By Michael Morrah
Two high-ranking police officers took the stand in the Halatau Naitoko inquest today, to defend their colleagues over a pursuit that ended in the death of the 17-year-old father.
Police deny that they didn’t follow their own policy, but did talk about a range of new initiatives they hope will make the job safer.
One of the things that went wrong in the pursuit of Stephen McDonald was that up to 20 police cars trailed him.
They blocked Armed Offenders Squad cars from getting to the front of the convoy, and at no stage did the pursuit controller know how many cars were involved in the chase.
Halatau’s mother, Iboni Fuimaono, says police failed to follow one of their own rules – that public safety takes precedent over catching an offender.
“The way I see it is they had the policy there, but people made their own decisions,” she said.
The head of national road policing Superintendent Paula Rose didn’t accept that view.
But she told the court from the middle of next year, all new police cars will be fitted with Automated Vehicle Locating systems. The technology will help controllers keep track of what is going on.
“The new equipment will allow the vehicle to be real-time viewed, so on a real time map all vehicles would become apparent to the shift commander or the dispatcher,” she said.
Other technology being tested, is attaching cameras to police cars, so their progress can be live-streamed to communications centres.
“It’s about building the best picture we can,” says Ms Rose.
“Not just for the officer who is driving the car, but for the pursuit controller.”
The commander of the AOS Superintendent Bruce Dunstan supported the pursuit controller’s decision in the case not to end the pursuit, saying McDonald could have left the vehicle and injured someone.
“It is my view that it would be reasonable to expect McDonald to take any steps to ensure his freedom, should he encounter a member of the public.”
Mr Dunstan also told the court having a fulltime AOS squad available in Auckland is being considered, as currently resources are stretched and – on the day in question – only five members turned out.
At the conclusion of the case, the Coroner asked Mr Dunstan how he thought another death could be avoided. Mr Dunstan said the number of cars in the chase caused problems and the AOS could have been called earlier to the incident.
A decision on the case has been reserved.
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