Who would want to be a police officer in the world we live today?

R

redblood

Well-known member
Two years ago, here on the Gold Coast Qld, two motor bike police officers were on a meal break having a coffee and a donut when they noticed a car driving
at high speed. they got up and got on their bikes and gave chase.
The eighteen year old driver then mounted the median strip and crossed over the road into oncoming traffic. he then made a right turn at high speed and lost
control and flipped the car several times which killed him.

Yesterday the coroner found that the accident was preventable and that the officers were in breach of police guidelines and should have given up the chase.
This now leaves the kids family in a position to sue the Qld Police.

It transpires that this kid had been known to police since he was twelve years old and had committed many crimes in the past such as theft, break and enter,
drugs and a gang member.

Also yesterday a forty eight year old woman who spat in an officers face ( during covid ) and punched another officer repeatedly when she was confronted
when acting suspiciously in a car park was let off with a good behaviour bond.

I really feel for the police. It seems that the days of the police chasing criminals or enquiring about suspicious behaviour are over, or, face the consequences.

What on earth are they supposed to do.?
I wonder what the public would have thought had the police given the kid a wave as he sped by as they took another bite of their donut?

Edit. Forgot to say that he stole the car.
 
They should’ve just finished their coffee and donuts and waited for their next call from control.
 
Lots of people would love to be in the police force in this country but their numbers were horribly slashed by an idiot philosophy making their job harder.

My niece is a police officer in Oz. I hope she sticks to the rules.
 
Condemned if they do and condemned if they don't. The law is the ass not the police. Waste of a young life but another scourge on society off the books.
 
I caught a snippet from a Police Interceptor tv show from the UK recently & the onboard police camera captured the driver's vocal assessment of whether it was safe to continue the pursuit or not and reporting back to control, & it was a fairly regular occurrence during the pursuit. I would imagine that force have a SOP to do that, so if the pursuit went wrong they would have a contemporaneous record of the driver's decision making and that would be sufficient evidence for a coroner or court & jury that they had acted within the SOP & reasonably.

Looking at the report in local media of the incident you are referring to it appears that the Police didn't comply with their forces agreed procedures during the pursuit.
www.abc.net.au

Police 'utterly failed' own policy in high-speed chase that killed teen, inquest finds

A Queensland Coroner has ruled police "utterly failed" their duties which led to the death of a teenager on the Gold Coast.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
 
newusername said:
I caught a snippet from a Police Interceptor tv show from the UK recently & the onboard police camera captured the driver's vocal assessment of whether it was safe to continue the pursuit or not and reporting back to control, & it was a fairly regular occurrence during the pursuit. I would imagine that force have a SOP to do that, so if the pursuit went wrong they would have a contemporaneous record of the driver's decision making and that would be sufficient evidence for a coroner or court & jury that they had acted within the SOP & reasonably.

Looking at the report in local media of the incident you are referring to it appears that the Police didn't comply with their forces agreed procedures during the pursuit.
www.abc.net.au

Police 'utterly failed' own policy in high-speed chase that killed teen, inquest finds

A Queensland Coroner has ruled police "utterly failed" their duties which led to the death of a teenager on the Gold Coast.
www.abc.net.au www.abc.net.au
Click to expand...
Cheers for the link and report mate.
The coroner said that the police should have given up the chase the moment that the young man mounted the median strip
and that he reached speeds of up to 140 kph as he approached the intersection.
The intersection is no more than 100m from the median strip that he mounted.

The kid must have absolutely flattened the accelerator to reach such speed over such a short distance.
It was a matter of seconds from the moment he mounted the median strip to the moment that he flipped the car.

I'm convinced, that even if the police had given up the chase " the moment he mounted the median strip" that the outcome would have been any different.
 
redblood said:
I'm convinced, that even if the police had given up the chase " the moment he mounted the median strip" that the outcome would have been any different.
Click to expand...

I don't know the roads but coroner says the police "should have ordered the pursuit to be abandoned when Logan drove dangerously" and goes on to say he "...was driving normally on Southport Nerang Road until he saw Senior Sergeant Murphy behind him at which time he immediately drove onto the wrong side of the road,"

Is there a median on that road? If so, could the coroner be referring to that median right at the start of the pursuit?

One of the links in the report is to another article about the crash which states:
For about 30 minutes, officers pursued the ute along the M1, where it reached at speeds of up to 140 kilometres per hour, before Dreier lost control at Southport, the inquest heard.
Click to expand...

so it sounds like they would've had opportunities to end the pursuit before the junction.

I favour GPS speed limiters on cars so that all chases from the police would only be at the speed limit anyway.
 
Good bit of detective work there mate and explains a few things to me.

The Southport - Nerang road does have a median strip from the M1 exit and is a busy road although it fizzles out somewhat
by the time it reaches the scene of where the crash occurred.
That doesn't matter so much to me now that I know that the chase started way back on the M1 and the chasing officers
had plenty of time to call for the police helicopter or more well trained colleagues to follow the young man.

At the time when watching the news, I couldn't believe the message that the Coroner and the Courts were giving to wannabe criminals.
The Coroner might as well have simply said " After you have committed your crime, steal or hijack a car for your getaway and drive it as
recklessly and as fast as you can as the police will have to call off the chase and you will be able to get away." " If the police don't give
up the chase, get yourself in an accident and injure yourself or another motorist or bystander and you will all be able to take legal
action against the police department "

Whilst the Court might as well have said to the lady that spat in the face of the policeman and repeatedly threw punches at the second
officer. " If you or anyone else thinks that they will get away with this sort of behaviour, they are wrong, we will have no qualms in giving you a
good ticking off and will tell you to behave and pull your head in for six months or so "

I still feel sorry for the police. It seems to me that they get little support for such a demanding job and doff my hat to them.

Thanks for taking the time to explain and a big UTB.
 
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