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Further implications
Any Victoria Police policy has at least three audiences and three purposes - the police officers who must implement it, the criminal community whom it is meant to deter and the general public whom it is meant to reassure. The difficulty with Victoria Police's pursuit policy is that it does not readily operate in the manner intended.
Police pursuits have always been controversial. Over the last thirty years the policy has placed an ever-greater emphasis on community safety over the apprehension of suspected offenders. Officer compliance with the new emphasis has also increased, though compliance does not equal satisfaction. The 2016 survey of officer attitudes to the second most recent policy conducted by The Police Association of Victoria indicated a general desire for change. Claims about restricted pursuits leaving officers with insufficient power to apprehend criminals and prevent further crime are frequently reported, often from officers who request to remain anonymous.
The issue is difficult in part because consequences can be dire irrespective of policy. Vigorous pursuit policies or the vigorous implementation of more moderate policies have resulted in significant numbers of deaths, sometimes those of completely innocent passengers or bystanders, sometimes of those who have done no more than commit a traffic offence. This has led to excoriating coroners' reports and adverse media coverage where police are condemned for failing to balance potential benefit against risk.
Where, on the other hand, police have adopted a more conservative approach and have monitored rather than pursued offenders and there has been a serious offence committed as a result the police are condemned. This is the situation that has emerged out of the Bourke Street Mall attack where police observed the driver of the vehicle which later ploughed into crowds of shoppers, rather than attempt to apprehend him while he was driving erratically or in a densely populated area.
No policy is going to achieve the desired outcome in all situations. What has complicated the situation further is that more moderate pursuit policies, while reducing community risk of being involved in potential fatal traffic accidents, appear to have emboldened some criminals who are now taunting police to the point of ramming police vehicles, secure in the belief that they will not be pursued.
It is in this context that Victoria Police decided not to publicly announce the nature of its most recent pursuit policy. The implications are fairly obvious. Though the new policy appears to be less moderate than the last, as evidenced by the increase in pursuits from four or five a month to sixty, it is still sufficiently restrictive that Victoria Police believes that many offenders if they were aware of its details would be prepared to take a chance on committing a crime and then not being pursued.
At the heart of the problem is that police policies are intended to act as deterrents, making potential offenders aware of what will occur should they break the law. In this case, a concern for public safety has resulted in moderate policies which then function as an inducement to criminals to see how much they can get away with. This is primarily what has led to the most recent Victoria Police pursuit policy not being announced publicly. However, such secrecy then creates a climate where the public is not reassured and where speculation replaces information. Such a situation is particularly damaging when there are deaths as the result of the implementation of the policy.
Victorian Coroner Justice Sara Hinchey has been placed in charge of the investigation into the deaths in Melbourne's CBD, and will probe a number of issues, including the police handling of the incident. It has been claimed by the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, and the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Graham Ashton, that the coroner's examination of the events surrounding the attacks in Bourke Street Melbourne on January 20, 2017, will be 'forensic'. Given the number and nature of the deaths the media attention the coroner's hearing will attract will also be very great.
Regarding the actions of the police, the coroner will need to examine both Victoria Police's current pursuit policy and whether the officers involved were faithfully implementing it. In these circumstances the policy is not going to be able to remain confidential.
In retrospect is apparent that it was never going to be possible to keep a pursuit policy permanently secret. One serious incident involving a loss of life during a police pursuit is all that would have been required to bring the policy out into the light of public examination. The coroner may also make a recommendation as to whether attempting to keep police pursuit policies secret is a desirable practice.