Police who pursued a car with five young people in it, aged 13 to 15, and allowed a police dog to bite one of the them, have been found to have mishandled the incident, according to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
On September 22, 2017 a stolen Toyota was located by several license plate recognition sites in Auckland's Clevedon area. The day before the five teenagers - all male - were involved in an aggravated robbery where they approached a van and forced the female driver out of her vehicle, threatened and physically assaulted her, before stealing and fleeing in her vehicle, police say in a statement.
After spotting the stolen car, police deployed a helicopter to track the car and a NorthComms shift manager, who was responsible for controlling pursuits, authorised the use of road spikes even though police had not signalled the car to stop.
The Toyota’s driving became erratic after the first failed spiking attempt, and shortly after its rear-left tyre was successfully spiked.
The shift commander directed officers not to engage in a pursuit, however the Authority said at least two police cars followed close behind it, then a pursuit commenced when one of those car's flashing lights and siren were turned on. The Authority found that at no stage did police follow the correct procedure for the commencement of the pursuit.
The driver of the Toyota then drove up the Takanini off-ramp and continued to drive on the wrong side of the Southern Motorway into heavy oncoming traffic for about nine kilometres.
After the Toyota left the motorway at East Tamaki Road, the shift commander authorised the use of a “moving block” - a tactic used for stopping a fleeing driver’s car which was not included in police policy and officers were not trained to use it.
The Authority said officers attempted and failed in the manoeuvre, then one officer nudged the Toyota with his car to prevent the Toyota re-entering the motorway - which also failed.
Soon after, despite the shift commander directing the pursuit to be be abandoned, officers continued to pursue the Toyota at speed. The Toyota then came to a stop and one officer’s car hit the driver as he attempted to flee on foot.
Authority Chair, Judge Colin Doherty said police should not have conducted a pursuit as a police helicopter was already tracking the fleeing car and could have continued to do so to assist in apprehending the five.
"Engaging in a vehicle pursuit so late on a Friday morning (about 11am), when there was substantial traffic on the roads, placed members of the public, police and the young people in the stolen car at unnecessary and ongoing risk," Mr Doerty said.
"Police failed to formulate a suitable plan; the number of cars involved in the incident and the tactics employed were inappropriate and only served to increase the risk to everyone."
The Authority also found that the shift commander failed in his command and control responsibilities, creating an "atmosphere of confusion" which was "a significant contributing factor in the poor tactical decisions made by other officers involved in the incident".
A police dog handler used his dog to help with the arrest of two of the young people. One suffered injuries resulting in his hospitalisation, and the Authority found that the use of the dog was an excessive use of force.
However, police disagreed with the findings that excessive force was used by the dog handler.
Tamaki Makaurau Deployment Manager Acting Superintendent Dave Glossop said police acknowledged there were elements of the pursuit which could have been managed better, including better communication from the Incident Controller.
But he said the dog handler believed the offender was carrying a weapon and he feared for his and his dog's safety.
"We have noted the IPCA’s comments and have taken this feedback on board for the future," Mr Glossop said.
"Ultimately in pursuits it is the offenders who choose not to stop for police and in doing so put themselves, police staff and members of the community at risk. In this case, the offenders were driving on the wrong side of the motorway.
"It is through sheer-luck that innocent members of our community were not seriously injured."
Police had communicated the lessons learnt from the incident to staff involved, he said.
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