ST. ANN, Mo. — A patrol officer spotted a white minivan with an expired license plate, flipped on his lights and siren, and when the driver failed to stop, gave chase. The driver fled in rush-hour traffic at speeds of up to 90 mph, as other officers joined in the pursuit. Ten miles later, the van slammed into a green Toyota Camry, leaving its 55-year-old driver, Brent Cox, permanently disabled.
That 2017 police chase was at the time the latest in a long line of questionable vehicle pursuits by officers of the St. Ann Police Department. Eleven people had been injured in 19 crashes during high-speed pursuits over the two prior years. Social justice activists and reporters were scrutinizing the department, and Cox and others were suing.
Undeterred, St. Ann Police Chief Aaron Jimenez stood behind the high-octane pursuits and doubled down on the department’s decades-old motto: “St. Ann will chase you until the wheels fall off.”
Departments with a long history of large civil rights settlements have seen their insurance rates shoot up by 200 to 400 percent over the past three years, according to insurance industry and police experts.
Even departments with few problems are experiencing rate increases of 30 to 100 percent. Now, insurers also are telling departments that they must change the way they police.
Now, insurers also are telling departments that they must change the way they police.
I’d say it can also be indicative of additional things:
a growing pattern of lawlessness where people resist or flee police, leading to chase or use of weapons.
a growing pattern of open defiance of police and “the rule of law”.
a willingness to sue the police for doing their job properly. Yes, there are examples of improper police activity, no doubt of that, but their appears to be a resistance to perpetrators having “consequences” for poor behavior.
In short, society is increasingly lawless… and nuts.
Rob
Former RB and BL Home Fool, Supernova Portfolio Contributor & Maintenance Fool
He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
“The whole secret of investment is to find places where it’s safe and wise to non-diversify. It’s just that simple. Diversification is for the know-nothing investor; it’s not for the professional.” Charlie Munger
I am not anti-cop. I am totally against racist, bullying, psychopathic, murdering cops who hide in plain sight because of the good cops who cover up the abusers. I never allowed myself to be lulled by The Law and Order paint ups of cops pursuing the worst in our society, not when Dick Wolf and his lackeys are in bed with the cops just to get access to cheap back scenery in NYC and elsewhere. The hagiographies of cops, the wink and the nod of violence upon perpetrator scum by say Elliot in L&O episodes, all of that is “not for the common good” when it is done only in the presence of other cops who turn blind eyes and who expect the public to worship their American flags with black and white stripes and one blue line.