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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: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @02:14PM (2 children)
Only to find out the license plate was stolen from another car.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 04 2018, @08:08PM (1 child)
Fun fact, that is why you are supposed to blur the license plate when you put pictures online of vehicles. Apparently, there are criminal organizations that slurp up pictures of cars from their state. They then use those photos to put fake license plates on their vehicle that copy the ones online that match the make, model and color of the car. At a glance, you cannot tell the difference.
I actually wonder what it would be like to have someone copy your plate like that and then get in a chase. There you are, motoring along then BAM! kill switch. If people think there is an outrage at chases before, just wait for that to happen.
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Saturday October 06 2018, @05:33AM
That's one of the reasons I thought it was stupid when my state went from embossing the letters and numbers on their license plates to having them completely flat. Faking a plate with the embossing can be done but isn't trivial. Faking a flat license plate is a lot easier.
Supposedly the embossing makes it harder for cameras to OCR the plates which is why it was done.