The bar has been raised for police officers when in pursuit of a fleeing driver.
Nearly 80 people have died on New Zealand roads as a result of a police chase, but those close to the issue say a recent policy revision could save lives.
“Is it better to pursue and catch an offender but risk them having a serious accident and possibly killing a member of the public? Or is it better to step down and wait til you can find the offender later?” the Police Association’s Chris Cahill said.
Police are now making the pursuit policy clearer for officers, with Assistant Commissioner Sandra Venables calling the move “a tweak, small change” designed to “make sure that every road user is safe”.
The rewording now says a chase is only justified when the risk posed by those in the vehicle before a pursuit is higher than the risk of harm caused by them speeding away.
“If someone was participating in an armed robbery, we would still pursue,” Cahill said.
He said under the revised policy, officers would pursue a vehicle if those inside were participating in an armed robbery, for example, but would not if it was involving a stolen vehicle.
It comes after a review into fleeing drivers last year found while police policy was sound, it was not always being used consistently or as it should be by officers.
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft called the move “courageous”.
“This is a good first step and with the holiday season approaching, I think it will save lives,” he said.
Becroft’s office has pushed hard for change.
“Especially from the perspective of children and young people, so many of the pursuits are for relatively minor matters to begin with. It's the thrill of the chase that takes over,” he explained.
Venables said every time an officer chooses not to pursue a driver, a “robust” investigation into those involved will be carried out “so that there is still an opportunity for us to apprehend the driver who chooses not to respond to us".
However, there are concerns suspects are not owning up to their mistakes.
“We think the consequence of not stopping needs to be more serious than the offence the person was already committing,” Cahill said.
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