Pursuits A Necessary Law Enforcement Tool example essay topic

In Hot Pursuit There has been a heated debate over the last few years whether police chases are worth the risk of public safety to catch a fleeing criminal. Each year these hot pursuits end in the arrest of thousands of criminals wanted for a wide array of crimes. At the same time it can cause injury and some times even death. There is a huge misconception that police are out chasing the red-light violator or the burned-out tail light criminal.

This is not the case at all. They are protecting the community and chasing serious felons. That is why most cops defend their right to engage in these high-risk pursuits. No police officer wants to try to stop somebody that they believe is good for a crime just to let him walk away. If the person that is being chased is wanted for a crime, not that he is guilty, but just wanted for an investigation, then the police have every right to stop them and to do what is necessary to apprehend them. There is also another side to police pursuits with its own troubling statistics.

We know that when a pursuit begins it usually ends up causing accidents, injuries, and can some times even be fatal. Critics claim that most of these pursuits are unjustified. Some people say that the suspects flee because they don't have insurance or their license is revoked. They also say most of them are young and act on impulse and make a bad decision to run. Sometimes it ends up killing innocent people that are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Is the tragic human cost worth the price for high-speed pursuits?

On one side of the debate are the people who believe that pursuits should be severely restricted and abolished altogether. They say the police car seems to be the last unregulated weapon in law enforcement's arsenal. On the other side are the ones sworn to uphold the law and consider pursuits a necessary law enforcement tool. If you go to a no-pursuit law, you are giving a blanket for the criminals to commit any crime they want and law enforcement is not going to be able to do anything about it.

They will run every time because they know they will not be chased. If a person fleeing has a chance of hitting pedestrians, then you need to stop that vehicle at all costs. As the fatalities mount, no one can run from these issues, least of all the cop behind the wheel. It is safe to say that almost every time a pursuit evolves, it is going to end up in an accident or some sort of injuries. This is gut wrenching to police officers every time they are confronted with a chase and it is a big decision for them to make.

The majority of the people who want to see the pursuits come to an end are the ones who have lost a loved one in an accident. When cars are flying through residential neighborhoods where our family and children are, the odds go up that they could be killed or injured. It isn't limited to around our homes that these accidents can kill our family, but out in the town or on the highway as well. Your husband or wife could be heading home from work and before you know it they are killed and taken away from you because someone was afraid of getting a speeding ticket.

Then you might feel that the officer could have just gotten the license plate number and picked the suspect up at a later time. This is all true, but the officer has no way of knowing this at the time. The person might be running because he just robbed a convenience store or kidnapped a child from their home. We just don't know. That's why police go off statistics. Even though statistics show that pursuits end up with good arrests, many critics say that when a police officer is full of adrenaline he is not going to make as good of a choice when the chase should be called off.

This is why more police officers are being held accountable for their actions more than ever before. Most departments have a policy to protect the officer where their supervisor has the responsibility to tell the officer when to call off a chase if it is too dangerous. If they don't follow these orders they can be fired from their job and civil suits could be filed against the department. There is no argument that police chases are dangerous and people do get hurt. The police officer is held under a microscope by the public, and many rumors and myths are being suggested. Byron Dorgan, a U.S. Senator from North Dakota, was quoted as saying, "60% to 80% of all hot pursuit chases originate over minor traffic violations".

This is wrong information that was given by an important figure that makes people doubt the police. The truth is that about half of all pursuits begin from traffic violations and about three-quarters result in felony arrests. Many Americans think that the government is out to get them and that there is some great conspiracy that they are withholding from us. Misquotes like this by leaders in the community make it hard on law enforcement to make people feel confident in their police department. The law enforcement community understands the public concerns for safety and has developed better ways to help pursue fleeing criminals in recent years.

One of the best tools now is air support. Helicopters can safely patrol from the sky and there is little chance that the vehicle or criminal can get away. The only problem is that it is very expensive to run. Road spikes have also become popular by puncturing the tires and bringing the vehicle to a crawl. There are many people with different opinions about hot pursuits. The public needs to back the police up on this matter so the criminals know we are not going to tolerate this conduct in our community and when they do they can expect to be caught and punished for their actions.

If we allow them to get away with this behavior we are only adding to the chaos that is in our society today. As of now there are no better ways of catching a suspect. If people are concerned about the risks of high-speed pursuits, then they need to contact their public leaders and help with funding for better tools like the helicopter. Until this happens police chases will have to continue to be conducted from the ground.