Lorraine Explains: Police chases — A stolen car isn’t worth someone’s life

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What’s worth a chase? Police have an instant to make that decision, and the decision they make can result in a speedy arrest of a suspected criminal, or the loss of life of that person, their passengers, or an innocent bystander who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. What are the rules for police? What are the resources they have at hand? 

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An independent public watchdog released a report earlier this year claiming police chases had resulted in 77 deaths over the past decade. “The study, released through federal access-to-information law, analyzed 871 pursuits involving the RCMP and other police forces nationwide. It found that officers were injured in seven per cent of the pursuits the researchers examined. Drivers and passengers in fleeing vehicles were injured in 23 per cent of the pursuits, while innocent parties were injured in 10 per cent of cases.”

The U.S. struggles with the same problem. A study in that country found 323 deaths a year can be attributed to car chases — 87 of those innocent bystanders. This in-depth piece from The Guardian examines the human side of chases. All arrive at the same conclusion: the risks simply don’t outweigh the rewards.

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Car chases are adrenaline-packed super-scenes in the movies. They’re the highlight, the trailer bait, the ultimate punch for audiences craving the excitement of sheer horsepower mated to skill and daring. That’s in the movies.

In real life, they are dangerous within seconds, and the fact the decision to engage is made in the absence of knowing anything close to all involved factors makes it even worse.

“In 2021, the RCMP revised its Emergency Vehicle Operations policy to stipulate that Mounties can initiate or continue a vehicle pursuit only if they reasonably believe the suspect has committed (or is about to commit) a serious act of violence — and only if failing to immediately arrest the suspect would pose a greater risk to public safety than a pursuit,” from the same study. 

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“Ontario’s Police Services Act has a regulation on police pursuits that requires officers to weigh the severity of the crime — the need to catch the suspect — against the risk to public safety…a pursuit is an “option of last resort” and is considered “only when other alternatives are unavailable or unsatisfactory.”

How can police determine all that in an instant? Sure, they can know if the car was stolen, they can sometimes know if there are weapons on board, and they can know if a passenger is being held captive, for instance. But how do they determine that giving chase will not exacerbate any of those circumstances? If the person can be found another way, they should be. As I was told years ago on an OPP ride-along, they can’t outrun a phone call, and no stolen car is worth someone dying. 

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In July, 2019, police gave chase to two bank robbers in the south end of Sarnia. A taxi in an intersection was hit by the cops, critically injuring a 29-year-old woman and her 9-year-old daughter. An OPP officer was subsequently charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm. A few minutes later, another officer hit another car going after the same bad guys. The result? The original cop was fined $2,500 after pleading guilty to careless driving, and the more severe charges were dropped. 

In October 2020 near Mt. Brydges, an officer was given the go-ahead to chase a driver that refused to stop when tapped for speeding. While the ensuing chase was called off, the speeding car ran a stop sign and collided with another “wrong place at the wrong time” victim, who “suffered a series of injuries including a brain injury and several fractures, spent more than two months in hospital,” followed by ongoing rehab. The victim is suing the Strathroy-Caradoc police board and the unnamed officer.

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Police may be trained in high-speed pursuits, but even if they’re going after someone on an abandoned, empty road, every single other factor is in play.

The watchdog study found, unsurprisingly, that aerial pursuits by helicopter, drone, or fixed-wing aircraft were not only safer but far more effective. The problem, of course, is cost. You might remember this aerial pursuit from 2018 (well worth the watch), when police went after a driver who topped out at 237 km/h — over the course of 154 kilometres. 

Spike belts are used in about a quarter of chases reported in the study. “Although the use of spike belts has been encouraged as a means of apprehending a suspect, representative data did not demonstrate a significant risk reduction to public and officer safety,” the study found.

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Are stolen cars worth chasing after? Bank robbers? Kidnappers? Hit-and-run drivers? The danger is exorbitant to everyone else on the road. Could the answer lie in the direction GM headed in 2009 when it added its Ignition Block to some of its models — a kill switch, activated via OnStar? This tech comes laden with new practical and philosophical problems, of course, from hackability to personal privacy.

With vehicle technology capable of doing more and more, this answer has to be considered in exploring ways to apprehend offenders without killing people; after all, people already seem totally cool with insurance companies and auto manufacturers spying on their every move.

The call needs to be coming from inside the car.