Law Essay Example: Police Pursuit of Criminals

With the number of criminal activities surging by the day and the insecurity levels in the United States on an upward trajectory, police departments have lately become overwhelmed with these cases even as they try to put every effort geared towards curbing these insecurity cases. The preferred use of vehicles by criminals to aid in their unlawful activities while enabling them to drive away in case of an intervention by the police has become a big cause of worry in many of the neighborhoods in the United States. The main reason behind these worries is the fact that accidents which result in deaths are always inevitable whenever a chase by the police while trying to capture the criminals ensues. It is not the first time that innocent people have fallen victims to these pursuits and it certainly does not appear to be ending anytime soon. Criminals are not about to surrender and give themselves to the authorities, and neither are the authorities ready to entertain the thought of letting a person who has broken the law get away with it. The result is a cat and mouse game characterized by car chases around populated neighborhoods that end in a disastrous manner. This will evidently continue to be the case unless precautionary measures are swiftly employed to mitigate these disasters.

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Bearing that in mind, the police should be at the forefront of designing appropriate ways of capturing criminals who are at large while ensuring the safety of the citizens. It clearly doesn't make any sense when the police deploy chase cars in pursuit of one offender only to cause the death of more than five people through accidents that happen due to the pursuit. As police officers, their duty is to protect the lives of the citizens by whatever means possible. On the other hand, it's also not logical for the police officers to allow the criminals to go scot free after committing heinous acts. In such instances, police departments should be well conversant with the area where a particular criminal activity has transpired. If it's a place that's highly populated then deploying pursuit vehicles would certainly not be a good undertaking as accidents are likely to occur leading to injuries and in some extreme cases even deaths of innocent civilians. In such cases, safer measures such as the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) would be a better option in conducting the chase of lawbreakers who attempt to run away. The UAVs usually contain installed cameras that can pursue and track every movement of the criminals who try to resist arrest by opting to run away. They pose little if any danger and are hence the best option when it comes to missions that are considered risky or dangerous to humans.

Conclusion

In case the area where criminal activity has occurred is not anywhere near a locality that is populated with many people, the departments have the green light to go ahead and launch a pursuit for the criminals to prevent them from running rampant. In such cases, it's usually less probable for an accident to occur and in case it occurs, fatalities involving innocent people are normally not that likely. All said and done, the security of the citizens should always remain a priority whenever such issues involving the police and criminals arise. The police should do their best to protect the innocent civilians while at the same time ensuring that the law assumes its course in dealing with criminals who break the law.