Efforts to catch driver can’t prevent crash

A woman was killed in a crash nearly 31⁄ hours after police aban

2 doned a pursuit because of the nature of her driving.

Details around the woman’s death come after Stuff revealed police had revised their pursuit policy. Officers have been told cars believed to have a large quantity of drugs onboard, a suspected drunk driver or stolen vehicles will no longer be pursued.

The policy has been revised in an attempt to ‘‘change a culture that is decades old’’.

Police confirmed they received reports about a motorist driving erratically on State Highway 1, south of Sanson, Manawatu¯, at 7.35pm on October 25.

Officers were dispatched and found the vehicle at 7.57pm.

A pursuit was initiated but abandoned after five minutes because of the ‘‘level of risk to the driver, the public and our staff’’, a police spokeswoman said.

Inquiries to locate and speak to the driver began immediately, she said. Officers went to the house of the registered owner and tried contacting them by phone. Officers also continued area searches to locate the vehicle, without success.

At 11.26pm, emergency services were called to a serious crash involving the driver, a woman in her 40s. Her death had been reported to the coroner and an investigation into the circumstances was ongoing, the spokeswoman said.

‘‘Fleeing driver events are highly volatile and high-risk, and staff have to make the best decisions they can with the information they have, and with public safety the top priority.’’

A member of the woman’s family declined to comment when approached by Stuff.

An internal police email leaked to Stuff advised staff not to pursue fleeing drivers unless the threat posed ‘‘outweighs the risk of harm by the pursuit’’. The new policy was emailed on December 10 stating the need to ‘‘change a culture that is decades old’’.

Between 2009 and 2018, 67 people died during police pursuits.

The email said a pursuit would only be justified when the threat posed by those in the vehicle prior to signalling the driver to stop and the need to immediately apprehend the driver and/or passengers ‘‘outweighs the risk of harm by the pursuit’’.

National Party police spokesman Simeon Brown said while the risk pursuits posed needed to be acknowledged, the new policy would ‘‘embolden criminals who now know that officers can’t give chase’’.