Fourteen officers were injured in over 100 police car rams in a new style of violation that has sky-rocketed throughout Victoria, Australia, cops state.
Victoria Police statistics show rammings have increased from just over 30 in the 2013-14 to 103 in 2015-16. From July 1 this year, there have been another 51 police cars rammed.
While four cops were injured 2 years back, 14 were injured in rammings in the last financial period.
The pattern has gone hand-in-hand with the rising number of motorists going to dangerous lengths to prevent arrest and modifications to the pursuit policy.
“There appears to be a change in behavior over the last few years,” Deputy Commissioner Andrew Crisp stated. “It seems to be that offenders have ended up being more mindful if they drive in an irregular method or in fact ram our vehicles, there’s every possibility we will not take up a pursuit in relation to that specific person.”
“Even before the changes to the pursuit policy, excellent crooks, excellent wrongdoers would know if they drove at extreme speed, drove on the wrong side of the road, naturally, we’re not going to pursue in that situation.”
