Less than 10% of the high-speed pursuits carried out in 2016-17 were in relation to criminal activity, which means police are risking the lives of the public as they try and apprehend people over traffic offences, stolen vehicles and failing to pull over for random breath testing.
According to Samatha Lee:
“The continued reliance on lethal pursuits by NSW police is both unjustified and out-of-step with best practice. Even if police were to apply a cost and benefit analysis to the situation, the costs would outweigh the benefits hands down.”
Ms Lee says the costs include personal injury and death, as well as “the huge emotional toll such pursuits have on the community and police.”
RLC is currently preparing a detailed report on high-speed police pursuits, to be released in late October.
Read the full article here (Paul Gregoire, Sydney Criminal Lawyers, 4 October 2018).
