Posted on 09/10/2007 9:04:17 PM PDT by jazusamo
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
High-speed car chases by police on highways, or even on residential streets, have become a staple of television news. An estimated 500 people died as a result of high-speed car chases last year.
Nearly half the people killed were innocent third parties.
The police have some tough choices to make when deciding when to chase and when to let the driver continue on his high-speed way. Innocent people can get killed either way.
Too many people in the media do not want to face up to any tough choices. Whenever some innocent driver or pedestrian is killed as a result of a high-speed chase, editorials are sure to appear, saying that this would not have happened if the police had just let the high-speed driver go on his way without pursuing.
We have no way of knowing whether reckless speeders will slow down if the cops don't follow them when they try to get away. The people they can kill when there is no police car following them will be just as dead as some innocent person killed as a result of a car chase.
Moreover, once there is a known policy of letting speeders escape, there will almost certainly be more speeding to get away from being arrested for either a traffic violation or a more serious crime.
Life's choices are seldom as easy as they may seem to people writing in the safety and comfort of an editorial office.
Nothing is easier than taking cheap shots at the police, and there are journalists and politicians who do it regularly, as well as community activists who make a career out of it. But the police are the last line of defense for the law-abiding population.
Universal sainthood is not the norm in law enforcement, any more than in any other walk of life. But police abuses require punishment for those who commit those abuses, not blanket condemnation for policemen in general or rules that tie their hands when dealing with criminals.
Recently a man in Ohio was shot and killed by a policeman he tried to run over with the car he had stolen. That driver had led the police on a high-speed chase and, when he was finally cornered, rammed one of the police cars and tried to ram a policeman.
A passenger in the car with the speeding driver said that the shooting was not justified. "For a car, it's not worth a life."
The man who said this had a long criminal record, as did the driver who was killed, but no doubt there are those who will take him seriously.
The issue is not whether the crime for which the driver is being pursued deserves the death penalty. It is the driver's choice whether to put his life -- and other people's lives -- at risk.
No doubt there is much to be said for bringing high-speed chases to an end quicker, and especially before the speeder can get off the highway and go speeding through city streets, endangering both other motorists and pedestrians. But the only way of ending high-speed chases sooner that many critics seem to favor is by letting the reckless drivers get away.
Some of these high-speed chases on a highway might be brought to a quicker end before reaching a populated area, if the police were freer to use force, instead of being hemmed in on all sides by restrictive regulations.
We are not talking about using force against someone who just happens to exceed the speed limit. We are talking about people who refuse to pull over and speed up to try to outrun the police, in utter disregard of the dangers they are creating for others.
When there is a police helicopter overhead, a shot straight down would have little chance of hitting some innocent bystander. Maybe the speeder is just someone out joy-riding but that does not make a reckless driver any less dangerous.
Moreover, this would not have to happen more than a few times before leading the police on a high-speed chase would lose a lot of its attractions -- and some of those hundreds of innocent lives lost every year as a result of high-speed chases could be saved.
Maybe if the courts would put some heavy jail time on people who go speeding away from the police, that might stop some of them. But they have to be stopped, one way or the other.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy.
Moreover, this would not have to happen more than a few times before leading the police on a high-speed chase would lose a lot of its attractions
The voice of reason again from Dr. Sowell.
Maybe the use of some high speed bullets would help the situation.
Shatter upon impact .50 cal round fired from a helicopter at the engine compartment of the car from above would do the trick. Such a round would penetrate the hood, shatter when it hits the engine block, but the fragmentation would cut up the radiator, hoses, belts and other soft plastic/rubber components. The engine area would start to leak and smoke and eventually the engine would overheat and seize up. Would be hell of a paperwork writeup for insurance purposes for the owner.
To address the root of the problem is to encourage people to have a system in their car that allows it to be shut down remotely.
That is, if you have a type of car commonly stolen, or you just know that you will never have any reason to try and outrun the police, a single electronic component could be added to your vehicle.
If your car is trying to evade the police, then they call your service, like OnStar, and your service turns your car off.
And if you want to play it safe, if the police notify your service, then your service could page you and confirm that you want your vehicle shut down. This would be useful if someone stole your license plates and you’re driving on the other side of town.
I agree, followed up by hard time if the driver survives.
Yeah, except I doubt he has tried to shoot a quick moving target from a moving target.
Well intended, not well thought out.
Rumor is the police are working on developing a remote control device which tells all cars nearby that have an onboard computer to shutdown and lock their doors.
It would possibly work but there are a lot of cars to outfit and it would add more cost to them because the people on the Hill would make it mandatory.
Granted it’s not the easiest thing but choppers can get pretty low.
Won’t work. Most cars sold today don’t have the software hooks or external datalinks to pull that off.
And even at close range, a HERF gun won’t do much to a car.
This is pretty funny in the context of a nearby post about a Bakerfield shooting where a reporter asked the chief why the officers didn't just shoot the guy in the foot.
LOL! I read that. It’s hard enough to hit somebody that’s shooting back let alone shoot to wound.
With all due respect, choppers get outrun and out maneuvered almost daily. The altitude they would have to maintain to get a clear shot, in an urban setting, would preclude any reliable degree of accuracy.
Why are we still trying to solve problems for our illogical and antiquated systems of transit?
If we could clear our heads, and think creatively, take the money out of the thought process; we could create a system that would eliminate car chases, a large majority of crashes, traffic jams, and pollution.
Seriously, we are looking at trillions of dollars in highway and road infrastructure improvements and expansion. Wouldn’t we be far better off spending that money on a forward thinking system. One that isn’t mostly consumable, and in constant need of repair/replacement, and that addresses a myriad of issues in one fell swoop?
In a personal and connected hybrid system of transiting, we could do this, and keep our cars, too.
Dang, I’m sorry for going so wide with your thread.
But, please, do wake me when we actually enter the 21st Century. LOL
We agree ; plus the police should have the requirement to use immediate deadly force if the perp is headed to a school or other populated area.
The police should take out any runner any way possible : guided rocket...
When there is a police helicopter overhead, a shot straight down would have little chance of hitting some innocent bystander.
Moreover, this would not have to happen more than a few times before leading the police on a high-speed chase would lose a lot of its attractions
Brilliant!
. . . and no hacker would ever disable your vehicle just for the fun of it!
Police and a military are sine qua non for a government. Yet the governmentists who trash private enterprise are equally hard on the police and the military. The unifying principle I see in this is that in all cases the people being criticized are those who are making decisions and getting things done. And the people doing the criticizing never do that.Theodore RooseveltThere is no more unhealthy being, no man less worthy of respect, than he who either really holds, or feigns to hold, an attitude of sneering disbelief toward all that is great and lofty, whether in achievement or in that noble effort which, even if it fails, comes to second achievement. A cynical habit of thought and speech, a readiness to criticise work which the critic himself never tries to perform, an intellectual aloofness which will not accept contact with life's realities - all these are marks, not as the possessor would fain to think, of superiority but of weakness. They mark the men unfit to bear their part painfully in the stern strife of living, who seek, in the affection of contempt for the achievements of others, to hide from others and from themselves in their own weakness. The rôle is easy; there is none easier, save only the rôle of the man who sneers alike at both criticism and performance.It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds . . .
You can still sleep awhile. It's only the steam age.
That's well thought out. Good suggestion.
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