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Police Pursuits: a Necessary Evil

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Submitted By beatdown916
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Pages 6
Since the birth of law enforcement police officers have always had to pursue the criminal. These pursuits started on foot, advanced to horseback and finally the automobile. Any one of these methods of pursuits of criminals can be dangerous, but with the creation of the automobile, high speed pursuits became more deadly. In the field of Law Enforcement, there are many inherent dangers that can cause injury or even death to police officers and civilians. New recruits train hours in the art of driving at close range and high rates of speed. Yet when it comes to actual pursuits, it is all dependent on the officer and the choices he or she makes, whether or not to pursue the criminal. There have been many of studies discussing whether or not police officers should engage in the pursuit when the criminal does not yield to the police officers sirens. On the other hand, the effectiveness of apprehending a criminal out shines the negatives in police pursuits. In this research paper, I will be discussing the disagreements about police pursuit driving and why it is such an ongoing issue in law enforcement. Also, I will be discussing my thoughts and opinions regarding this issue. In regard to the issue of police pursuits, many people argue that police pursuit driving is inherently dangerous because of the amount of civilian deaths that have occurred. For instance, in the article “High-Speed Police Pursuits” by John Hill, Hill stated that, “one person dies every day as a result of a police pursuit. On average, from 1994 through 1998, one law enforcement officer was killed every 11 weeks in a pursuit, and 1 percent of all U.S. law enforcement officers who died in the line-of-duty lost their lives in vehicle pursuits. Innocent third parties who just happened to be in the way constitute 42 percent of persons killed or injured in police pursuits. Further, 1 out of

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