High-speed pursuits banned in WA

[jpd80]

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Western Australia's 5800 police officers have been issued with a union directive banning high speed pursuits.

The Sunday Times says the union took action in frustration at disciplinary action taken against officers, who have been accused of driving too fast in pursuits.

The paper says the union is particularly irate about the use of automatic vehicle locators (AVLs) in police cars to build a case against the officers. The union argues the locators are inaccurate at recording speed.

Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan called the union action irresponsible and urged officers to do their jobs. He's called an urgent meeting with the union for Monday to discuss the issue.

"I don't think this action is satisfactory at all and I think potentially it could lead to some level of anarchy if it becomes a common approach to high-speed pursuits," he said.

Union president Russell Armstrong said the directive had been issued because "inaccurate information" from AVLs in police cars had led to disciplinary action against several police officers. AVLs are not certified speed detectors.

In WA, every police car is fitted with an AVL, a device operated by a global-positioning system, which provides information about the car's location and speed to the Police Operations Centre.

Interesting development, when officers starts being disciplined for inappropriate chases
then there's no wondering why the union doesn't want members being exposed to further action.
Maybe WA police should start following their own rules and using use proper speed detectors.