[Greens-Media] Media Release: NSW Police seriously over-represented in dangerous police car chases

[David Shoebridge MLC]

*NSW Police seriously over-represented in dangerous police car chases*



New South Wales police are grossly overrepresented in recently released
national police pursuit data, showing NSW police engage in police chases
almost 2.5 times as often as their nearest jurisdiction of Victoria.  The
study also shows that more than one in three deaths from police pursuits
are of innocent passengers or bystanders.



The research in the Australian Institute of Criminology report on police
motor vehicle pursuits is matched by new data received by the Greens from
parliamentary questions. The  figures also reveals a significant
over-representation of Indigenous Australians killed in police chases.


As reported in the SMH:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/questions-over-police-chase-crashes-20130605-2nq5z.html


Greens NSW MP and Justice spokesperson David Shoebridge said:



“The NSW Police Minister needs to take a good hard look at these figures
and account for why NSW Police are escalating traffic offences to high
speed chases – increasing the risk of serious injury or death to the
drivers, passengers, police and innocent bystanders.



“The Greens support a balanced approach to this issue with less pursuits
but also consideration of increased penalties for drivers who seek to flee
from police or evade an RBT stop.



“It is well and truly time that the NSW police considered the kind of
reforms to police pursuits that have been so successful in other
jurisdictions such as Queensland and Miami Dade county in the US.



“These jurisdictions have adopted a more restrictive pursuits policy
recognising that the costs of pursuits in injuries, damage, financial costs
and liability suits far outweigh the benefits in terms of arresting
offenders, deterrence and crime control.



 “The fact that offending drivers are impaired by drugs and alcohol
presents not only a risk to themselves but also greatly increases the risks
to innocent bystanders, passengers and police in any police chase.



“A police pursuit should only be undertaken on the basis of the seriousness
of the initial alleged offence, rather than on subsequent traffic
violations.



“The statistics regarding Indigenous deaths in police car chases are yet
another sign that our criminal justice system is failing indigenous
Australians,” Mr Shoebridge said.

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*Media Contact: 9230 3030 or 0433 753 376*

*     Background   *

*     N**SW – out of step nationally*



The national study reveals that more than one in three deaths during police
pursuits are of innocent bystanders, police or innocent passengers.



NSW is well out of step with all other jurisdictions when it comes to the
frequency of police pursuits, undertaking pursuits more than twice as often
as police do in Victoria.



In 2011 NSW police undertook 1,781 police pursuits while Victorian police
chased 721 times and Queensland police undertook just 286 pursuits.



Figures obtained by the Greens in NSW Parliament show that this trend
continued in 2012 with NSW police undertaking 1,622 pursuits from 1 January
to 28 November 2012.



The national study shows that across Australia more than half of all
offenders who are killed in police pursuits were being pursued for drink
driving or other traffic related offences.



However the situation in NSW is far more troubling with the figures
provided to the Greens showing that more than 75% of all police pursuits in
this State are for traffic offences or failure to stop at an RBT.



Nationally, in almost 90% of cases where toxicology reports were available
the research shows that the driver who was killed in the pursuit was
affected by alcohol or other drugs.



This is not just a city issue – almost half of all fatal police pursuits
occur in rural or remote locations.

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*Aboriginal over-representation*

The large number of police chases in the regions is also reflected in the
unacceptably high level of Indigenous Australians killed in police chases.



>From a population base of just 2.5% of the population Indigenous
Australians make up 17% of all deaths in police pursuits.



This means Indigenous Australians are almost 7 times as likely to be killed
in a police chase as non-Indigenous Australians.

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David Shoebridge

Greens MP in the NSW Legislative Council

P: (02) 0408 113 952|Media: 0433 753 376|T:
@ShoebridgeMLC<http://twitter.com/#%21/shoebridgemlc>

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