this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2024
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Fuck Cars

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[–] [email protected] 68 points 5 days ago (4 children)

Car chases are so pointless. Trace the plates and wait at thier home. Track the millions of cameras in the city and go to thier location. Im sure there's more non-violent methods than those they can use too.

The above is assuming police actually want to create a safer environment for everyone, though. Unfortunately its a lot more fun for them to Judge Dredd every possible encounter.

[–] Kanzar 19 points 5 days ago (1 children)

There's been cloned plates, and no plates. Still, safest is helicopter tracking them down.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Track the millions of cameras in the city and go to thier location.

Helicopters are another good non-violent solution, too.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Drones would be even better.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 days ago

Years and years ago they showed how they can sticky-bomb a gps tracker onto the car. Where’s that tech? It’s probably dirt fuckin cheap. But these ~~people~~ cops can’t help but want to be the star of their very own renegade cop action flick

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

They would be, maybe. That takes away the adrenaline rush though.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 days ago

Like shooting, car violence is fun (is what I can deduct from these headlines).

It also keeps the plebs in check reminding them they are nothing & should carry on living with a constant but vague sense of fear & anxiety about existing within their class.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 days ago

I agree about the car chases, but we also just saw in real life that the surveillance state in NYC is nowhere near where we might assume it was.

A man assassinated a CEO in broad daylight in Midtown, fled on foot and bicycle, and was able to disappear completely in minutes. The supposed suspect was only found by sheer luck at a McDonald's in a different state.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

The issue is if the driver can get out of sight of all cameras/helicopters and leave the vehicle. Then there's no proof they were actually driving and could claim the vehicle was stolen or something.

[–] Ookami38 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Which is preferable to running down an innocent person in a pointless chase. Where's the issue, exactly?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

That's not comparable lol? You do realise it's possible for police to give chase without endangering the surrounding people?

If it's a common occurrence that innocents are being endangered by police chases then the police are obviously to be blamed for dangerous pursuits.

My former comment was simply stating the reason why police give chase at all, instead of letting everyone off the hook if they feel like not stopping. Not really sure why people are downvoting...

[–] Ookami38 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You say "the issue is the person could get out of sight of cameras". Meaning they potentially get away with a crime.

The implication is that you want these chases to continue.

My point is, I'd RATHER see the person go free than even POTENTIALLY run the risk of a high speed chase that necessarily endangers people not involved.

That's why you're getting downvoted. You're implying you want high speed chases.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

This completely depends on the ratios and the crimes and a lot of other factors. What if the person fleeing is a suspected murderer? I'd rather see a police chase potentially endangering innocents than allowing someone definitely endangering innocents walk free.

Another example, which is very common, is that the person fleeing is under the influence of some drug. Allowing that person to drive off is also endangering innocents, sometimes more and sometimes less than a police chase would.

My point is that police chases are not something you can just get rid of completely and think you're protecting the public. But I agree with the purpose of the article, if there has been a huge increase in dangerous police chases after some change in leadership, it's very likely that the police are to blame for bad decision making on whether to give chase or not.

Again, as I said before, my original comment was replying to the idea of never giving chase and always trying to catch them later, which is not always the best option.

[–] Ookami38 0 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Except that it is always the better option. There is NO scenario where having two insane people running around in 2 ton vehicles is better than one. Let the person go, get a helicopter following him (it should be easy if he's driving erratically) and apprehend when he inevitably stops. Police have resources besides sheer brute force, they should use THOSE rather than the gun and the police chase.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 days ago

So you're saying a police giving chase is always as dangerous a driver as someone drunk beyond their ears? And a 10 min chase ending in a crash is always worse than someone driving around for an hour potentially running over several times more people only to then crash either way?

Of course in most cases I agree brute force is not the correct option, but there are situations where it's needed.