and stop two teenagers in an allegedly stolen vehicle. A 16-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl have been charged with attempted murder after Constable McAulay was rushed to Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital with serious head injuries and broken bones and fractures.
After the horrific crash, Queensland Police Union President Ian Leavers is calling for remote vehicle immobilisers to become mandatory in new cars.
"I started in 2012. I have written to three successive prime ministers but it is now time for action, bipartisan support. With remote engine immobilisers there will never be a need for a police pursuit," Mr Leavers told Today. "The primary situation is to protect lives and property. It can improve safety. It is a great thing. It is a no-brainer. We need to change the Australian design regulation. Within five to 10 years there will never be another police pursuit. We will be able to disable any stolen car at any point in time and ensure safety. It is commonsense."
The proposed engine immobilisers wouldn't just be able to stop a car in its tracks, police would also be able to track vehicles through GPS.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @08:45AM (1 child)
This has to be the most sensible answer. Don't chase cars/bikes. Tag them, identify them, and track them. They have to stop somewhere, sometime.
By all means, fence them in, form a net around them, but understand that they can and will stop eventually.
Do we have the tech yet to tag a car at speed to track it?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 04 2018, @03:00PM
We once were moving in that direction. Between about 1998, and 2001, there were some highly publicized incidents, in which innocents were killed during police chases. There was talk about stopping police chases. Or, high speed chases. Sure, chase down the car doing 60 in a 40 mph zone. It's just some dumbass who needs a reminder. But, that 100 mph chase through a school zone? Every_single_son_of_a_bitch involved in that chase needs to see the inside of a prison. Suspect, cops, and anyone else controlling one of those vehicles.
The talk never got very far, but it was slowly gaining momentum. It seemed that maybe in another five to ten years, high speed chases might end. Some smaller towns had already enacted policies against high speed chases.
Then, that raghead had a bunch of fruitloops drive airliners into the WTC and the Pentagon. And, that was the end of that.
As of 9/12/01, things were back to "normal", with testosterone and adrenaline making all the chase decisions. Rationality went back out the window.