Ole Christian Bach was found shot and killed in Sweden in a presumed suicide after he had been followed in a car chase by Swedish undercover police. The death of university student Clea Rose following a police chase in Canberra sparked major recriminations over police pursuit policies.
The February 2005 Macquarie Fields riots occurred in Sydney, Australia after a local driver crashed a stolen vehicle into a tree, killing his two passengers following a high-speed police pursuit. The first police chase known to be recorded on video was in 1988 in Berea, Ohio. The StarChase system as of summer 2009 was in use by the Arizona Department of Public Safety. When available, a helicopter may be employed, which in some cases, may follow the vehicle from above while ground units may or may not be involved. Police use a number of techniques to end chases, from pleading with the driver, waiting for the driver's vehicle to run out of fuel, or hoping the driver's vehicle becomes somehow disabled to more forceful methods such as boxing in the vehicle with police cruisers, ramming the vehicle, the PIT maneuver, shooting out the tires, or the use of spike strips, though all efforts, many of which pose risk to all involved as well as bystanders, will be aimed at avoiding danger to civilians. Police officials have asked news media to reduce coverage of chases, claiming that they encourage suspects to flee and inciting gawkers to possibly get in the way of the pursuit, while the media responds that coverage of chases provides a public service and provide a deterrent to police brutality. Los Angeles television station KCAL reported a quadrupling of ratings when police pursuits aired. In 2002, 700 pursuits were reported in the city of Los Angeles. Generally, suspects who police spot committing crimes for which long prison terms are likely upon conviction are much more likely to start car chases. When suspects realize they have been spotted by law enforcement, they attempt to lose their pursuer by driving away, usually at high speed. The assumed offence committed may range from misdemeanours such as traffic infractions to felonies as serious as murder. 1.3 Inter-jurisdictional pursuits and policy issuesĬar chases occur when a suspect attempts to use a vehicle to escape from law enforcement attempting to detain or arrest them.Car chases are also a popular subject with media and audiences due to their intensity, drama and the innate danger of high-speed driving – and thus are common content in fiction, particularly action dramas. Car chases may, instead (or also), involve other parties (including criminals) in pursuit of a criminal suspect or intended victim, or simply in an attempt to make contact with a moving person for non-conflict reasons.Ĭar chases are often captured on news broadcast due to the video footage recorded by police cars, police and media helicopters participating in the chase. The rise of the automotive industry in the 20th century increased car ownership, leading to a growing number of criminals attempting to evade police in their own vehicle or a stolen car. A police chase in southern Sweden in August 2020.Ī car chase is the vehicular overland chase of one party by another, involving at least one automobile or other wheeled motor vehicle in pursuit – commonly hot pursuit of suspects by law enforcers.