The review comes at the end of The Chase - a four day Herald series looking into pursuits and the people involved.
Until society decides to change, all the police training in the world won't make a difference to the outcomes of pursuits, Police Association Bay of Plenty director Scott Thompson says.
His comments comes after a major review of the police pursuit policy which makes no radical changes and states the practice will not be banned or pared back in any way.
The 109-page review of events, practices, and procedures' called Fleeing Drivers in New Zealand, was released by police and the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) yesterday .
Abandoned car on Sunset Rd after a police chase in November 2017. Photo / File
The IPCA ruled that the current policy "can provide the necessary balance between public safety and public protection" - however it has made eight recommendations to "enhance police understanding" of the rules.
It looked at a sample of 268 fleeing driver events. Out of this sample, 159 fleeing drivers were able to be identified, 18 of those from the Bay of Plenty.
The review found: - Nearly all fleeing drivers were male - More than half were serious and persistent criminal offenders with multiple previous convictions _ The median age was between 24 to 26 - Around half had been in prison before - One-third had at least one previous conviction for fleeing police
The review comes after the Rotorua Daily Post yesterday reported new data showing the Bay of Plenty had one of the worst rates of police pursuits in the country, surpassed only by Northland.
In 2018 there were 412 police pursuits in the Bay of Plenty police district; 212 of those were abandoned by police and 76 resulted in crashes.
The figures have been sharply increasing since 2010 when there were 178 pursuits; 50 of those were abandoned and 24 resulted in crashes.
Rotorua Sensible Sentencing Trust national assistance Peter Bentley. Photo / File
Sensible Sentencing Trust Rotorua spokesman Peter Bentley believed the present policy was the best policy as he could see no other alternative.
"[The statistics] prove the Bay of Plenty are populated by the stupidest people that make the stupidest decisions."
He said there should be harsher penalties for those that avoid arrest and endanger society.
A police chase ended south of Rotorua when the driver of a suspected stolen vehicle got stuck in mud on State Highway 38 in August 2017. Photo / File
Thompson said police in the Bay of Plenty were more than happy to receive training.
"They want to upskill themselves because they don't want to be in a tragic situation.
"But until society decides they are going to do something about it, all the training in the world probably isn't going to make a difference."
Thompson said it was important to change the attitudes of those fleeing police if statistics were to decline.
"No one goes one step back to the origin of it and thinks if no young people were stealing cars and baiting police to get into chases then there wouldn't be a pursuit."
Police would not comment on specific questions put to them by the Rotorua Daily Post yesterday but said they would be in a position to comment on Monday.
The recommendations which have all been accepted by police and will be implemented through a substantial action plan outlined in the review:
• Police will improve the skills, knowledge and experience of all staff involved in fleeing driver events, through different learning channels, to enable robust decision-making and support the effective management of events.
• Police will review the fleeing driver policy against the findings of the review and make any necessary adjustments to the policy and standard operating procedures to ensure that they remain fit for purpose and support the effective management of fleeing driver events.
• Police will investigate allowing units to carry out a non-compliant vehicle stop on offending vehicles that have been successfully spiked and are travelling at low speeds, to mitigate risks and improve the safe resolution of fleeing driver events.
• Police will strengthen the accountability mechanisms of fleeing driver events, including improvements to post-event follow-up, and district review and national oversight processes.
• Police will review the Air Support Unit's (Eagle) involvement in the management of fleeing driver events and clarify the role that they play if necessary
• Police will review the Police Professional Driver Programme, including current driver classification systems, to identify opportunities for improving staff understanding and application of their Threat, Exposure, Necessity, Response (TENR) tool during fleeing driver events.
• Police will explore ways of improving communication centre's access to real-time information, including through the potential adoption of new technology, in partnership with our sector partners.
• Police will commission further research and analysis of fleeing drivers to improve our understanding of drivers' motivations for fleeing, including a focus on young people and alcohol/drug-impaired drivers.
