h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I always watch those shows showing how it really is and it's like looking into the mirror of the movies

staff master

Hi Josh, yea but if they did actually place a spike at the base of the wheels when they first stop the car, thee would be no need for the chase in the first place
I have done a few high speed drives and believe me they are both mentally and physically draining I have found myself soaked in nervous sweat just by concentrating so much while driving. It always took me a while to calm down after it was all over
Smudger.

I know and your also right about shooting the tires out when they first start driving away

bullet composition is a fascinating thing.
Most modern semi-automatic weapons use copper-jacketed bullets.
I have seen some, mostly of Eastern Bloc manufacture, that had steel-jacketed slugs.
The most fascinating ones are th Britich and Russian rifle rounds that had a hollow nose filled with wood or kapok.
I think I still have some of the kapok nosed .303 cartridges around the house.

Actually, shooting the tires out is a risky proposition with modern steel-belted radial tires. My experiments with various calibers and types of targets, including paper, metal, clothing and building materials have led me to believe that there are a lot of things a bullet will not penetrate reliably.

Police officers are just as prone to impulsive behavior as anyone else.
The City of Austin a few years ago put rules in place governing "chases" after a patrol car or two managed to park itself in the side of a civilian vehicle at 60 mph.
"Get the license # and description and let others catch them down the line" was the basic ruling. No chases unless they were short and the driver was obviously reckless.

With regard to movies... well, they are movies. And the fact that many people think "well, it's just a movie" can lead to a suspension of all useful thought. It is difficult to portray real injuries in a movie without dragging down the plot or icking out the audience. On the other hand, the preponderance of slasher flicks has made blood a commonplace sight. So have forensic shows. I remember watching dozens of episodes of the original forensic pathologist show in the US, "Quincy", without once seeing a bit of tissue or even a pint of blood, yet the shows were effective. Nowadays, it's blood everywhere and body parts sliced, diced and pureed right there on the small screen.

There is a Police survival course that teaches serving police personnel not to watch movies, not to read thriller novels and not to believe that being injured means being incapacitated. Part of the course is teaching uninjured officers what really happens during an injury. The founder has people who were injured lecture to the officers on what really happened to them and how the worst thing was not the wound or injury but the superstitious feelings among fellow officers that it is unlucky to think about what might happen or to dwell on what happens.
One of the things this course teaches is that if you get downed by a perp with a wound or an injury, your job is not over. They might not stop with you, so you have to summon what's left in order to reduce the threat. The number of officers who have never been injured before freaking out because of an embedded splinter, ricochet, flesh wound, flash burn, or, in one case, a bit of gravel that caused a puncture wound, and then calling in "officer down" and settling in for a nap is legion.
The psychological health of the officer before the injury might well determine how they react or or survive the injury.
Not teaching serving officers to deal with reality is like not teaching football players how to deal with sports injuries. They are going to happen.

Last night I sat down and watched a network tv show for the first time in months. I find the advertisements irritating, the products inane and I find the scripts for the shows predictable and inane.
When I turn on the tube I either watch music DVDs or videos or old movies.

Mind you, I do watch stupid thriller or adventure movies. My favorite stupid movies at the moment are "Eckes versus Sever: Ballistic" and "The Fifth Element". The first one because it is mindlessly inane and the second because Luc Besson can be very entertaining when he's playing around.

"if they did actually place a spike at the base of the wheels when they first stop the car, thee would be no need for the chase in the first place "

Traffic stops are a political hot potato.
Most officers would prefer to wrestle naked with an anaconda than perform them, yet they are a staple of law enforcement. Besides which the insurance industry needs the free advertising. Putting a spike strip in front of a tire, or fore and aft, before asking for license, registration and proof of insurance is a sure fire way to find one's way into court. Officers have been sued for merely having their hand on their sidearm or even approaching a vehicle with the strap on their pistol unsnapped.

A human versus auto scenario also needs to be kept in mind. If smokey goes to put down a spike strip and the idiot behind the wheel decides to floor it, no amount of armour is going to protect that officer.

Some theorists and lawmakers have asked for a dead switch to be put in autos so that police can disable them before approaching them. So far, little has been done about it.

Thanks for that TR very interesting reading there
I found that part where you say that police have been sued just for approaching a car with a hand on their gun, very scary indeed
It puts them in a catch 22 position, and knowing the kind of perbs they are going to come across these days, makes even more so

This whole idea of suing at the drop of a hat, has alas made its way over to the UK, and there seems to be no end of "companies" who only too willing to make a case over the slightest matter

(I of course am only a bit bitter about this, as my claim for damages to my back after a work related accident, ended in me receiving a pittance) So maybe I am not the best to talk about this matter

So maybe after all, my idea of placing a spike at the tyres of a stopped vehicle, was not as good as I first thought

Smudger.

speaking of being sued over little things there was somone who sued mc. Donalds becase he drank the coffe and burnt his tounge and the cup didn't say that the coffe was hot ... he won

Well, he didn't get it from the "Drive Thu" then, that's for sure

oh he also droped it on his lap which is where the sue worthy part comes in it gave him 2nd degre burns