The death of a seventeen month old little girl will reignite the controversy over police car pursuits. The public expect the police to protect them from bandits but in many cases high speed police chases under lights and sirens delivers casualties - and even deaths - to innocent members of the public.
This unfortunate incident highlights the uncertainty of outcome in even the most clear cut cases.
The police received reports of a stolen Audi being used in armed robberies of several businesses in the Constitution Hill suburb of Sydney. Several police cars located this Audi and gave chase and they expected a successful outcome when the car turned into a culdesac.
Apparently, the Audi driver had local knowledge because the house at the end of the culdesac had a park on the rear side of the property. He gunned the car at full speed through the metal fence and scattered children playing in the yard, crashing through the opposite fence and into the park, where a further group of young people were playing cricket, and made a successful escape.
A seventeen month old child was innocently playing with other children in the yard when this car deliberately crashed through and caused her death. It seems that one of the pursuing police cars followed the Audi through the yard, but precisely what happened will have to wait until the coroners enquiry.
The police have constantly revised their pursuit policies and they now require initial permission from a central control to commence. Safety conditions are constantly monitored and if the risk factor increases the pursuit is ended. A new law was added to the law books to inflict heavy punishment on those who instigate a police pursuit. This was named "Skye's Law " to honour a child killed when a car being pursued crashed into a family vehicle and caused the death of this child.
This latest death will increase the conflict that applies to police pursuits. On the one hand, the public expects the police to intervene in cases of armed robbery and there would have been every expectation that the chase must end when a car becomes trapped in a culdesac. The danger factor would involve the possible use of firearms. If the driver refused to surrender and capture developed into a fire fight there is the chance that members of the public could be harmed - but the public would expect the police to take down the gunman to prevent future risk.
What was not expected was the decision to ram the car through two fences of a property to access a park and use this method to make an escape. No consideration was given to the safety of those likely to be in the yard by the driver desperate to escape and this action led to the tragic death of an innocent child.
Some sections of the public want a total ban on all forms of police pursuit and clearly this is impractical. It would be a clear indication to the criminal fraternity to rob and plunder with impunity. The police must be allowed to do their job, and any pursuit also delivers a risk factor to those doing the pursuing - and policing is a high risk job.
It is worth considering that the police who stormed the coffee shop siege in Martin Place did so in the expectation that the hostage taker had a bomb in his backpack. Should he detonate such a bomb - or should a stray bullet set it off - the survival of the rescue party would be doubtful. It takes a high degree of courage to lay your life on the line in such circumstances.
The passenger in that Audi has been arrested and the driver is known to police. Arrest is inevitable and he will be called upon to atone for that fateful decision. What we do not need is a knee jerk reaction that applies impractical restraints to what is really a freak incident. No law change can cut the risk factor to zero !
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