Police pursuits Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Police pursuits - Essay Example e inability to control pursuits resulting in problems to the public have become a common phenomena and it is high time that clearcut tactics, legislation and policies are formulated and executed in this regard. The question is whether the police pursuits add to public security or public misery. The moral question is whether the benefits derived from a successful chase would compensate for the concomitant risk to public health and safety. Lack of applicable standards to decide whether the police pursuit was for the right cause or to prove that the police officers have not shown any neglect of duty of care is the major drawback related to police pursuits. The policy pursuits very often result in liabilities for accidents, or litigation for injury to personal and property. Viola king in this regard remarks that â€Å"...officer liability in police pursuits arises only when the police vehicle actually impacts the other vehicles.† (King, Viola.) Thus, it is clear that the police do not have to take the liability for any accidents which are not directly caused due to their pursuits. But the officers have to be judicious enough to decide and employ high speed chases only when it is necessary. If the police ask a speeding car to stop and it doesn’t, it is well within the officer’s jurisdiction to pursue it. The high rate of crashes, injuries and deaths during police pursuits has not set a positive note for the department from the public. In a survey conducted by John Hill, it was found that, by and large, the public did not want to be passerby during high speed pursuits. Although 58 % of them felt that it was morally right for the officer to stop a speeding vehicle, and if the vehicle did not stop, it was well within their right to chase it. But when the question came as to whether the officer was justified in hot pursuit if it involved danger to public health and safety, the proportion who justified police pursu it, dropped from over 58 % to just 29%. (Karen, J.