“NO PURSUIT’’ A DILEMMA

QUEENSLAND’S Police Service says it is wrong to assert it has a “no pursuit policy’’ when criminals floor the car accelerator to try to escape justice.

Rather, it says it has a restrictive pursuit policy, with revisions coming into effect to ensure police driving is even safer and more professional.

But really, that is just semantics. No matter how the hierarchy dresses it up, changes to what the service calls “protracted following and multiple intercepts’’ policies are adding extra layers of difficulty for patrol officers.

These include risk assessments and having to seek even more advice from senior officers back at base before pursuing crooks and hoons who are breaking the law right in front of patrols, or in police seizing the opportunity to grab a driver they know dodged other patrols earlier in the day.

This might satisfy the bureaucratic side of the service. When it comes to workplace health and safety matters and public safety, officialdom is cautious nowadays to the point of appearing to jump at shadows.

It is easy on the one hand though to understand concerns at increased risks involved in police pursuits. In 2015, when critics were arguing that pursuit policies were giving criminals a green light to do as they please, forensic engineer and road safety expert John Lambert told the media pursuits were “horrendously dangerous’’.

But Lambert also believed officers had been justified in one particular instance in pursuing offenders accused of a violent robbery.

Those being chased were alleged to have hurled weapons at police and run over an officer, while shots were fired and the chase reached speeds up to 160km/h.

That case, with the resulting turmoil and media coverage, demonstrated the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t’’ nature of police pursuits.

The community understands there are risks, but armed thugs should not be allowed to escape capture by jumping in a car and racing away. That leads to anarchy.

Even hoons have been known to deliberately steer on to the wrong side of the road, knowing Queensland police will baulk at continuing a pursuit.

It’s hard, but there is a line that cannot be crossed.