Right: aftermath: police and paramedics at the scene of the Bourke Street incident.
Arguments against a secret pursuit policy
1. Criminals will continue to challenge the police Deterrence is one of the functions of a police force and a system of law that includes punishments. The knowledge that a police force exists and may apprehend an offender who will then receive punishment is meant to discourage people from committing crimes. The Victorian Sentencing Act (1991) states a function of sentencing is 'to deter the offender or other persons from committing offences of the same or a similar character.' However, critics of the current Victoria Police pursuit policy note that secrecy will not encourage criminals to respect the police. If potential offenders are not informed that a more rigorous pursuit policy is in place, they are likely to continue with the 'baiting' and other disregardful behaviour they had previously demonstrated toward members of Victoria Police. It has been claimed that the most obvious way to make criminals aware of a revised pursuit policy is to publish and advertise it. In the absence of a published statement, criminals will only learn of changed police behaviour from observing it. This implies that they have first broken the law and then attempted to flee the scene. It is only then that they would be able to observe whether the police were going to pursue them. It has been noted that in the past, when changes to policy have been made that have led to a reduced number of attempts to evade apprehension the effect reduces over time. For example there was a dramatic drop in pursuits in 2006, from over 700 in 2005 to approximately 550 the following year. Victoria Police Inspectorate Review 20 - 2011 Evaluation of Pursuits Final Report states, 'The drop in pursuit numbers in 2006 appears to correlate with the enactment of the Road Safety (Vehicle Impoundment and Other Amendments) Act 2005 and commenced on 1 July 2006... The legislation provided Victoria Police members with a legislative capacity to seize vehicles from offending drivers in certain circumstances. This capacity was a shift from previous legislation and the impact...on offending drivers may have discouraged them from fleeing rather than risk having their vehicle impounded.' However, data from the same inspectorate review indicates that pursuit numbers rose again in every year following 2006 to be above 700 again in 2011. While there are many factors which will account for this rise, the inhibiting effect of the 2006 vehicle impoundment legislation appears to have dissipated over time. If legislation such as the impounding law, which has been widely publicised, does not persistently discourage attempts to evade the police, an unadvertised policy is likely to be even less effective. As an indication of the failure of the secrecy measure to gain greater compliance with the law, it has been reported that since the revised policy was put in place 53 police cars have been rammed by criminals. 2. The community cannot have faith in a pursuit policy that is not made public One criticism of a secret pursuit policy is that it is difficult for the public to have confidence in a policy of which it has no knowledge. The response of many commentators to the Bourke Street Mall incident has indicated a lack of faith in the current pursuit policy. In a news report published in The Sunshine Coast Weekly, reporter Andrew Koubaridis stated, 'Much of the dismay has been directed at why the accused driver wasn't boxed in or forced from the road before he arrived in the city centre.' Critics have noted that this lack of confidence is related to a lack of understanding of what the existing pursuit policy actually allows. On July 27, 2016, The Geelong Advertiser ran a report on the newly revised Victoria Police pursuit policy which included a statement from Police Minister, Lisa Neville, 'The changes to be announced this week will have the clear message "you're not going to get away with it".' Ms Neville further stated, 'The changes will make it clearer that people will be pursued, but [officers] won't put others lives at risk.' Critics note that despite this assurance from the Police Minister the details of Victoria Police's newly revised pursuit policy were not made public. Without such detailed information the public cannot be confident that the pursuit policy being implemented by Victoria Police is a sound one. On January 24, 2017, The Conversation published a comment by Terry Goldsworthy, Assistant Professor in Criminology at Bond University. Professor Goldsworthy indicated his rejection of the secrecy currently being adopted by Victoria Police in relation to its pursuit policy, arguing that public confidence requires that the community is informed regarding matters that affect its members so vitally. Professor Goldsworthy stated, 'There must be transparency on policies that have such an impact on life-and-death situations involving innocent members of the public.' The 'Vision and Values' statement of the County Court Victoria indicates the connection between transparency and public confidence. The County Court states as one of its objectives 'Maintain and reinforce public trust and confidence in the Court and the administration of justice.' One of the measures through which it seeks to achieve this aim is 'transparency - open and reasoned decision making; clear, understandable processes.' Critics maintain that any secret policy is likely to undermine public confidence in its operation. 3. Inaccurate assumptions are likely to be made about the Victoria Police pursuit policy After the Bourke Street Mall incident, in which six people were killed when allegedly rammed by a driver already wanted by police, there were immediate assumptions made about the policy police officers were following when these deaths occurred. The day after the incident the ABC reported that one veteran police officer had stated that the families of those killed and injured had every right to question why police did not do everything they could to stop him earlier. The officer was quoted saying 'The no-pursuit policy is a disgrace, it's cowardly. There was ample opportunity to stop him in the two hours before he reached the city, but the order was not to pursue.' The difficulty with comments such as this is that even when the source is a police officer, his comment remains his interpretation of the policy as its exact wording cannot be scrutinised. In response to negative comments about the actions and inaction of the officers in pursuit of the driver, Deputy Victoria Police Commissioner Andrew Crisp has argued that claims being made about the Victoria Police and its policies are inaccurate. Deputy Commissioner Crisp stated, 'We are not a risk averse organisation. We attend critical incidents day in and day out and we resolve those incidents.' Deputy Commissioner Crisp further noted 'When it comes to pursuits, we know we've seen a change. We introduced changes six months ago, and we know we've gone from five or six pursuits a month to about 60 pursuits a month.' Divergent interpretations of the pursuit policy emanating from officers on the one hand and police commanders on the other foster a climate of speculation. On December 12, 2016, The Wimmera Mail Times published a comment and analysis by Tammy Mills in which she stated, 'Frustrated beat police call it a "no pursuit policy", but command says it is restricted and officers can continue to pursue as long as they stick to a strict risk assessment, which means chases are called off as soon as dangerous driving begins to occur.' Critics note that in the absence of community access to the pursuit policy the accuracy of such descriptions cannot be determined and inaccurate assumptions are likely to be made. 4. Police may not be sufficiently aware of the policy Concern has been expressed that one consequence of a secret Victoria Police pursuit policy could be that some officers are not sufficiently aware of the actions they are supposed to take. Following the Bourke Street Mall incident, The Age reported that a high-ranking police officer told Fairfax Media there were deep concerns and widespread confusion among members about when they should engage or abandon potentially dangerous car chases. The senior officer is reported to have stated, 'A lot of them feel they are being asked to do their job with one arm tied behind their back. It's easy to be an expert in hindsight, but there's a lot of cops who think more could have been done to stop him getting into the city.' A lack of clarity and awareness of existing pursuit policy would seem to be indicated by an email sent to all officers from Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp on September 13, 2016. Among the advice the email gave was 'Each circumstance that members face must be considered on its merits. Dynamic risk assessments must be conducted with a view to identifying that greater or lesser harm that could be posed. Members are reminded that firearms should not be discharged at or toward a moving vehicle in an attempt to disable the vehicle.' The email also included the advice 'Plan your approach and response when intercepting a stolen or suspect vehicle - time is on your side. Communicate that plan to your partner.' In the distressed and hypercritical atmosphere generated by the deaths of six innocent bystanders during the Bourke Street Mall incident, many commentators were dissatisfied with the directions given in this email from Deputy Commissioner Crisp. Former homicide squad detective Charlie Bezzina has stated that 'police are operating in an environment where there are too many directives to consider when an emergency arises.' After the Bourke Street Mall incident, Deputy Commissioner Crisp stressed that his email was not a directive but a reminder. He stated, 'My email...was not an instruction, it was a safety message just reinforcing training they had received previously.' What is concerning to some critics is that the email had to be sent at all. It suggests that officers are not sufficiently aware of their operating procedures in the event of a possible pursuit. 5. It is difficult to hold police accountable and to review policies when they are not publicly known Citizen contributions to the review of police practices have become increasingly valued in western democracies. In a 2001 US Department of Justice Issues and Practices publication titled, 'Citizen Review of Police: Approaches and Implementation' some of the benefits of citizen review were stated as 'has strengthened the quality of the department's internal investigations of alleged officer misconduct' and 'has made valuable policy and procedure recommendations'. Victoria Police regularly reviews its pursuit policy; however, public involvement is not invited and is impossible where a policy is secret. Critics of Victoria Police's current pursuit policy not being known to the public argue that it is difficult to review effectively polices that are not known outside the police force. When the current revised policy was introduced in June, 2016, it was not possible to discuss the changes that had been made either within the media or the general community because no details of the changes were released to the public. In the wake of the Bourke Street Mall incident there have been many calls for wide-spread discussion of the current Victoria Police pursuit policy and whether it matches what the Victorian public wants from its police force. A former senior police officer, who served twenty years with Victoria Police and who has asked to remain anonymous, has claimed, 'There needs to be greater community discussion about what we expect from our police. Night courts have been tried before and didn't help, we have police in armoured trucks and dressed like soldiers already and that cannot be the answer if the police feel powerless to act until a person has died.' As part of such a discussion, the Police Association of Victoria assistant secretary Bruce McKenzie has stated, 'The current pursuit policy handcuffs [officers] considerably when it ought to be our members who are handcuffing the drug-crazed lunatics that seem to be appearing on our streets.' Such remarks could be the beginning of a wider community discussion; however, critics note that without knowing what the current pursuit policy is, it is impossible to offer an opinion on the accuracy of Mr McKenzie's remark. Critics note that as the existing pursuit policy has not been made known outside Victoria Police, community discussion about its adequacy cannot be had and any remarks about it have to be treated as speculative. The United States Department of Justice in its statement on Principles of Good Policing (revised September 2003) has stressed the importance of openness in holding police accountable for their policies and actions. It states, 'The police department...exists only for the purpose of serving the public to which it must be accountable. An important element of accountability is openness.' |
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