OZschwitz policy on poLICE pursuits censored

Subject: OZschwitz policy on poLICE pursuits censored Thu Aug 12, 2010 3:02 am

THERE are nine reasons why police in NSW may terminate a pursuit. But police want you to know only one of them.

In response to a Herald request under the new Government Information (Public Access) Act, NSW Police has released its secret safe driving policy. It governs how police conduct pursuits: when to start them, how to run them and when to call them off. Over the years state coroners have criticised the policy.

In January, after a toddler, Skye Sassine, was killed in a pursuit, police refused to release any part of the policy under freedom-of-information laws. The new law requires the release of information unless ''there is an overriding public interest against disclosure''.

The Herald received a copy - but with deletions to nine of its 43 pages. These sections related to the ''lawful method and technique employed by the NSW Police Force … to detect and investigate contraventions of the criminal law'', the Herald was told.

''The effectiveness of [police] depends heavily on the use of such investigative techniques and those details must remain confidential.''

The only reason for terminating a pursuit not deleted was: ''[If] there is reason to believe the information received from [the police cars involved] is incorrect or inaccurate.''

In the first half of this year police conducted 810 pursuits, 84 fewer than the same time the year before. Most of them lasted less than two minutes.

According to the policy, a pursuit may be initiated when a car ignores a direction to stop. But it states pursuits are a ''last resort'' and ''no criticism will be levelled at any officer who decides to terminate a pursuit''.

''You should ensure that there is reasonable cause to believe that the person being pursued has committed, or has attempted to commit, an offence, and the offender is attempting to evade apprehension,'' one of the nine guidelines for conducting a pursuit states. Only five of these were released in full.

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OZschwitz policy on poLICE pursuits censored

OZschwitz policy on poLICE pursuits censored

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