CRIMS ON THE RUN

Restrictive policy means one person on average a day evades police

IN JUST five years evade police offences in the region have more than doubled. Between January and April this year there was, on average, one person who evaded police every day.

A “no-pursuit” policy was introduced in December 2011, stopping officers pursuing offenders in many situations.

A RESTRICTIVE police pursuit policy has seen the number of criminals exploiting the law more than double in the past five years.

Only if a criminal has created an “imminent threat to life” or has committed another life endangering offence such as murder, are officers allowed to pursue.

Even then, officers must continually assess if the pursuit can be safely continued and if not, despite the circumstances, they must abandon it.

Statistics released to The Chronicle reveal the number of evade police offences in the Darling Downs region rose from 98 in 2012 to 100 in 2013, 111 in 2014 and 194 in 2015 to 261 last year.

There was 105 evades committed between January and April this year, an average of one a day, with 52 of those offences so far solved.

A similar trend appears in Queensland-wide statistics with a staggering jump from 3696 offences in 2015 to 5029 in 2016.

Darling Downs Inspector Sharee Cumming said the “more restrictive” policy was introduced in December 2011 to incorporate recommendations made by the Queensland State Coroner following an earlier inquest.

She did not comment as to whether the increase was due to the “no pursuit” policy or if the current policy was effective.

“These changes were designed to recognise the safety of officers and the community as paramount, whilst still allowing pursuits in permissible circumstance,” Insp Cumming said.

“The QPS treats every pursuit as a serious matter and makes every effort to identify and apprehend those responsible.

“The QPS will continue to apprehend those who evade interception, but pursuits will often not be the principal means of apprehension.”

Insp Cumming said those convicted of the offence were disqualified from holding or obtaining a driver licence for two years and under laws passed in 2013, people who commit two offences of evade police can have their car confiscated and forfeited to the State.

The Queensland Police Union was contacted for comment.

Union boss Ian Leavers has spoken out previously about the issue and called for the policy to be scrapped, giving police the discretion to chase.

The union did not

comment about the issue on the Darling Downs.