Hollywood has long glorified the high-speed chase in television and film accounts of police work.

Yet, rarely does the action-packed vehicle pursuits portrayed on screen show the tragedy that often accompanies them in real life. My name is Danielle Ford and I have lived in this town for ! years, and in these ! years I have seen first hand the tragedy that comes as a result of high-speed pursuits gone terri"ly wrong. #eing an emergency doctor in the local hospital I see many victims of horrific accidents that often result in permanent in$ury or death. %verseas and &ustralian research has confirmed that police pursuits are a potentially high-risk activity and that more people, a"out three times as many in &ustralia, are in$ured and killed from pursuits than from police use of firearms. 'o how is it that the police, whose primary responsi"ility is to protect human life, are given the power to engage in such a high danger activity( I)m here today to ask you all to think a"out your family and think a"out if it was their lives that were put in danger "y these irresponsi"le chases. Most times the risk of the pursuit is fre*uently going to "e higher than the risk posed to the community "y the original reason for the pursuit considering traffic or driving offences are the most common reasons for pursuits, accounting for over half of all high speed pursuits, and I am here to show you the reasons why there needs to "e a ma$or review into the rules and regulations into high-speed police pursuits and the high amounts of power the police are given. If you accept the fundamental premise that the primary responsi"ility of the police is to protect human life, then it follows on a policy "asis that it would "e a violation of these principles for the police to escalate any non-life-threatening incident into a life-threatening incident. #y pursuing someone who has committed only a minor driving or traffic offence, such as running a red light, it escalates a non-lifethreatening situation into a potentially life-threatening situation. &sk yourself this, "y the police endangering the lives of not only themselves and the person "eing pursued, "ut also the lives of countless innocent "ystanders $ust to apprehend someone who ran a red light or may"e was speeding, is this following the fundamental premise of their responsi"ility to protect human life( I don)t think so. +o apprehend the person who ran a red light or was speeding it is highly likely that the police themselves will have to run a red light or speed. +he message this is sending to people is that to catch a criminal crimes must "e committed, completely going against the commonly used saying ,two wrongs don)t make a right-. Is this really the message we want our police officers sending to our children and the community( %ur children look up to these men a s a sym"ol of heroics and "ravery, however "y putting the lives of everyone in our community and our country in danger all to catch someone who could easily "e caught "y writing down a licence plate num"er is not displaying very many heroics not "y my standards and I)m sure yours. .hy are the police given such power to use and, in some cases a"use, when they take that oath and receive that "adge( It is said that with great power comes great responsi"ility, and I "elieve that the police need to handle this responsi"ility a lot "etter than they have "een, /0 pursuit related deaths in the last ! years and countless in$uries and collisions is not responsi"ility, "ut rather a"use of power. +his power needs to "e reviewed and regulated. 'aying this however, I realise that police pursuits constitute a difficult area of policy, as it is necessary to "alance the needs of law enforcement with pu"lic safety. I)m not saying that we should look down on all police officers who initiate high-speed pursuits, as sometimes the pursuits are highly warranted. &ll I)m saying is that there should "e a review into how the police use and a"use the high and important amounts of power given to them when they are given that all important "adge and common guidelines as to when a high-speed pursuit is accepta"le and needed and when it isn)t. +he countless in$uries and damage I see from pursuits gone wrong in

the emergency room every year highlight the need for this review. .hen the police take that oath to protect our country as they are they are presented with their "adge they are given immense amounts of power and with that great power and as I stated "efore, with great power comes great responsi"ility. +hey are given the responsi"ility to use that power for good and to protect the lives and rights of everyone in the country. #ut when the great power is a"used it can lead to all sorts of issues, relating to many things not $ust pursuits. +his a"use of the power given to them leads to countless wasted lives, countless lives shortened all "ecause of a "ad decision "y the police to use their power in the wrong way. I understand that criminals are worth stopping, "ut are they worth dying or killing for( & casualty on at least / out of ! occasions is that worth it( +hese are wasted lives that could have "een saved had the police used their powers with a "it more forward thinking. +hat)s all it takes, a "it more forward thinking from the police service. Forward thinking a"out different ways to apprehend these criminals without the use of highspeed pursuits, and there are solutions out there. 'pike strips are a commonly used alternative that is already in place in &ustralia "ut needs to "e used more commonly, as well as patrol helicopters to assist in intercepting the criminal. 'imple ideas that could "e enhanced to save the lives of many &ustralians. +he accident rate of high speed driving, as well as the casualty rate, is simply a direct result of the risk taken. +he simple fact of the matter is that the odds of a crash or casualty are so dramatically shortened "y the speed of pursuit that a high fre*uency of accidents is inevita"le and this needs to change. 'o I thank all of you here today for listening to me and I urge all here tonight to think seriously a"out what I have presented "efore you and that you help in my cause to have the regulations regarding high-speed pursuits reviewed and eventually changed so that the lives of many can "e saved.

1epetition &ppeals 2 applying to speech, senses, head, heart 3ariety of sentence structures 2 short, long Dramatic emotive words &nalogies &ssertion 2 point of view e4pressed as a fact &ppealing descriptive language &ddressing the listener directly 2 ,you5ncouragement to think positively 1hetorical *uestions 6ommands Hard evidence 2 statistics %pinions Incentives 2 rewards, offers 1ule of three - statement made and reinforced three times for ma4imum effect 54aggeration