New Blog 1: Cop Chase Games

Sunday 9 December 2012

Cop Chase Games

A car chase is the vehicular pursuit of suspects by law enforcers. Car chases are often captured on film and broadcast due to the availability of video footage recorded by police cars and police and media helicopters participating in the chase. They are a popular subject with media and audiences due to their intensity and drama and the innate danger of high-speed driving. Car chases occur when a suspect attempts to use a vehicle to escape from law enforcement attempting to detain or arrest them. The assumed offence committed may range from misdemeanours such as traffic infractions to felonies as serious as murder. When the suspect realizes that they have been spotted by law enforcement, they attempt to lose their pursuers by driving away, sometimes at high speed. In 2002, 700 pursuits were reported in the city of Los Angeles. Police use a number of techniques to end chases, from pleading with the driver, waiting for the driver's vehicle to run out of gas, or hoping the driver's vehicle becomes somehow disabled to more forceful methods such as boxing in the vehicle with police cruisers, ramming the vehicle, the PIT maneuver, shooting out the tires, or the use of spike strips, though all efforts, many of which pose risk to all involved as well as bystanders, will be aimed at avoiding danger to civilians. When available, a helicopter may be employed, which in some cases, may follow the vehicle from above while ground units may or may not be involved. The StarChase system as of summer 2009 was in use by the Arizona Department of Public Safety.