Accidents Resulting from Police High Speed Pursuits and Responses to Emergency Calls - Research Paper Example

?Running head: Accidents Resulting from Police High Speed Pursuits and Responses to Emergency Calls Introduction Following theincrease in the number of police high speed pursuits and responses to emergency calls, the occurrence of accidents caused by the vehicles involved is on the rise. This calls for the need to review the police response policies to safeguard the public and the police officers while the latter are responding to emergencies. Driver training has been implemented in previous policy changes. Response policies have also been reviewed in the past but there is still a need to look into them one more time to reduce the rising accident cases. Whenever the police are on a high speed chase, they break all the traffic rules. They do not stop at stop signs, they are free to drive on the opposite lanes, and even when they ram into civilian vehicles, they do not stop to ensure the safety of the victims. High speed chases are among the top reasons of accidents in the highways. Despite the actual intention to capture the law breakers, the police violate their response policies by being too inconsiderate and putting the lives of others at risk. The suspects only use the high speeds while trying to escape from the police. Persistence of the police to keep up with the deadly speed only adds fuel to the fire, and not only does it place the lives of other motorists and pedestrians at risk but also threatens the lives of the police and the suspects. Emergency response services provided by the police also fall in the same category of road hazards. While the police are on an emergency response mission, they break all the rules of traffic, endangering the lives of innocent civilians. Due to flashing lights and loud sirens, the police assume that their vehicles are immune to accidents, and cruise through crowded cities at very high speed, which causes fatalities in case of accidents. The response safeguards several lives at the expense of hundreds more. Emergency responses are vital, but there is no logic in endangering other lives and the respondents lives at the same time. This paper addresses the accidents resulting from police speed pursuits, responses to emergency calls, and the most relevant liability policy that can be implemented to change this. Lawsuits on deaths, damage of private property, and injuries of innocent pedestrians have become the order of the day with each high speed pursuit that takes to the suburbs. This paper focuses on police negligence while in hot pursuits and while responding to emergency calls. It further addresses the need to introduce a more conservative response policy among the officers. Literature review The National Highway Traffic Safety administration in the United States undertook a survey in 1998 to gather statistics on road fatalities and accidents. The survey found out that in that year, 314 people were killed by the police in high speed pursuits. Among the 314 people, two were police officers who were on pursuit, 198 were suspects who were trying to escape the police and 114 were innocent pedestrians and motorists who were on the roads where the pursuits occurred. The findings also showed that by that time, 10% of all pursuits claimed lives, with 42% of the victims being bystanders who had nothing to do with the pursuits (Hickey Law Firm, 2011). In April 9th 2011, a veteran police officer in pursuit of a suspect rammed into a private car that was carrying a woman, her son and her one year old daughter. The impact was so hard that the baby and the mother were thrown off the car. The child was severely injured and, according to the report, was in a bad condition when she was admitted to the hospital. The woman and her son suffered several injuries and were treated in a hospital in Essex County. The police officer was not hurt and he went right back to work. Similar cases have happened before whereby the police cause fatal accidents and they assume their normal lives as if nothing happened. The negligence to the response policies laid down by the attorney general should be addressed (Dinges, 2011). Researchers have found out that the police administration is solely to blame for the current policies that do not limit the police response. According to a report submitted by the IACP Police Pursuit Database, in 2007, a police officer who was in pursuit of a suspect used excessive force while he rammed on the back of the suspect’s car. The car crashed and the suspect suffered very severe back injuries that left him paralyzed. He tried to sue the police officer but the court ruled against the suspect citing that the police officer was doing what was in the best interest of everyone to safeguard the community. The policies that the officers work under provide grounds for individual officers to make split-second decisions. The policies should be amended to improve safety (Lum & Fachner, 2008). A study conducted by Rivara and Mack in 1997 gave a statistic highlight on the accidents caused by high speed chases in the United States. In their findings, the two investigators found that most of the police agencies were constantly changing their police pursuit policies in a bid to lower the risks they cause to the community and to the law enforcers as well as the suspects. The researchers studied a total of 1200 police pursuit cases. 40% of the pursuits studied resulted in property damage. 41% of the pursuits ended in injurious crashes. 33% of the cases ended in fatalities, and 30.1% of the victims were innocent civilians. The report also showed that motivated by traffic violations constituted 51% of the cases. Automobile theft and the rest involved felonies constituted 18% (Rivara & Mack, 2004). While police emergency response units cruise in the roads at high speed, their lives and the lives of other road users are put at risk. According to a survey conducted in 2010 by a national radio, the number of police officers that are killed in road accidents has risen by over 100%. As the emergency cases escalate, more response units are being deployed on a very alarming rate. The chances of causing accidents and destroying property are also higher than before. Emergency units are sometimes forced to use the wrong way, thus endangering the lives of every motorist involved (Conan, 2010). The police sometimes also overreact when in a high speed pursuit. Reports say that a 19 year old Asian boy was shot dead in Los Angeles after a hot pursuit. According to reporters, the pursuit saw the police officers fire more than 90 rounds of bullets as the teen cruised through traffic. The teen had called the 911 emergency service and claimed to be in possession of a gun. The speed chase ensued when the police tracked down his car and chased him in the highway where he was shot dead. The perplexing finding was that the police did not recover any fire arm from his him or in car. This is one of the many cases where police officers in high speed pursuits make irrational decisions. There are also incidences where stray bullets hit innocent pedestrians and other road users (Rivara & Mack, 2004). Police department policies The police policies relating to hot pursuits fall under three distinct categories. The first is the judgmental category whereby an officer is allowed by the law to make his or her own decision on how to respond in a pursuit. In this sense, the police officer evaluates the situation at hand and decides on the tactics he or she will use to stop the suspect in a high speed pursuit. The police officer may also decide on when to terminate the chase if the risks are too high. The problem with this is that there are no policies that spell out the exact termination time or the reasons that may force the officer to terminate the chase. Most officers just keep the chase on till it ends fatally. The policy also allows officers to decide whether or not to use firearms and excessive force in a pursuit. Normally, the use of excessive force ends in serious accidents (Alpert & Dunham, 1989). The second category of the pursuit policies is the restrictive set of policies. Different departments have varying restrictive policies to the police discretion. Such policies restrict the police on which crimes they may engage in a pursuit. Cases of minor traffic offenses, for instance, should not lead to chases; juvenile offenders may also be spared for their safety as well as other property offences. Some departments also prohibit their officers to conduct pursuits on private property, to use the wrong way in roads, and also to use firearms unless it is very necessary. However, there have been many reported cases where police officers neglect such restrictions and place the lives of other motorists and innocent people at risk (Alpert & Dunham, 1989). There are also discouragement policies that discourage the police officers from undertaking any pursuits unless there is an absolute need to do so – for example when the police spot a wanted suspect or witness a serious crime taking place. Such policies are well spelt out and the police officers must adhere to their guidelines. They provide no room for discretion, and breaking the rules may have severe repercussions. The problem with these policies is that a police officer may use one category to disqualify the other, since they are not parallel to each other (Alpert & Dunham, 1989). Discussion Police pursuits are one of the leading causes of road accidents in the highways and suburb roads today. Liability issues brought about by the pursuits and the media cover that spreads all the negative issues arising is a major concern for the police administration. Police officers in pursuit of suspects ignore all traffic rules, and this is hazardous to the drivers and pedestrians who are caught by surprise by the pursuits. According to the law, there are pursuit policies that are drafted by the attorney general that guide the police on how to act during the responses. These policies have attracted much criticism from people and law analysts. They need to be reviewed, since the rate of accidents caused by pursuits and emergency response vehicles is increasing at an alarming rate. This can be pinpointed to police negligence while on duty during responses (Crundall, Chapman, Phelps, & Underwood, 2003). One of the most pressing issues that have raised many debates on the pursuit policies is how police officers evaluate the value of risking their own life and that of the public in order to pursue a suspect. In most cases, when police officers decide to take up the chase, they ignore the potential danger to innocent people. Negligence has no excuse in such a case. The entire police force administration should be held accountable in such a case, since the negligent police officers work under their drafted policies (Crundall, Chapman, Phelps, & Underwood, 2003). Dispatchers sometimes also fail in their tracking jobs, misleading the emergency vehicles or pursuit cars. The dispatchers are responsible for tracking cars in pursuits and also directing emergency vehicles through traffic to save time. A miscommunication between the drivers and the dispatchers can lead to very serious accidents resulting in deaths and property damage. Air response units also rely on the dispatchers for information on the pursuits. Therefore, the dispatchers have to be qualified (Crundall, Chapman, Phelps, & Underwood, 2003). There are various ways of terminating a hot police pursuit that reduce the risks to the police officers and the public lives. These include setting up of road blocks, ramming the rear of the suspect vehicle, using firearms to stop the suspect’s vehicle by deflating the wheels or boxing in, and air support whereby the suspect is chased by choppers instead of vehicles, lowering the risk to public. These methods can be effective when properly executed, but if not, they heighten the risks. Setting up a road block where the suspect cannot see it can, for instance, lead to a disastrous collision. Boxing in is also very hazardous to the officers in the vehicles surrounding the suspect’s vehicle if the suspects are armed (Crundall, Chapman, Phelps, & Underwood, 2003). There are also safer alternatives to pursuits that can be implemented to ensure safety in this area of law enforcement. The FBI has previously suggested vehicle interception, whereby once the police have spotted a suspect’s vehicle, they do not fire up their sirens and lights and act calm. This way, the suspects will not panic and engage in high speeds. The police should then craftily intercept the suspect’s vehicle when it slows down at stops or while taking turn. Many suspects claim that the police sirens and lights trigger adrenalin rush in their body making them flee instead of stopping. However, the vehicle intercept procedure needs trained drivers and the training should be provided before the alternative can be implemented (Eisenberg & Fitzpatrick, 1996). Another alternative to pursuits is to use technology. Gadgets that stop vehicles should be installed in all vehicles. These gadgets should be controlled through unique codes sent solely from police vehicles or police dispatcher offices. Whenever a suspected vehicle is spotted, the registration number should be taken and the unique code sent to the stopping gadget. The vehicles will then automatically stop and the suspect will be arrested without risking the lives of the innocent public. This will significantly reduce the number of police high speed chases on suspects especially in car theft cases (Crundall, Chapman, Phelps & Underwood, 2003). A vehicle that enters a different jurisdiction complicates a pursuit. There are so many factors to be considered by police officers before they can proceed in the pursuit in another jurisdiction. First, the different police agencies need to communicate if they are to collaborate in the pursuit. Second, there might be special supervisory policies in the different jurisdictions that the different agencies must agree on to conduct the pursuit. Special permission to use the resources from other agencies should also be considered. Some police high speed pursuits end up in fatalities due to breaking down of communication when they enter other jurisdiction areas where they are not quite familiar with the road networks (O’Brien, 2006). Supervision in the pursuits is necessary in order to evaluate the performance of the police officers in the pursuits. This should be done by the administration for every pursuit that takes place and the information collected should be documented. Police officers need to be given guidelines while in the pursuits so that they can know which measures to take according to the level of the pursuit control. Negligence will be eliminated in pursuits and also in emergency calls responses since the police will be acting as ordered instead of applying their own ideas in the pursuits and emergency responses (Ashley, 2011). Accidents Review Procedures The pursuit and accident review board goes through all accidents that are caused by police vehicles during high speed pursuits and emergency call responses. However, the board does forwards the fatal accidents to the police chiefs and the county attorney for special review. In the review procedure, the employees involved are investigated to determine whether it was a case of negligence of principles. The investigating officer hands in an offense report that contains information from the concerned police officers along with photographs taken from the scene (Rivara & Mack, 2004). After all the relevant reports have been submitted, the officers and their supervisors are summoned to explain their actions and why they made certain decisions. The officers must justify their actions and the reasons must beat all logic to place the public in danger. The board then evaluates the response and decides whether it was within the pursuit policies or not. If the accident was caused by neglect of the principles of conduct, the officers are punished accordingly and the victims are compensated by the state. If the actions were within the provisions of the policies, the officers are set free and the accident victims are compensated. The board may advocate for a change in the policies where need be (Rivara & Mack, 2004). Recommendations Proper training of recruits in the law enforcement department can help in the reduction of accidents caused by police high speed pursuits and the emergency call responses. The officers should be trained on risk calculation with respect to their lives, the public which may also involve the suspects and the risk on private property. If the risk is too high, the pursuit or the high speed in emergency response should not be an option. Alternative measures like use of air support should be employed (Ashley, 2011). While in pursuit, the level of aggressiveness to the fleeing suspect keeps escalating. Similarly, the risk of injury to the police officers also increases. Recruits should be thoroughly trained on the specific responses at each level so that they do not put their lives into unnecessary risk. They should have the response guidelines at their finger tips so that they can effectively and safely implement them in the different pursuit levels (Ashley, 2011). The drivers should also be very knowledgeable with the road networks in their jurisdiction areas. Emergency responses require for the police officers to reach the destination in the shortest time possible. It is therefore important that the drivers know the roads very well in order for them to use the shortest routes while at the same time avoiding busy roads to reduce the probability of causing accidents and destroying private properties. The recruits should therefore have a very clear picture of their area’s road maps (Ashley, 2011). The recruits should also be trained on how to apply excessive force where required. The process of applying force should be done only if the safety of the police officers and the public, which may include the suspects, is thoroughly considered. Previous reports have shown police officers ramming the suspects’ vehicles while using private motorists’ cars as support, involving the innocent people in the dangerous pursuits. The police recruits should be qualified for the job before they are allowed to conduct pursuits (Ashley, 2011). The veteran police officers should be trained on how to use the reviewed policies since they are used to using the more liberal policies that are raising a lot of critics by the public and the media. The law enforcers should be efficient in their work, therefore, seminars should be held for the veteran police officers to be trained in the new policies and to be oriented to the use of different response tactics in police pursuits. They should be introduced to the different response measures depending on the level of the pursuit. Previously, most of the accidents that led to deaths of innocent civilians and the destruction of valuable private property have been linked to veteran police officers. These officers have no limits to the force they apply in stopping the suspects because of the policies they were oriented with were liberal and police discretion was not limited during their recruit times (Ashley, 2011). Conclusion Law enforcers have a responsibility to keep the public safe. The fight against crime is divine but there is no logic in risking the lives of the innocent people to combat crime. The police pursuit policies need to be reviewed so that pursuits only take place where there is minimum public risk. There are many alternatives that have been forwarded, and their implementation would result in the capture of suspects and fewer death rates of the innocent people, and the law enforcers’ safety will also be guaranteed. Emergency response vehicles, on the other hand, should be made by qualified drivers who should use the safest routes while, at the same time, observing the vital traffic rules for the safety of other road users. The emergency response teams may also opt for safer responses like the use of choppers in congested suburbs and cities. The various police administrations should demand the change of the existing policies from the attorney general’s office, since they have proved ineffective in the reduction of accidents caused by police pursuit vehicles and emergency response vehicles. Policies should be drafted in the favor of the public’s safety and the police discretion should be limited. Alternative ways of response should also be invested in by different departments to reduce the current death rates that are increasing each year. Police officers’ safety should also be paramount in the line of duty. High speed pursuits endanger their lives and the lives of the public. The policies should address safety issues, since the suspects may be armed. References Alpert, G. and Dunham, R. (1989). Policing Hot Pursuits: The Discovery of Aleatory Elements. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 80(2), 521-539. Ashley, S.D. (2011). Reducing the Risks of Police Pursuit. CIRMAT, Inc. Retrieved From: http://www.sashley.com/articles/reducingtherisksofpolicepursuit.htm Conan, N. (2010). Traffic Accidents Leading Cause of Police Deaths. npr. Retrieved from: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/29/132441719/Traffic-Accidents-Leading-Cause-Of- Police-Deaths Crundall, D., Chapman, P., Phelps, N., Underwood, G. (2003). Eye movements and Hazard Perception in Police Pursuit and Emergency Response Driving. Journal of Experimental Psychology Applied, 9(3), 163-174. Dinges, T. (2011). Toddler in grave condition after crash connected police pursuit. NJ.com. retrieved From: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/04/toddler_in_grave_condition_aft.html Eisenberg, C. & Fitzpatrick, C. (1996). An alternative to police pursuits. Business Library. Retrieved from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2194/is_n8_v65/ai_18701407/ Hickey Law Firm, P.A. (2011). Police High Speed Chase: car Accident Deaths and Catastrophic Injuries caused By Police and Other Government Employees. Retrieved from: http://www.hickeylawfirm.com/html/wrongful-death/police-high-speed- chase.html#top Lum, C. & Fachner, G. (2008). Police Pursuits in an Age of Innovation and Reform. The IACP Police Pursuit Database. Retrieved from: http://www.theiacp.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=IlJDjYrusBc=&tabid=392 O’Brien, K. J. (2006). California Law Enforcement Vehicle Pursuit Guidelines. California: California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Rivara, F. P., & Mack, C. D. (2004). Motor vehicle crash deaths related to police pursuits in the United States. Injury Prevention, 10(2), 93-95. Read More