Police chases

I think everyone's seen police chases on TV at least once. Helicopter taking footage of a stolen car or a suspect speeding away, police gives chase, suspect is eventually cornered by police or does something dumb and crashes.

But what about the chases that don't end well? The ones where the vehicle vanishes somewhere and can't be found? Why don't we ever get to see those?

i think they lack the "TV" excitment of a crash and thump!

I think even if those what manage to get it on tape its still up to the media on censoring....unless of course the deputy or whoever is doing the chasing manages to host it on utube unnoticed

You would be amazed to know that many places actually have a no pursuit policy... Not to mention so many chases go on, not all depts are outfitted with dashcams...

So the chases that don't end well are censored? As a way of getting out the message "cops are badasses and they never fail", you mean?

If all you knew was what television for-profit corporations showed you, you'd believe every pursuit ends in a spectacular crash or gunfight. That is the opposite of the truth and benefits criminals.

I just talked to a guy who worked on the investigative surveillance team for a few years who said he did hundreds of pursuits and not one crashed (how boring.) A couple of my pursuits have crashed, but at low speed without hitting anybody.

I have also been on a moving surveillance where the target was lost and there was an internal affairs investigation of us.

Because many people incorrectly believe (based on sensationalist news coverage and wildly misleading statistics) most pursuits result in a big crash or gunfight, they put pressure on law enforcement to not pursue. Criminals escape, again and again. What people also don't understand is that criminals who get lit up start driving like maniacs (if they weren't already) and keep driving like maniacs even after the chase is called off. Then, you get a phone call that there is a head-on collision 5 miles down the road, four minutes after the pursuit was terminated.

Fallingwater said:

So the chases that don't end well are censored? As a way of getting out the message "cops are badasses and they never fail", you mean?

Click to expand...

Most likely, they don't want to look like they failed on national tv. Plus it wouldn't be as exciting as the police catching the guy.

Here is a chase where they never could get the suspect, and it's on tape!

Weird!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJalBPSRHfc

AlexGT

Maybe the police forces that get filmed have to approve the footage that goes on the air, or they have an agreement with the filming company saying what types of chases and results of chases get to be aired.

Fallingwater said:

So the chases that don't end well are censored? As a way of getting out the message "cops are badasses and they never fail", you mean?

Click to expand...

Any censoring is done by the media outlets. I think you will find that most media only plays the film they have that will get them viewers. It's all about the money they make.

Only a small percentage of pursuits end in gun fights or spectacular crashes.