Ahh, but there is the rub Sans. The real problem is that fleeing and eluding is not punished severely enough. If the crime is minor and the person chooses to flee, it should be a 20 year felony NOT a 6 month misdemeanor.
At least Michigan enhanced penalties if a collision occurs, if there are injuries and if someone dies. Each level increases the penalty.
The biggest problem is that at the moment, the person is not thinking rationally. So how do you enforce laws on irrational people?
The biggest problem with a NO pursuit policy is that you will allow people who generally think rationally to consider fleeing instead of facing a ticket. You can see some of this rational thinking on the Tru TV,etc, of pursuits when the bad guys try to cause a traffic accident so that the pursuing officers cease the pursuit.
This is a conundrum for sure. I hold that the officers have to be held responsible for their driving but not the bad guys driving. If officers bust red lights at 60mph and cause a crash, it should be their butt on the line.
To hold the officer or the agency responsible for the bad guys’ driving is wrong.
Intersting story. One night an officer observed a minor traffic accident at an intersection. As he was waiting for the light to change, the at fault vehicle fled. He pursued. I joined in and at one point the bad guy was moving well over 120mph in a 40mph city street. We broke off. I recognized the description of the vehicle and went to his house and waited (I never got close enough myself to see the vehicle). After an hour, I went to the station and in he walks. After talking with him he said that he never looked back once the chase started. After we broke pursuit, we continued to travel at 100mph plus for over 15 miles until he ran out of gas. He drove county and city streets in this manner.
There are agencies who have been sued for NOT pursuing, for continuing to pursue, for breaking off pursuits once they start. It is a no win situation. The best we can due to hold the individuals responsible for their actions.
At least Michigan enhanced penalties if a collision occurs, if there are injuries and if someone dies. Each level increases the penalty.
The biggest problem is that at the moment, the person is not thinking rationally. So how do you enforce laws on irrational people?
I would say the police should initiate the chase. If it gets to the 100 mph level, they should break it off. The trouble is that most states/cities do not have enhanced penalties for perps who start chases. It particularly bothers me if the perp is being chased for a slap-on-the-wrist crime. I really don't care if they add vehicular manslaughter to the list of crimes if innocent people die or are hurt in the chase. It would be like indiscriminately taking shots at a thief in a crowded mall. As long as we have an open-door policy with criminals it is pointless to risk civilian lives to apprehend them.
If I received a call that my wife had been killed in a car wreck because she was T-boned by a perp eluding police after a fender bender, I'd probably kill the cop who was chasing the perp myself.
Then they'd have to chase me.