West Australian Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan says he does not support a push by Labor leader Mark McGowan to allow police to ram cars off the road during pursuits.

Key points: Labor have pledged to allow police to ram cars off the road during pursuits, if they win the election

Labor have pledged to allow police to ram cars off the road during pursuits, if they win the election But the WA Police Commissioner says the manoeuvrer could endanger lives

But the WA Police Commissioner says the manoeuvrer could endanger lives He says pedestrians and car occupants would be put at risk

Mr McGowan told delegates at the Annual General Police Union Conference in Perth yesterday that if he won the next state election, due in March 2017, he would support a trial of the so-call precision immobilization technique, or "PIT" manoeuvre, which allows police to force fleeing cars into an uncontrolled spin.

He said the practice would only be allowed to be used in extreme cases, where a vehicle being pursued by police was posing an unacceptable danger to the community.

The manoeuvre is widely used by law enforcement agencies in the United States.

However, Mr O'Callaghan said while the practice was used, it was dangerous and unpredictable.

"No, we don't support it," he said.

"We think it's a highly dangerous manoeuvre.

"If you push a vehicle off the road at speed somebody is going to get seriously injured or killed.

"It's going to result in some disaster, there is no doubt in my mind about that."

Mr O'Callaghan warned the US was hardly a beacon of good policing.

"It's not an exact science," he said.

"If you nudge a vehicle at speed, I think the idea would be for it to roll safely to one side and you get out and arrest the driver.

"But that is unlikely to occur. There is a very real chance that those vehicles could spin out of control into opposing lanes, into houses, into pedestrians, so there is a whole range of risk factors in doing something like that."

The Commissioner said some cars involved in pursuit were carrying children, often a lot of children, and it would not be acceptable to risk causing them serious injury or death by ramming them off the road.