[quote]JD430 wrote:
Gregus wrote:
JD430 wrote:
Gregus wrote:
I think Police chases should be Illegal in 99% of cases. They are chasing idiots and are usually being chased by idiot EGOTISTICAL cops who have just as much of a narrow tunnel vision as the perpetrator. The result? Civilian deaths.
Of course never mind the fact that actual Police work could have the person caught a few hours later through investigation. Police chases KILL alot of civilians for BULLSHIT. In California a whole culture has evolved around chases. It’s stupid.
Alot of you will change your tune if God forbid someone you know gets run over by a cop chasing a criminal, and the criminal was a guy who ren because of driving while suspended or some BS. Yeah, worth a life over keeping up the infallible Police image. Get a life.
Bottom line, Chases should be Illegal. Some forward “thinking” Departments have policies against chasing.
Well, I’ll put aside your short-sighted, anti-police bias and address the crux of what you are saying as I generally agree with you. As an aside though, I doubt you have much experience in high-stress, tactical or any law enforcement situations in general as you simply chalk up tunnel vision and the willingness to do one’s job to being an “egotistical idiot”.
I can speak from 1st hand experience about police chases, so maybe some of you may find this useful.
New Jersey has a fairly strict pursuit policy although it is not always adhered to. Police are generally not allowed to pursue for most motor vehicle infractions and even most minor criminal offenses. We are also strongly cautioned to weigh road conditions and the possibility of later capturing a suspect before initiating a pursuit. A supervisor can terminate a pursuit at any time and my experience is that they often do so very quickly. Also, it is against state guidelines to critique or discipline an officer for refusing to begin a pursuit. I think we do a lot of things wrong in New Jersey, but our pursuit policy should probably be a model for the nation.
Don’t take any of the above to mean police can’t pursue for more serious crimes here. We do and I have personally been involved in chases(never came close to enjoying one either and I know no one who has…they are very harrowing). Criminals should never have the enticement to run that a strict no-pursuit policy would bring. However, our guidelines are set up to discourage pursuits except in serious circumstances.
Speaking from experience, I believe this is the most prudent way to handle business. There are too many factors at work that make chases tremendously dangerous. They include the ever growing amounts of population and traffic density, little to no real training in pursuit driving and stress management and maybe most importantly, the fact that we don’t have a reliable method to bring fleeing motor vehicles to a halt safely(at least not yet). In fact, I don’t know if it is even possible to train most cops up to the level where high speed pursuit and evasion driving is not a severe hazard. It would probably take hundreds of hours when all things are considered and cost a hell of a lot of money.
Bottom line, sometimes they are necessary but there are probably way too many pursuits taking place across the country and most states would be wise to at least consider adopting the more cautious guidelines that New Jersey has in place.
When you;re dealing with Criminals, policies are meaningless to them. Policies or no policies, they type of individual that will run, WILL RUN. Im a Police family member. I know the story, especially in NJ.
I know how cops pursue someone and call it in like they are supposed to. I know how they will lie about their speed to keep the supervisor from calling it off. Personal EGO’s take over all the time with cops. I would say 75% of cops have no business being cops. They are degenerate losers with the highest divorce and suicide rates for a reason. Very introverted, egotistical and difficult insecure people.
But a few maybe like yourself are the good apples.
Being a family member of a cop means very little. I have a family member that is a very accomplished doctor but I have no real understanding of 99% of his profession involves.
As for the rest of your post, I’m sorry you feel that way. Perhaps you should reconsider such broad stereotyping. [/quote]
Dude i sit there like a therapist and listen to all the crap that goes down behind the blue wall. So i’d say im “probably” pretty well versed. Ofcourse there are differences in departments and such. The politics and paperwork alone are a quagmire.
I have to say though, your attitude about this is and has always been positive. I find no fault with your profession, or you, in fact i feel it’s under appreciated.
However, most cops are losers and this is coming from cops. So whenever i run into a professional officer that’s a good person and does not make a lifestyle of having a badge, i usually make good friends or acquaintances.
The nicest most professional cops i met, the ones with some self realization and sentience were educated officers with 4 years of college or more. Also there is changing of the guard in alot of places. A lot of the old times are getting replaced by a younger more positive and less embittered drinking old timers.
