 |
Gold Coast Bulletin - Monday 13 November, 2006 Police defend need to pursue |
|
|
Police defend need to pursue GOLD Coast police have warned of anarchy in the streets if they are not allowed to do their job and pursue crime suspects. Police of various ranks and experience contacted The Gold Coast Bulletin yesterday, angered by some media reports about a police chase on Saturday afternoon that ended in an accident in the Southport CBD leaving three people injured. Police have been criticised over their handling of the incident, and the Pedestrian Council of Australia has called for pursuits in built-up areas to be abandoned for public safety. An internal police investigation is under way. The driver involved in Saturday's pursuit is still at large and police have warned the public not to approach the 27-year-old, who is considered to be dangerous. The officers supplied their names to The Bulletin but asked they not be published. "The public need to understand that we are out on the streets to protect them and we don't chase someone without a good reason," said an experienced officer. "In this case we had been warned about this vehicle the day before when a citizen rang police and told them he had seen a man brandishing a silver pistol outside the Miami needle exchange. "When an officer spotted this car on Saturday, both he and the police radio operators were well aware that the people in the car were wanted for serious offences." Another officer said Gold Coast residents should consider what would happen if police did not chase an armed man who later committed an armed robbery. "OK, the gun was a replica, but it could easily have been real and what would have happened if he shot a young shop assistant dead?" he said. "What would the parents of that young person think about police not chasing, and their son being killed?" A third officer said Gold Coast police were battling a rising tide of drug addicted, drug affected criminals who robbed and stole around the clock just to feed their habits. "People need to understand the crap in their society, all the breakers are druggies and they are likely to do anything to save themselves from arrest," he said. "We can't afford to pussyfoot about with them. We get these people into the station and they laugh at us, saying we just have to put the foot down or drive on the wrong side of the road and we know you will call off the chase. "We need to be able to chase and capture these low-lifes when we get the chance before they do real harm to our community, that's what our job should be about." Last month while launching a trial of the police service's safe driving policy, Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson said its objective was to find the right balance between enforcing the law and public safety. "We ask our officers before commencing and throughout a pursuit to weigh up the seriousness of the offence and the benefits of any pursuit against the risk to themselves, the public and the offender," he said. Pedestrian Council of Australia chairman Harold Scruby said any chase in a built-up area was too risky. "There is too much potential for harm, particularly to pedestrians in an area like that, especially in the middle of a Saturday afternoon," he said. "I know the police are damned if they do and damned if they don't. "I sympathise with (the police's) predicament, but in that type of area the risk is very high. "Having someone killed or badly hurt is not worth the risk." |
|
|
© This work is copyright and is reproduced under licence from
|
|
