Deliberately causing a third party vehicular trouble that causes a crash will get a serious $$$ award. Not to mention lawsuits due to financial damages. Employees with a limited number of late to work days would have grounds to sue all parties involved in the chase.
There are plenty of ways to stop a chase without this. It just means the individual departments would have to communicate better.
Off the top of my head:
Spike strip
Road blocks
Pit maneuver
Follow at a distance until a chopper can take over & drop back. they will have to stop for fuel sometime.
Plus the TV News has a vested interest in having the occasional chase.
How is the collateral damage from shutting off the wrong car any different than doing the PIT in the wrong place, or spiking the wrong tires - all of which have already happened many times?
I don't think lawsuits against the cops are successful often enough to really be that much of a factor. At least around here the cops can pretty much shoot anyone they think they need to and walk free.
Maybe the TV news chase would be the biggest driver of the decision. But not that many cities have choppers in sufficient quantity to follow the chases.
LAPD may prefer PIT rollovers and spikes so they can see their unit number on TV....
Anyway, I predicted it here. Check back in 10 years. :-)
Previous Topic
Index
