Every police chase is a danger to innocent people’s lives. Some chases are necessary, but a broken taillight is not worth that risk.
Every police chase is a danger to innocent people’s lives. Some chases are necessary, but a broken taillight is not worth that risk.
Absolutely. I’d go so far as to say that the vast majority of police chases are unnecessary.
To a lot of cops, the occasional high-speed chase is one of the job’s best perks, right up there with beating people up.
Yeah, media portrayals and other cops keep attracting adrenaline junkies and people who want to control other people to the job and that’s two of the absolute WORST traits a cop could ever have.
I went to school for law enforcement and changed my mind after realizing it wasn’t for me but I had a professor who said people get into policing for 1 of 3 reasons:
It seemed at the time like he could tell the 3rd group was shrinking.
If you know that a light is broken you have a number plate which means that you can just send a ticket to the owner. At least that’s how it works here in Germany. If the owner didn’t drive then they’re welcome to tell police who drove, unless they reported the car as stolen they’re on the hook.
Oh and German police don’t chase pretty much ever and definitely not on the Autobahn. That’s what helicopters are for.
That’s how it is here in Denmark too. As usual, us Nordics do it the common sense way while US cops are pretty much as idiotic as they’re malicious, making them doubly dangerous to themselves and especially others.
Not saying that German and Danish cops don’t have their ACAB moments, mind you, but they ARE less awful (in part due to more and better training) and our systems constrain them much more effectively than the insane pro-cop US one.
I’m just imagining German police choppers fitted with big ol’ electromagnets, snatching suspects off the Autobahn and lifting them into the air.
It’s actually why police deaths have gone down a bunch recently. It’s also why they die more by felonious assaults now than anything else.
Most police departments don’t chase unless the person they’re chasing has done something felonious like robbery, threaten to harm, etc.
In almost any town you’ll see people bitching about them not pulling people over anymore because a good chunk of people WANT them to do this still. It surprises me every time.
https://leb.fbi.gov/bulletin-highlights/additional-highlights/crime-data-law-enforcement-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty-statistics-for-2021
https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/dallas/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-statistics-for-law-enforcement-officers-assaulted-and-killed-in-the-line-of-duty
Let the typical traffic stops run. LET THEM. Radios operate at the speed of light. Cars do not.
(I’ll admit I did get away once. 1987, 16-yo, Tulsa OK, smack in the middle of the city. I was speeding like hell, cop was stuck in traffic, other lane. He lit up, I lit down and dodged into an industrial park. Still can’t believe that worked. Probably get SWAT after me today.)
Are you comparing police chases to enforcing traffic laws? One may lead to the other but you can’t just stop enforcing laws because some people run. Also, if they do run I suspect they’ll just get a ticket in the mail or the cops show up at their house. I know some people drive unregistered and uninsured but that’s an even smaller portion still.