"We chase because we know what happens if we don't." (File photo)

I've been disappointed with the recent discussion around police pursuits, so allow me to explain from the perspective of a humble front-line cop who we chase, why we do it and what would happen if we stopped.

Who we chase

Almost all the police pursuits I've been involved in were after stolen cars, which are very much the first step in a potential crime spree.

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These cars are almost exclusively driven by people who have prolific histories of serious criminal offences such as robbery and burglary. Often the drivers are young and very active offenders encouraged by their friends and supported by gangs.

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I'll concede sometimes this is not the case - occasionally drunk drivers or over-confident car enthusiasts might try to take off.

A boy racer evading police because we've seen him doing a burnout can seem like a minor issue to chase a car over. But in Melbourne in January 2017, we saw burnouts quickly spiral into a rampage that left five dead and 30 injured. Would some carnage have been avoided if police had been allowed to intercept the car?

This leads us directly into why we chase.

Why we chase

It's almost instinct to catch people trying to get away from me, but my job as a police officer does more than call on me to catch suspects. My job, indeed my actual performance evaluation, calls on me to contribute to our goal of preventing crime. This is at the heart of why we chase.

We chase because we know what happens if we don't. Burglaries, robberies, raids on petrol stations and dairies - all these and more are frequently facilitated with stolen vehicles or those linked to known and wanted offenders.

Surely you see these as serious crimes, as crimes worth stopping?

There are absolutely risks involved and while we do our best to minimise them, ultimately we take those risks to hold serious criminals accountable. To stop people invading your home or your business. It is a delicate but very worthy balancing act.

We want to stop crime before it happens - it's why we chase. We're all deluded if we think banning or further restricting police from catching criminals is going to help reduce crime or improve public safety.

Which leads me into dreaded territory: what happens if we stop chasing criminals?

In the Australian state of Victoria, police pursuit policy was changed in 2015 to ban pursuits except when there was a threat to public safety or when a serious offence had been committed. John Silvester penned a piece for Australian newspaper The Age outlining what has happened in Victoria since the change.

Perhaps the most telling line of his piece is this: "To chase or not to chase is a question with no satisfactory answer".

In lieu of a satisfactory answer, he provides some facts.

Police in Victoria had around 141 pursuits a month before shifting their policy. Following the change, police had 300 drivers a month taking off and were only chasing a little under two per cent of them. But it didn’t end there; reports of people ramming police cars went up significantly, putting the lives of everyone on the road in danger.

Because of all this, the Victorian Police later quietly relaxed the rules so police could actually chase again.

So what can we do?

Failing to stop places the public at major risk, I agree. They can become life and death incidents very quickly and at the time we treat them as such. But after they are over, our court system acts as if they are less serious than shoplifting. That needs to change, and we need to hold these serious criminals accountable for their dangerous actions.

Strong, meaningful and swift punishments are needed, backed by a public who won't accept these lunatics simply getting away with it.

I want to be proactive. I want to prevent serious crime, not just pick up bits after the fact. Please, support us. Otherwise we might be heading to a dark place where I can't chase a burglar who just broke into your home, simply because they got into a car.

And let me close with this: when the individual in Nelson tried to flee the police they made a choice to put lives at risk. What happened from the second they held down the accelerator instead of the brake is their fault and their fault alone.