Screw the spikes!

Yeah, I've said it before and I'll say it again:

I HATE PIGS.

glycolized:

A device like that would depend on splicing into something important, which means probably toward the front. Toward the back all you could do is maybe short out the ABS, or splice into the wiring for the rear lights. Juicing that wouldn't disable the car, probably just blow the fuse that controls the tail lights.

I really pity any auto manufacturer that puts injectors/fuel pumps on the same circuit as rear tail lights.

glycolized: There have been a number of attempts at this. You may be remembering a device that was a spike on a pole on the front of the cop car. The idea was to ram it through the rear sheet metal of the perp's car, where the spike head would expand, attaching the two cars. Then the cop car would slow down, dragging the perp's car to a halt. There was also a device that used a microwave transmitter to disrupt the electronics of the fuel injection system. I haven't seen where any department is using either of these.

Then there was the proposal where every car would have to be equipped with a cutoff circuit that a cop could activate just by beaming a pulsed light gun at it. I was all for that: I could really reduce my commute time if I could disable all the other cars on the freeway.

If red or blue lights or sirens are approaching you from either direction, you are obligated to pull to left side of the road and come to a complete stop. . .

unless you're in Ontario, in which case blue lights and sirens mean a snowplow in a hurry.

Polishwonder, no problem. Next time someone you care about needs 911, I may just decide to ignore them.

glycolized:

ive already said that onstar-like technology will stop car chases in 10-20 years when they are phased im... im sure there will be older cars that dont have them...

as part of the security package, they have the option to kill the fuel injection system... along with all the GPS navigation crap...

cute huh?

Why not just use a tractor beam, like they do on Star Trek?

I'm still wondering why don't the police just use snipers in helicopters to blow up some engines/tires of cars trying to get away (Instead of just a chase cam which does next to nothing)

I too was almost killed once by cops chasing a guy, they (suspect and three cop cars) were all going the wrong way on a highway. they blasted through intersections so on and so on. Ended up that the guy crashed a mile or two down the road into a suburban with a family of 5 in it.alll DEAD. what did the guy fleeing the cops do? routine pull over for busted tail lights!!!! also here in mineapolis not to long ago a female officer used her police car to help her friend get to a hockey game she was late to. traveling at speeds around 110 mph they ended up causing a fairly bad accident. She then lied about what she was doing and didnt get caught untill later in the investigation. and has since only been suspended.

there are jackholes everywhere, some of them are cops. But shouldnt policemen and women have better judjment than this?

i think so, would you like your whle family dead, or yourself for that matter because some cop has a hard on to pull some joint smoking hippy over?

e.m.p.

How is racing you car through the streets any different that randomly shooting a gun off every which way? Race your car->shoot to kill the bastard. Screw the chase!

It's obvious that the police need to be selective when it comes to high-speed chases. I don't know about everyone, but I don't want to have my car totalled, or, worse yet, get killed by somebody being chased because he didn't want a speeding ticket.

Living in TN I have this comment

2 weeks ago, a man who stole a truck and was being pulled over on suspicion of DUI ended up in a high speed chase through a thorougly residential neighborhood. I had been hearing the sirens for up to 10 minutes before I went out (I was heading down to grab some food and talk to a friend)

I got to watch first hand as 3 police chased this guy onto a main road and into a minivan filled with illegal imigrants (aka the uninsured), missing my ass by 1 minivan, he then took his ass out of the car and ran through a few yards of houses before finally being caught.

High speed chases through residential neighborhoods are just begging to cause an accident. And the accident they cause could be me!!

This guy's crime was stealing a $5,000 truck. Because of the chase 3 people (uninsured) were in the hospital, 2 vehicals destroyed, and I had to go an extra 2 blocks to get around the shut-off-street when I was coming back from having a nasty slice of pizza.

This is the third such incident in 3 years in my hood. The second incident to have more than 1 car totalled, and the second incident to have me having to drive a block out of my way to get home.

The man has skynet, they just need to track their asses and send a terminator fish after the perps.

lesson for the morally challenged:

police officers: good guys
farknuts who run away from them while committing crimes and endangering people: bad guys who need to be CAUGHT

cops who kill inocent people to get off on a high speed chase of some perp who ran a red light: Anti christ

I'm sure it's been mentioned, but radio outruns the quickest dumbass.
High speed pursuits are stupid and irresponsible.

2004-02-08 04:30:19 PM Polishwonder74
Yeah, I've said it before and I'll say it again:
I HATE PIGS.

You make your mom cry.

/idiot

I think you are all missing the point. This would never have happened if the crazy old man had been in the (proper) right lane instead of the (passing) left lane. Also, why did he have his left turn signal on when he was already in the left lane?

/Sorry, only read the first couple paragraphs.

I always love the police chases you see on "World's craziest police chases" etc on Fox that are filmed from a police helicopter.

If they have a helicopter watching the chase, why not just back off the cruisers, turn off the chopper's spotlight so the perp in the car thinks the cops gave up, and just follow the perp until he/she stops the car? No perp driving like a lunatic, no cop cars fishtailing all over the place. And it sends a message that perps shouldn't bother running, because they'll always be caught.

The solution is clear. Build something in the engines of cars that shut off when a specially emitted tone is detected. That tone would only be given off from a police car or emergency vehicle.

Hey, Polishwonder74.

You probably hate pigs because you spent your whole life squealing like one.

You gota purty mouth, boy...

anyone ever heard of EMP??
this would end most car chases easily.
If not, then a LAW or RPG.
Should do the trick.


/hates criminal a**holes

Polishwonder74

Yeah, I've said it before and I'll say it again:

I HATE PIGS.

But bacon tastes good. Pork chops taste goood.

Polishwonder74

If you "hate pigs", next time your getting ripped off or your ass beat somewhere, call your slacker buddies.

And of course I meant "you're", not "your".

/heading off the grammar nazis

The only alternative to this is giving the police the power to de-activate any vehicle, such as with the bait cars.

Now what would you choose? Chases, or power over your car?

I got pulled over in Wyoming for 135 on a Honda Interceptor.

This was some years ago. Went by a sign that said "Area Patrolled by Aircraft". I thought "Yeah right."
There was nothing - NOTHING - around for miles and the road ended in a dot on horison. I kept moving.

10 minutes later I saw a shadow go over me... in the shape of an aircraft.
"No way." I thought.

Another 10 minutes later I crested a hill and at bottom of it was two patrol cars nose to nose across the road.

I pulled up and just held my hands out to be cuffed.

Cops laughed and wrote me a Five Dollar ticket. Said I could pay it now or later. I asked WTF and they explained that they don't want to enforce the mandated speed limits and that it costs like 22 dollars to process the tickets. They charge 5 for misuse of energy resources and the Feds have to pay the rest of the processing bill.

I gave him a 10 and nodded... Cop grinned... and I took off. Kicked it back up to 135.

This was like 15 years ago.

When did cops become the bad guys? The only people I know who "Hate those farking cops" are reefer addicts or conspiricy theorists.

/I cant spell or form logical thoughts, i went to public schools.

Yo HowlingFrog
During Christmas some neighborhood kids would rip down
the light on my house, Soooo on the fourth time I called the cops
what does he do, say nothing I can do about your lights,
but ask for my ID, then Checks Me For Warrents
can't get the kids so maybe me instead

This reminds me of an episode of 7th Heaven where...I mean an episode of the Simpsons, yeah that's the ticket. I was watching this Simpsons episode with a car chase. Not 7th Heaven; I saw no low-speed car chases on that show. And you can't prove I did!

/runs off to hide

As for EMPs: Difficult to generate in something like a car. Also difficult to control the direction of, and would probably take the cop car out of comission, not to mention other surrounding electronics.

As to the electronic microwave stop device some people have talked about: It's called a HERF gun. Doesn't perminantly fry electronics, just disrupts them. Two major problems though. First, requires a ton of juice to work, espically at the range required to work on a car. Second, if you kill the engine and electronics of a modren car, they become REALLY hard to control. Try it some time, find a safe place with nothing you're going to hit, get going, then kill your engine. You'd be amazed how hard your vehicle is to control. Now add that to high speed and someone who is in a paniced state of mind and you'd be asking for a crash.

As for snipers in helicopters: Difficult. It takes a good deal of skill to hit a moving target from a braced position, it is VERY difficult to hit a moving target from a moving platform, espically one that isn't all that stable. Too likely you'd end up hitting something (or someone) else. Shooting from the air works fine when you use a high speed cannon and aren't too concerned about colleratal damage but doesn't work so well for sniping moving targets. Also has the problem that loosing a tire in a blowout causes a loss of control and makes a crash more likely.

There is, unfortunately, no good solution. Just letting criminals go isn't acceptable since that will simply prompt them to run. Helicopters certianly help, but don't solve the problem and many crooks KEEP running, even if they aren't being chased on the ground. We live in an imperfect world and car chases seem to be a necessary part of keeping order, though not an ideal solution.

"During Christmas some neighborhood kids would rip down
the light on my house, Soooo on the fourth time I called the cops
what does he do, say nothing I can do about your lights,
but ask for my ID, then Checks Me For Warrents
can't get the kids so maybe me instead"

Checks you for warrents at home? Couldn't you just close your door and act like you left??

The solution is clear. Build something in the engines of cars that shut off when a specially emitted tone is detected. That tone would only be given off from a police car or emergency vehicle.

Yes, this is neither oversimplistic nor the start of a slippery slope.

There is an obvious solution: follow them, don't attempt to stop them. Helicopters (trading off for fuel concerns) are an excellent tool. Just have cops waiting where you think they'll go. If you can get them to drive 10 mph less, you significantly reduce the risk of a crash.
If you're in a rural area where no traffic is expected for a bit, by all means try to run them off or use an EMP device similar to those employed in Europe.

Now if there's a hostage, there's no easy answer.

All you "law 'n' order" types that say the cops should be able to chase with impunity will think a lot differently if your wife or daughter is killed in the process.

No amount of drug busts or a parking ticket is worth a child's life.

I mean, in a hostage situation, for obvious reasons cops shouldn't go in with guns blazing. This is no different.

Someone should do a study that relates whether police chasing increases or decreases the amount of people trying to flee (the latter is the intuitive answer, but you might be surprised).

Also, how about using the cops to clear the way ahead primarily, instead of being in a hot chase?

mattybdogeater:

Let's see a source on that story. I've been living here for a while and never heard of that one. Neither has Google. It's very possible I've overlooked something, but with the amount of shiat given to the MPD, I have my doubts. Link please.

The solution is clear. Build something in the engines of cars that shut off when a specially emitted tone is detected. That tone would only be given off from a police car or emergency vehicle.
Yeah, that works all well for the morons who drive automatic transmissions, but if the ignition is killed in a manual when the guy's doing 120+, it will result in an instant uncontrolled vehicle. Careening out of control and hitting anything in it's path.

I've got an idea, to all the Roscoe P. Coltraines in this thread, how about only chasing the people who actually commit a real crime? You're close enough to get their plate, just put it on an APB and get them when they pull over later. It's not like they're going to get away. Just because you pop a hardon every time someone dares to thwart your perceived authority (for which I have two words: Get Bent) doesn't mean you automatically get to put everyone in your path at risk.

Frankly, I would be very, very surprised if all the Roscoes stopped hot pursuit didn't result in criminals slowing down. Right now we have a minority of departments with these rules, so all the little catty b*tches get to carp on how it doesn't make a difference - which isn't surprising because the majority of the time they get chased. Cause. Effect. Read up on it sometime.

The world is not black and white. Cops are not always good guys. Sometimes they're worse than the people they're pulling over. Care to guess how many women I've known who've been beaten repeatedly by their cop boyfriend, who's cheating on his wife, who he also beats? It's more than a couple. Care to guess how many other cops would help them with it? It's less than 1.

Frankly, I generally have a lot of respect for large city cops (though they have bad apples, too), but the suburban cops have proven themselves to be glorified traffic ticket revenue streams. They couldn't get a job with a real department, so they ended up in the boonies. And man are they pissy about it.

BTW, anyone remember the COPS segment where the camera crew was inside a vehicle during hot pursuit? Which was t-boned by another vehicle trying to get in on the pursuit? An ever-increasing number of vehicles driving recklessly and gosh, whoda thunkit?

Why do we let police departments police themselves? No wonder they always get SUSPENDED WITH PAY pending...blah blah. Like putting Hitler in charge of cleaning up the concentration camps.