Citation

Christie N. Safety Sci. 2020; 129: e104848.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104848

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Pursuits are one of the most risky activities the police undertake and research suggests that it is not always a proportionate response. To strengthen the evidence base more information is needed to understand circumstances which trigger a pursuit, howsafetyis managed and the proportionthat involve injury. Analysis of Metropolitan Police Service pursuit data (2016-18) was carried out and 24interviews were conducted among police drivers andcontrol room staff to explore factors which generate pursuits and influence their safety. The proportion of pursuits that resulted in an injury was3.7%. Only 1% of pursuits involved an injury to a member of the public not involved in the pursuit. Interview data suggested that pursuit safety could be improved by drivers giving clearer justification of why they decided to pursue in the first place, more training of operators to perform risk commentaries, greater use of pre-emptive strategies and by continuing the checks and balances provided by control room staff. Moreover, fear of personal repercussions, concerns of facing criminal investigation in the event of a crash and public scrutiny made all staff involved in the management of pursuits risk averse. Recommendations for improving safety include refresher driver training in line with other operations which can involve lethal force such as firearms and improving risk commentary training for operators. Technologies that track or immobilise a vehicle and curtail a pursuit need to be more widely available and in the future drones could be used as an alternative to helicopter deployment.

Language: en

Keywords

Police pursuits; Risk management; Safety