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Arguments in favour of a secret pursuit policy
1. Criminals will be more cautious because they do not know when they will be pursued
One of the main justifications offered for keeping the most recent revisions to Victoria Police's pursuit policy unknown to the general public is that such secrecy will wrong foot criminals. In the absence of stated information as to what types of criminal action will provoke an immediate pursuit response, Victoria Police believe some potential offenders will err on the side of caution and not take the chance of being pursued.
This view has been expressed by police officers themselves. Before undertaking its most recent review of its pursuit policy, Victoria Police received nearly 3,000 responses from police officers to a survey dealing with the effectiveness of the former policy. These responses were called for and collated by the Police Association of Victoria, the representative body (or union) for members of Victoria Police. One of the principal apprehensions that officers who answered the survey expressed was concern over the way criminals were responding to a policy that was public knowledge. The Police Association of Victoria has stated, 'Members consistently reported a dramatic increase in the incidence of evades. This was predominantly attributed to public knowledge concerning details of the current pursuit policy.'
About 2000 police evasion offences were recorded from July to December 2015 under the restricted-pursuit policy. With a publicly announced restricted pursuit policy which detailed the circumstances under which offenders would not be pursued, many potential offenders clearly believed it was worthwhile to commit an offence and then attempt an escape in the relative certainty they would not be followed at speed.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer admitted, 'I would acknowledge there have been people who have given it a crack.'
In an opinion piece published in The Age on February 17, 2017, John Silvester stated that, following the public announcement of the risk reduction pursuit policy, 'Street police told of crooks doing burnouts at the front of police stations, flicking the bird at marked units and repeatedly trying to bait police into chases. And the number of times police cars were deliberately rammed jumped to more than 10 a month in 2016 or around one every three days.'
Assistant Commissioner Fryer has stated of the decision to keep the new policy secret, 'Now it is time to put the genie back in the bottle and put the cloak of mystery back on when we will and won't engage, so crooks don't know what they are going to get away with.'
The Assistant Commissioner has reiterated, 'It is my intention not to have a further public discussion around when our members will and won't engage.'
With regard to the new, revised pursuit policy, police members who responded to the Police Association of Victoria survey noted 'The communication of any subsequent policy change to both members and the public will heavily influence its future success.' The implication is that while police officers need to be well aware of the details of the new policy it may be better if the general community is not.
2. A secret Victoria Police pursuit policy will offer greater protection to the community
Victoria Police is of the belief that a secret police pursuit policy will result in greater protection and safety for the general public.
Assistant Commissioner Fryer has stated, 'We are not going to further educate the criminal element out there. By keeping [our pursuit policy] as quiet as we can, we'll increase the safety of the community as the crooks won't know when we will or won't engage.'
Referring to the previous, publicly-known, restricted pursuit policy, officers who responded to a Police Association of Victoria survey on the policy's effectiveness overwhelmingly stated, 'The policy, in its current form, has not curbed dangerous and erratic driving and therefore represents a threat to community safety.'
Some of the more notable and common criticisms expressed by members of the Police Association who took the survey included offenders engaging in 'baiting behaviour' with the known lack of a pursuit response having the effect of increasing, and not decreasing the safety risk to police officers and the community.
When detailing some of the ways in which public safety had been put at risk by the existing policy, Victoria Police members stated, 'There has been a perceived significant increase in crime rates, particularly with respect to motor vehicle theft and serious property crime, and a concomitant reduction in arrests. Overall, members stated that a reduction in pursuing has a causal and cyclical impact on offence rates. That is, a reduction in apprehension further emboldens offending behaviour.'
The situation has been complicated by a growing public lack of confidence in police pursuits leading members of the public to chase offenders themselves, dramatically increasing their risk of coming to harm.
Since the introduction of the further revisions to the pursuit policy and the secrecy around these changes the number of pursuits per month has risen from four or five a month to approximately 30. This means that a far larger number of those acting illegally are being held to account. It is believed that the larger number of pursuits should act to discourage criminal behaviour.
The arrest rate for offenders who are fleeing has also increased. Out of the 441 dangerous driving during a police pursuit offences committed since last July, 278 - or 63 per cent - have resulted in an arrest. This is seen as a trend which represents a positive development for public safety.
The rationale for policy secrecy appears to be, to operate effectively the new policy needs to be kept secret. The policy is operating and public safety has increased; therefore, its secrecy is necessary to preserve public safety.
3. Operational procedures in a number of sensitive areas are sometimes kept secret
Defenders of Victoria Police keeping their most recently revised pursuit policy secret have noted that a number of law enforcement procedures or public safety operations are not made known to the public in the interests of not warning potential offenders.
The News Manual, a journal explaining laws and procedures that affect journalists in Commonwealth countries, states, 'Many countries have official secrets legislation to stop their citizens from passing to foreign governments secret information which could damage the country.
This could be information about their armed forces and armaments - especially nuclear - or weapons research, such as biological warfare. It could also include intelligence gathering at home or spying overseas. It could even cover matters such as emergency plans in the case of a war, where the government will seek safety or how it will feed the nation.'
The Manual further states, 'Australia does not have an Official Secrets Act as such. It has provisions under the Crimes Act of 1914 which restrict Commonwealth public servants from revealing confidential information...
Individual states and territories may have legislation to prevent the disclosure of sensitive information... this can cover a host of issues not related to national security...'
The concept that certain information is too sensitive to be revealed is an established one within Australia's law enforcement and security communities.
The value of secrecy in achieving law enforcement ends has been noted. Professor Katherine Biber, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, has stated, 'Secrecy can be a strategy... Law has developed a range of terms and principles which might guard secrets against disclosure, and these principles emerge from the recognition that sometimes disclosure is harmful, and sometimes knowledge is distributed according to a hierarchy of interests, where one party's interest in disclosure is measured against another party's interest in non-disclosure.' According to this argument, police forces recognise that secrecy is a decision that may sometimes need to be taken in order to ensure the greater good.
Victoria Police's Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer has stated, 'We don't broadcast how we conduct investigations into counter-terrorism, organised and serious crimes ... nor should we further educate the criminal element of what we can and what we won't do in police pursuits.'
4. The policy is known to officers; breaches, injuries and deaths will be investigated; and all pursuit policies are regularly reviewed
Supporters of the current pursuit policy adopted by Victoria Police argue that while it is not known to the public it is well-known and understood by all members of the force.
Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer has stated, 'What we've done is provided absolute clarity to our members. They know what the policy is, they know when they can and can't engage but ... we don't want to talk about it publicly because we don't want to inform the criminal element around what the thresholds are.'
Assistant Commissioner Fryer continued, 'We have described to our members what they need to assess when they're considering a pursuit. When they apply that level of thinking it's our belief there'll be more pursuits because of it.'
Keeping members of Victoria Police informed of pursuit policies has been standard operational procedure since before 2011 when a recommendation that the 'Centre for Operational Safety continue to consider opportunities for incorporating new learning into training and organisational mediums' was accepted. Ongoing training in pursuit procedures was already in place and the recommendation that these continue and be extended was implemented.
The 2011 review of Victoria Police's pursuit policy operation made favourable comments on the training and information supplied to officers to ensure they are aware of and can follow the policy. The review stated, 'Analysis of Victoria Police policy and education since 2000 identified a total of 42 internal articles with references to police pursuits, critical incidents; their execution and management.'
These internal articles were designed 'to both educate and reinforce with police members their obligations to appropriately risk assess critical incidents, and pursuits, ensuring that their behaviour accorded with the expectations of management, and that they abided by the processes and directions established within internal policy.' Since then it has been noted that emails and internal videos are also used regularly to keep police informed of pursuit policy.
The 2011 review of pursuit policy was critical of the lack of review. Since its recommendation Victoria Police now has Divisional Pursuit Review Panels to review all pursuits and submit findings and conclusions to the Centre for Operational Safety. The Centre for Operational Safety also provides a consolidated quarterly report of pursuit reviews to Critical Incident Management Review Committee to inform ongoing training.
Any pursuit that results in a death is investigated internally by Victoria Police and externally by the coroner.
5. Keeping the most recent pursuit policy secret may increase public confidence in police practice
Victoria Police recognise the importance of public confidence in its operation. Community readiness to cooperate with police is largely dependent on the confidence people place in the effectiveness and ethics of its police officers.
Surveys measuring levels of public confidence in the criminal justice system have found that public trust and confidence are at critically low levels around the world, though there are some areas of the criminal justice system which are viewed more positively than others.
In August, 2011, Dr Karen Gelb of the Sentencing Advisory Council authored a report which noted, 'In particular, research comparing confidence levels across various agencies within the criminal justice system has consistently found that the public has the most confidence in the police and the least in the courts and prisons.'
Despite the relatively high levels of public confidence which Victoria Police enjoys, there are areas of its operations where there are significant levels of scepticism within the general community. Police pursuits have remained a problematic area for Victoria Police. A vigorous policy of pursuing offenders has resulted in public criticism, as has a more moderate, low intervention approach.
Commentators note that this is an area around which there will inevitably be public disquiet. Over the last thirty years on occasions where Victoria Police appear to have applied a proactive interpretation of pursuit policy and the resulting pursuits resulted in injury or death to members of the public there was criticism in the media and frequent calls for other the abolition or substantial winding back of pursuits.
Victoria Police has progressively adopted a more conservative approach to pursuits, with significant risk assessments and a reduction in the number of offences for which pursuit was considered justified. This approach has also meet with criticism for effectively allowing offenders to escape.
The difficulty of meeting public expectations regarding pursuits has been frequently noted. The secretary of the Police Association, Ron Iddles, commented immediately after the Bourke Street Mall attack, that it was a situation where members of Victoria Police are 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'. There are some who believe that a secret pursuit policy may deflect criticism and maintain public confidence, at least in the absence of a critical event that turns out badly.