Police and emergency services at the scene of the pursuit crash in hobsonville last year that killed sina

naraghizadeh and seriously injured Te rina Gregory-hawke.

Manning, whos advising the families of teens in the Hobsonville accident, says its time for another look at chase laws. Really serious questions need to be asked about the number of young people dying for the relatively minor offence they committed at the beginning and the relative predictability of that being the outcome. Police would have seen the Hobsonville car, a stationwagon, was full of young people at one stage there were seven, including two in the boot, but two got out at a shopping centre before the crash. Its a high-risk approach to be chasing a car when its packed full of kids, Manning says. But it seems therell be no reassessment with Police Minister Anne Tolley at the helm. She says pursuits arent a problem they are subject to rigorous risk assessment, and New Zealanders have no stomach for a ban. They believe and stress to me they want our police to uphold the rule of law, Tolley says. They want offenders brought to justice.
he Gisborne pursuit wasnt

In New Zealand in just five years, 33 people most of them kids whove made a terrible mistake, and innocent bystanders have been killed in high-speed pursuits. Is it time to ban them?

Story Donna Chisholm photography aDrian malloCh

Death by
on the stolen Subaru Legacy nudging 200km/h and the police in pursuit with their lights flashing, Te Rina Gregory-Hawke wondered, briefly, if she should just open the passenger door and jump. She had already rejected the idea by the time she felt the car driven by 19-year-old Sina Naraghizadeh begin to slide sideways. Everyone was panicking. [Sina] was scared, panicking. I was sitting behind him and I had my hand on his shoulder. I was saying Stop! We were going real fast. I was looking over his shoulder and I could see the
ith the speedo

police
unflattering comparisons between New Zealands record of pursuit crashes, deaths and injuries and Australias, where two states have already moved to ban pursuits for traffic offences and stolen cars. Consider this: New Zealand police chase between 2000 and 2500 vehicles every year three times as many as in Victoria, which has a million more people, and seven times as many as Queensland, with a roughly similar population. In Queensland, 11 people died in pursuits in the decade to 2010. In New Zealand in just five years (2007-2011), 33 people died. And yet Queensland moved this year to all but ban pursuits because of the unacceptable risk to public safety. Even before its new policy came in, Queensland abandoned around 73 per cent of chases, compared to New Zealands 48 per cent. Tasmania, which banned pursuits in 1999, says the move has not resulted in any increase in road or other crimes, despite claims that anarchy would ensue. With another crash in Gisborne in July claiming three more young lives after an abandoned pursuit, lawyer Deborah
NZ herald

[speedometer] going higher and higher and higher. I could feel the car swerving, slowly. Then I saw the lamppost and I thought, Oh my God, that pole is going to get me. Hawke closed her eyes and prepared to die. The 1am smash in Hobsonville killed Naraghizadeh and left Gregory-Hawke who was hanging upside down in the overturned wreck when she came to in hospital for six weeks with a shattered pelvis, three broken ribs and a broken collarbone. At 16, she has left Selwyn College and is having weekly counselling. I blamed everyone in the car, including myself, she says.

The crash on a Sunday morning last September made front-page news but most of us soon forgot about it. There wasnt too much sympathy for a bunch of teenagers in a stolen car driven by some kid with a foreign name whod been drinking and smoking cannabis particularly when the country was in the throes of the Rugby World Cup. And yet the case believed to be only the second pursuit death to go to the Coroners Court could force a rethink on chase policy, with the family engaging lawyers to question police protocols around pursuits. Metro investigations have uncovered

really a pursuit at all, she says, because it lasted only 30 seconds before being abandoned. The police said the chase went for 90 seconds and the crash happened minutes later. Youre making the police the bad guys, she says. The people who are fleeing police are the bad guys. Its easy to condemn Sina Naraghizadeh for his offending and his passengers for their stupidity, but how many of us know a teenager whos never made a dumb decision, whos never climbed into a car with a driver they shouldnt have trusted, whos never pushed the boundaries with hormone-driven recklessness? And if that kid were yours, would it be so easy to say he deserved to die for that bad call? Tolley says if her daughter ever found herself in a car fleeing police, Id want her to convince the driver to stop. Well, tell that to Te Rina Gregory-Hawke and the surviving passenger in the Gisborne crash, who tried the same thing and failed. The only time police pursuit deaths cause a real outcry here is when the victims are innocents. That happened in Christchurch in 2010 our blackest year, with 18 deaths in 11 pursuits when 73-year-old Norm Fitt and his gym partner, 67-year-old Deidre Dee Jordan, died. Fitts Daihatsu Terios was hit and flipped by Phillip Bannan, 22, a drunk and disqualified driver fleeing from police. Adult children of the pair spoke then about how they were pleased police were cleared of wrongdoing and how any blame for the crash lay squarely with Bannan. Two years on, Steve Fitt says he still

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police pursuits
Te rina Gregory-hawke.

New Zealand. Asked how Tasmania was so inherently different that a ban works there but wouldnt here, the Police Minister says: Theyre Tasmanians. They have a different culture, different makeup, different heritage. They have a Green government.

believes pursuits are worth the risk and he thinks his dad would agree. Otherwise you are encouraging anarchy. The outcome was unfortunate but its still the right thing to do. His sister Marika spoke at the funeral, thanking police for trying to prevent a horrible accident. I knew they were doing the best they could to protect the public. But she now admits she has doubts. A little part of me wonders if it can be handled differently. She says that although Bannan was speeding and driving drunk he was twice the legal limit he had driven an hour and a half from Akaroa without incident before the pursuit. She now wonders what if Bannan hadnt been chased at all? No one was in danger if theyd just left him. There werent that many cars on the road and maybe I think he wouldnt have panicked as much as he did. He didnt have a licence, his car was unregistered and unwarranted. Hes going to be looking in his rear-vision mirror because hes scared shitless. Its likely pursuing police knew Bannans identity they had pulled up behind him at a red light when they would have (or could have) taken his number plate, allowing them to find and arrest him later. As it was, they abandoned their chase only 30 seconds later when they saw his Ford Mondeo speeding towards a red light at the intersection of Worcester St, just one block before he hit Norm Fitts car. Research shows early abandonment of pursuits does not mean the risk ends there; once a pur58 September 2012

suit is started, fleeing motorists continue driving at dangerously high speeds for some time later. Steve Fitts view, that banning pursuits would simply encourage lawlessness, is widely backed by the public and lawmakers. Too much emphasis is now given to criminals rights and not the police, he says.By being uncooperative and not being a good citizen, they [lawbreakers] are let off with more and more things. Bannan, whod had two previous drinkdrive convictions and was jailed for nine years for manslaughter, was simply a pisshead loser, says Fitt. Few of us would disagree with that, but what of Fitts view that police have no alternative but to give chase if they see a speeding or stolen car or a suspected drink-driver? Police in Tasmania say their ban is working well a view held also by their union, the Police Association, which was once rabidly opposed to banning pursuits. We were all dead against it, without doubt, acting association president Robbie Dunn told Metro. We couldnt speak out publicly because in those days we would have got transferred to Timbuktu. I thought, this is ridiculous We were really frustrated we wanted to still chase. The association predicted anarchy, and for a while, police were taunted by carloads of hoons doing doughnuts outside the local copshops and driving off brandishing the middle finger. But, says Dunn, the early fears havent been realised. At times people get away with it, but

in the end we identify them, take out warrants and go and arrest them at home, Dunn says. Ive changed my mind about it personally. If innocent people are going to get killed, is it worth it? Now I dont think it is. I dont want to see my people chasing these bloody 16-year-old halfwits who cant really drive anyway and having to live with some decent kid or granny being killed when theyve gone through a red light and hit them. Many new officers have never been involved in a pursuit so they dont realise the thrill of the chase... theyre not inveterate chasers like we used to be. Assistant Commissioner Donna Adams, crime and operations chief for the Tasmanian police, says while officers could still pursue for crimes in progress, such as robbery or murder, theyre very few and far between. We cant do it for speeding, drink-driving or stolen vehicles. The priority of safety has been accepted and most people fairly strongly support the policy the way it is. She says theres been no impact on traffic or other crime. People arent drink-driving or nicking vehicles with impunity, because theyre still getting caught. A police spokeswoman in Queensland told Metro initial analysis suggests the new policy is working there, too, aided by increased penalties for evading police. Greater emphasis is now on investigative avenues rather than dangerous pursuits. The loss of an innocent life is simply too high a price when there are far safer alternatives. Tolley says those states are different from

road safety campaigner John Lambert, pursuits are basically the most hazardous activity you can undertake on roads legally. Lambert advocates banning them. What does he say to opponents who argue that the ban gives in to criminals? He points out that only about one in 10,000 vehicle inter ceptions results in drivers doing a runner. If you do away with chasing, youre talking about a very low percentage of on-road enforcement activities. Its a total contradiction for police to be engaging in them when theyre supposed to be improving road safety. The fatality rate for pursuits is 3500 times higher than for normal travel and about 650 times higher than for someone driving with double the legal alcohol limit. Says Lambert: The death penalty disappeared a long time ago and you cant be generating a situation where youre likely to cause someone whos committed a traffic offence in a stolen vehicle to die or even worse, an innocent bystander. While the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) describes New Zealands pursuit policies as restrictive and in line with the international mainstream, its not just Australia which is moving closer to bans. In 2007, Victoria, Canada, brought in a policy that police had to believe a driver or passenger had committed or was about to commit a serious offence involving the imminent threat of grievous bodily harm or death. Chases for traffic or property crimes were prohibited a move expected to reduce pursuits by 90 per cent. In Boston, police are allowed to chase a vehicle being driven in a way that poses threat or harm, and Long Beach, California, allows pursuits only when drivers are so impaired they may cause death or serious injury, or when violent offending is involved. The IPCA says North American research suggests that when violent-offender-only policies are introduced, pursuits and pursuit-related injuries and deaths fall dramatically but there is no corresponding increase in crime or vehicle offending. So why couldnt these policies work here? Partly because police dont think they could and, as Tolley says, theres no public or political appetite for it. In a review of policy in 2010, the forces Road Policing Support team said there was still too little evidence to support a ban on pursuits. Despite the international expe-

ccordinG to australian

rience the IPCA referred to, it said a ban wasnt likely to improve or guarantee public safety and the community wouldnt support such a move anyway. And, in direct contradiction of the evidence in the IPCAs review, it said: Banning pursuits has the potential to create a level of lawlessness within the community. If criminals know that police will not pursue them, or have so many restrictions placed on them it renders pursuits futile, then the job of police to uphold the law not only becomes difficult, but almost impossible. Which sounds exactly like a sound bite from Police Association head Greg OConnor, who defends pursuits at every turn. He claims New Zealand has more pursuits than Australian states simply because here, offenders have less of a fear of the consequences of an adverse encounter with police.

is chasing someone. And yet its one of the least effective ways of catching anybody.
former cop told Metro of his own experience with red misting. It becomes an intensely personal battle between the chasing officer and the offender, he says. Police are meant to talk continuously throughout the pursuit to the supervising officer in the communications centre, but that never happened in my experience. He recalled one chase he took through a built-up area when he was travelling at up to 90km/h but advising comms he was doing only 50-60km/h. We lied to keep going because no cop wants to lose an offender. Hes sceptical of reports of pursuits called off just before a crash, saying in some cases police had arrived at a crash scene just seconds later, raising serious doubts that the chase had indeed been abandoned. While a supervisor in the communications centre had ultimate control over a pursuit, the former policeman said, staff had become increasingly civilianised and lacked the experience of the sworn officers previously at the helm. Too much decision-making is left to the person in the car, he says. The chain of command still requires an inspector to take over, but the fact most pursuits are over in 40-50 seconds means there are many cases where a sworn officer never gets the chance to take over. He wonders if the spike in pursuit deaths in 2010 was related to the switch that year from analogue to digital radio systems. Until then, the lead car in a pursuit would be routed on to a dedicated channel that was kept clear for the pursuit. The switch to digital doesnt seem to have gone that well. There have been black spots that last for several kilometres, and the concerns of serving officers are well known. Deputy Commissioner Mike Bush says that while the former officer was right about the timing of the switch to digital radio, he did not believe that had contributed to pursuit crashes. Figures supplied to Metro under the Official Information Act show that while the number of pursuits has remained fairly static, crashes have declined. Injury rates have risen, but police say thats because until 2009, only those injuries requiring hospital admission were counted; now, even minor cuts and bruises are included. Bush says our pursuit figures may be out of kilter with Australias partly because of different definitions of a pursuit and the fact that policing here was very intelligence-driven. We will put our staff into areas where we suspect crimes are being committed. We dont patrol areas randomly and because of that were obviously going to come into

iTs a ToTal ConTraDiCTion for PoliCe To be enGaGeD in Them when Theyre suPPoseD To be imProvinG roaD safeTy.
Asked for evidence of that, he says its personal observations. I sit on boards over there and Ive discussed this very thing with them. OConnor concedes he simply doesnt know if a ban would work here. But, he says, if anyone believes that if we pulled over only people who agreed to stop and let the others go it would make the roads safer, its a little counter-intuitive. Strict protocols around what police must do in a chase including giving pursuit controllers in the communications centre rather than patrol-car drivers overall responsibility are designed to mitigate the risk of so-called red misting. This was described in a British inquiry in 2001 into pursuit deaths where officers told of a red mist of rage and excitement overcoming some drivers chasing a fleeing vehicle. One of this countrys few public critics of police pursuits, road safety campaigner and Dog and Lemon Guide editor Clive MatthewWilson, reckons police chase because they enjoy the thrill of it. Part of it is because they hate seeing people get away, and thats natural, but police work by and large is very boring and one of the few things thats really exciting

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police pursuits
vahid naraghizadeh, the father of dead teen sina.

if my DauGhTer was in The Car, i woulD wanT The PoliCe To sToP.

PoliCe assoCiaTion heaD GreG oConnor contact with people who may be in the act of committing offences. He also pointed to a different culture among New Zealand offenders who had an unwritten rule among themselves that they dont stop for the cops. That being so, it seems no possible good could come from chasing someone whos determined not to stop, but Bush says a pursuit would be abandoned if it jeopardised public safety. However, the IPCAs 2009 report recommended that the risk to public safety from not stopping an offender should be the principal determining factor in a decision to pursue. It also recommended that the pursuit decision be based on known facts, rather than suspicion or speculation that a person who flees may have committed a more serious offence. Justice Lowell Goddard, the IPCA chairwoman at the time, said that in one 2007 pursuit, a police driver who breached policy by continuing a chase defended himself by saying he would have been criticised if we had pulled out and later found the driver was fleeing from a murder scene. The fleeing driver, however, faced no other charges than those resulting from the pursuit. About one in four vehicles pursued by police are stolen, while 51 per cent involve
60 September 2012

a driver who is unlicensed or driving while disqualified or suspended relatively minor offences in the scheme of things compared with the risk of crash deaths and injuries.

New Zealands pursuit policy is targeted at criminals whove committed other offences. Not all people who commit [driving] offences are criminals but most criminals commit traffic offences, so its one way of targeting criminals. Bush says police are always weighing the risks and the benefits of pursuits. If someone comes up with the right answer to this were always happy to listen. Despite his vigorous defence of the police right to pursue, Greg OConnor sums up the dilemma for parents and police. If my daughter was in a car and the driver of the vehicle decided he would flee, I would want the police to stop pursuing, to reduce the damage. However, I would hate to think the driver said, Well, I will drive faster here because I know the cops will pull out. Deborah Manning says few chases have been challenged in the Coroners Court because families feel an enduring sense

et bushs remarks suggest

of shame. They are so disenfranchised, and when were talking about [injured] victims, who are the people they are most involved with in the weeks and months after a crash? The police. Theres no pulling the telescope back a bit and saying maybe the police didnt have to chase at all. Sina Naraghizadehs father, Vahid, by asking the coroner to review his sons death, is trying to do just that. His lawyers are expected to raise concerns about why automatic vehicle-location data recording the police cars speed and movements could not be found after the crash and whether the pursuit had indeed been abandoned. Te Rina Gregory-Hawke says Sina was panicked into fleeing threatened by one of the three boys in the car to keep driving because that boy was breaking a curfew. It was he, not Sina, whod stolen the car. Vahid Naraghizadeh, an engineer in Iran but now a plasterer and painter in Auckland, brought his wife and Sina to New Zealand when the boy was only four. In recent years, hed been battling to keep his son out of trouble after he fell in with the wrong crowd and vainly asking police youth aid for help. Though both he and his son were New Zealand citizens when Sina died, the boy was described as an Iranian national in reports of the crash. Hes grown up here in this bloody system and then they put in the paper that its an Iranian boy with a stolen car who died in a car crash. And as soon as people read that, who cares?