Police are searching for a fleeing driver in Mount Maunganui.
Police are searching for a fleeing driver in Mount Maunganui.
Some fleeing drivers are “deliberately taunting” police by live-streaming their dangerous escapades on social media sites, according the Police Association.
NZ Police Association president Chris Cahill told the Bay of Plenty Times he wanted to see increased penalties for first-time offenders to drive home that failing to stop was a “serious criminal offence” .
Some motorists, mostly fleeing drivers aged between 13 years to 18 years, were “deliberately taunting” the police and driving so dangerously that officers were sometimes forced to abandon pursuits, he said.
Cahill said it was not uncommon for thrill-seeking offenders to record and post their exploits on social media, and in some cases had live-streamed their engagements with police in competition with other like-minded groups.
According to the latest police data, 883 drivers fled the police in the Bay of Plenty between January 1 and September 30 last year, compared to 902 during the entire 2022 year, a big jump from the 521 incidents in 2021 and 561 in 2020.
The Bay of Plenty district ranked second highest in terms of fleeing driver police pursuit numbers in the country in 2022 and 2023, behind the Central police district.
NZ Police Association president Chris Cahill. Photo / NZME
Cahill said the increase in fleeing drivers in the Bay of Plenty was “shocking” but it was part of a “new trend’ across the country.
Some of the increase was because of the new ‘Fleeing Driver Framework’ introduced by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster on May 29 last year which meant police were taking a harder line.
More drivers were also failing to appreciate the serious consequences of their actions, Cahill told the Bay of Plenty Times.
The Fleeing Driver Framework pursuit policy was introduced to assist officers in their decision-making whether to pursue a driver depending on the risk posed by the driver, their occupants as well as the risk of committing further offences. The new policy was made after fleeing driver fatality in Dunedin in May 2023.
Cahill said a previous change in police pursuit policy back in 2020 had “wrongly” given some drivers the impression police could not pursue them and some offenders had been emboldened, especially youth.
More than 9700 drivers fled from the police across the country in 2022, with 582 crashes and three deaths and nationwide 8292 drivers failed to stop last year [as of September 30] resulting in 501 crashes, including 49 crashes in the Bay of Plenty and seven people died.
Cahill said there was no easy answer until fleeing vehicles could be immobolised remotely.
Police were often in “a conundrum” whether to pursue a fleeing driver or not because of the inherent safety risks and if the driver crashed it was often the police officers who were blamed, he said.
He said it was “particularly challenging” in the Bay of Plenty because of limited police resources and there were lots of rural roads.
In August last year, harsher penalties came into force for drivers who refused to stop for police with the passing of the Land Transport (Road Safety) Amendment Bill.
Police can now seize and impound a vehicle for six months if a driver fails to stop or the registered owner refuses to help officers identify the fleeing driver.
On a second conviction for failing to stop, the license disqualification has been increased from a year to between 12 months and 24 months, and the courts can order the forfeiture and sale of the offending vehicle.
Cahillwants to see the three-month disqualification period for first-time offenders doubledand the penalty to be given on top of sentences for other offences.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster was approached for comment on whether he supported Cahill’s call for greater penalties.
In a written response, Superintendent Steve Greally, the director of road policing, said the 2023 refreshed fleeing driver policy, “strikes an important balance” between the safety of all road users and ensuring offenders were held to account.
Greally said since the previous policy change in 2020, there had been a significant increase in fleeing driver events as offenders had become “more brazen and took more risks” and the refreshed policy helped ensure greater safety for everyone.
“Our message to anyone considering refusing to stop for or fleeing police is simple - Don’t. The risk of a potentially fatal outcome far outweighs facing the consequences of stopping for police,” he said.
Then National police spokesman Mark Mitchell questioning former Police Minister Poto Williams over gang-related shootings in 2022. Photo / Mark Mitchell
On December 6, Police Minister Mark Mitchell wrote to Police Commissioner Coster, and confirmed that as part of National’s 100-Day Action plan, the coalition government was committed to introducing a suite of legislative reforms aimed at “restoring law and order’.
This included “reforming fleeing driver legislation to curb the increase in fleeing driver incidents”, he said.
Mitchell told the Bay of Plenty Times he supported having the “strongest deterrent” to reduce fleeing driver offences and ensure offenders were held to account.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
