Cops give up the chase
No-pursuit policy means crims get away with it
GOLD Coast cops are reluctant to chase crooks on the city’s roads for fear they will be demoted or charged with dangerous driving.
The cultural change in highway policing is highlighted by new data which shows only 12 police pursuits in the past 12 months in the Coast region, down from 14 a year ago.
By comparison, 24 police pursuits occurred in the Ipswich district and 19 were recorded in South Brisbane.
The Opposition, in State Parliament, had requested the data from the Government as it determines its policing policy leading up to an election expected later this year.
Other data obtained reveals 5028 motorists, up from 3253 in 2015, have been charged with evading police.
But the number of speeding drivers who evade capture has increased, up from 48 per cent in 2014 to 56 per cent last year.
A police source said the Coast region had fewer car chases following an incident which led to Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley and Senior Constable Barry Wellington being charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.
The two officers were suspended after they allegedly ran a stolen car off the road in 2015 in a bid to catch suspects involved in a series of armed robberies.
“It’s not just on the Pacific Motorway they won’t chase (because of the traffic), it has to do with the Chris Hurley case,” a police source said.
“You have spiralling crime and violence and you respond with rubbery policies.”
Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said police were witnessing the failure of policy every day as hoons turned and fled at the sight of random breath testing stations.
“The current police no-pursuit policy is an embarrassment for the QPS as the threefold increase in ‘evade police’ offences over the past year clearly shows,” Mr Leavers said.
“The longer the policy is in place, the more offenders learn that police cannot pursue them, and so ever-increasing numbers of offenders evade police at every opportunity.”
Opposition police spokesman Tim Mander said the policy on pursuits needed “a massive rethink but we must get the balance right”.
The LNP in the lead-up to the State poll would investigate whether it was time to change the restrictive police pursuit policy introduced in 2011, he said.
“The argument is fairly simple — if we trust police to use discretion when using lethal force, why do we not trust them to be able to pursue an offender?” Mr Mander said.
Police Minister Mark Ryan said pursuits were “inherently dangerous. They pose a significant risk to the safety of the pursuing officer, the occupants of the car being pursued and other individuals.”