World's Wildest Police videos

[steveno]

when a cop is chasing a bad guy is it his discretion as to whether he can crash into the bad guy or does he have to get permission form the dispatcher? it looks like there could be a lot of second guessing about if the cop was right or not to crash into the bad guy. if it is decided that he shouldn't have crashed into the bad guy does he get stuck with the cost of the squad car? there sure is a bunch of squad cars getting wrecked

 

[inspcalahan]

it's different with every department

second guessing has always been there, is at its worst now and actually DOES affect the officers response...often for the worse

been in a few of the videos they've shown over the years.....

 

[jimmyj]

Some agencies have "Pit Cars" for just those occasions

 

[rwsmith]

Anybody would have to weigh....

Anybody would have to weigh out the urgency of stopping somebody by ramming. Someone who has proven to be dangerous would probably get rammed. Running away from a traffic stop probably wouldn't warrant that kind of action if you can catch up with them later.

 

[A10]

If a department requires supervisor permission to pit, it would be run through the watch commander. The ones I am familiar with leave it up to the officer, though the officer must be properly trained in the maneuver.

Had it happen in my front yard a few years back....a drunk racing through our neighborhood with three cars trying to stop her. Boxed her in and the lead car tapped the front while the tail car tapped her rear fender. Spun it pretty good....

 

[Rock185]

Policy varies between agencies. Yes, there is always second guessing, departmental reports created, memos,pursuit committee meetings,etc. No, the cop does not have to pay for the damaged or crashed squad car.

BTW, "Dispatchers" in the agencies I have served with are non-sworn employees. They gather information, they communicate. They are not in the officer's chain of command and do not have the authority to tell officers what they may or may not do. They cannot authorize an officer to do the PIT maneuver or anything else......