Monitor tracks patrol cars in high-speed chases

By BRIDGET CARTER

Tracking devices fitted to patrol cars will allow supervisors to closely monitor police in high-speed pursuits.

The three-month trial in Auckland follows a string of high-profile chases last year, including one in Northland that ended in the death of a drug-fuelled motorcyclist and an Auckland teenager, Erin Burgess.

The device allows supervisors at police communications centres to know a patrol car's exact location, and follow its movements on a computerised map.

A coroner's court hearing in Whangarei revealed that throughout the chase that ended in Erin Burgess' death, police staff at the communications centre had no idea where some of the patrol cars were and that one was chasing when it was supposed to be parked on the side of the road.

Last year, police pursuits ended with five people dead within six months.

Acting national manager of police communications centres Superintendent John Lyall said Police Commissioner Rob Robinson had asked for the technology to be tried. It was being used by the Police Northern Communications Centre in Auckland.

It would allow supervisors to monitor pursuits more accurately and improve response times.

Last month, police used the system to track down a patrol car stolen by a prisoner in central Auckland. It was found 4km away but the prisoner is still on the run.

Mr Lyall said the technology was already used by taxi companies and dairy giant Fonterra. Last year, it was used on vessels policing the America's Cup.

But police decided to wait for the cost to come down and to see how it worked overseas first.

Other technological advances being considered for communication centres were computers inside police cars and the introduction of a new integrated computer system that had the potential to reduce the workload for centre staff.

Police spokesman Jon Neilson would not comment on the cost of the technology.