My original comment was to this point.
Why do these officers perpetuate these dangerous chases? A chase requires a chasee and chaser, instead of giving chase in these situations why not get the plates, back off, let the helicopter track him (they had one) do some detective work (ie type plates into laptop) and find him later. The truck driver probably not going to continue raging around the city like a mad man if nobody is chasing him.
Too many cops now days default to overwhelming force as their first strategy, which takes touchy situations and just escalates them into OMG-people-gonna-die situations. They should be trying to de-escalate the danger, not escalate it.
Perfect example is the stupidity of "no knock" warrants for petty drug offenders. When the police show up late at night in full SWAT gear in an MRAD, bust down the door and storm the whole house rifles at the ready to bust some dweeb growing pot in his grandma's basement. (Yes, that really happened, and lots others like it)
Recently I read where a LEO was killed because he stormed into someones house on a "no knock" warrant. Let me pose the question, if you're someone who keeps a gun in your nightstand, and somebody screams something at your door (cops did say they yelled POLICE, but of course he's asleep so all he know is someone woke him up) then bust down the door and storms in... what are you gonna do??? And they yelled POLICE before busting down the door... so what, any mad-man can yell POLICE before busting down your door.
Then there is this story.
Police Shoot, Kill 80-Year-Old Man In His Own Bed, Don't Find the Drugs They Were Looking For.I've talked about this with a couple older Sheriff's deputies that I know, and they confirm what I suspected. That far to many of the younger generation of LEOs have a "Rambo" mentality, the first (and maybe only) plays in their playbooks are
'show of force' and
'intimidation'. Combine this with the increase militarization of police forces (if they got the toys, you know they'll find an excuse to use them) and it's bad news. 15 years ago I would have said that 90% of cops are good guys, now based on personal experience, stories of corruption, and talks with those in the business, I'd have to guess it's more like 50/50 today.
In short cops need to get back to being more "Andy Griffith" and less "Rambo."
P.S. As for cops being bad shots... some are, some aren't, it all depends on how often they train. But under pressure in real life shoot out, I suspect most fair no better or worse then the average gun-toting citizen would. In 2010 NYPD officers has a 6.5% effective hit rate. (stats from
this video
