Driver training for police ‘laughable’

Police are looking to the United States and Australia to improve a ‘‘substandard’’ training programme designed to prepare recruits for fleeing drivers.

Their first quarterly report on the response to a recent review called Fleeing Drivers in New Zealand was released yesterday. It came two days after Kenneth McCaul, 64, was killed when the car he was in was T-boned by a 17-year-old driver who ran a red light during a pursuit in Christchurch.

Among the review’s eight recommendations was improving driver training. Yesterday’s report said police had since gone offshore to investigate how simulator training could be incorporated. They had approached the trainers and suppliers of a simulator from the United States, and sought guidance from Australia.

Former police officer Duncan Faulkner, who served in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, told The Press when he undertook a course in 2009, he and other UK officers found the driver training programme ‘‘laughable’’.

His training included driving at speed on a closed race track with a CD in the car playing siren sounds.

‘‘We all found it extremely hilarious that this was how it was done in New Zealand, but also extremely concerning that new police officers are expected to respond to emergencies and take part in pursuits having never had any experience on the roads under those conditions.’’

In the UK, where he worked as a police officer for seven years before moving to New Zealand, police vehicles could travel with their lights and sirens on, at speed, for training purposes.

‘‘You gain experience on motorways, through housing estates . . . we also often do

simulated pursuits.’’

Preventing fatal pursuits was ‘‘100 per cent’’ down to training, Faulkner said.

‘‘The problem here is police officers have zero experience of driving on the roads over the speed limits with their lights and sirens on, so therefore zero experience understanding how other vehicles will behave which is your biggest danger.’’

A police officer working in Otago, who declined to be named, said the driver training was ‘‘substandard’’ and ‘‘inadequate’’.

‘‘There is no reality to it. It doesn’t prepare you in any shape or form.’’

The quarterly report also outlined other progress areas, including use of technology. Changes already being investigated to complement the fleeing driver action plan include livestreaming of external CCTV footage; remote controlled tyre deflation devices; an

‘‘The problem here is police officers have zero experience of driving on the roads over the speed limits with their lights and sirens on, so therefore zero experience understanding how other vehicles will behave which is your biggest danger.’’ Former police officer Duncan Faulkner

upgrade of air support unit video feed to enable close to real-time transmission of video footage to comms centres; and rollout of deployment and safety app that provides real-time visibility of staff location.

Another recommendation was to research the motivation of fleeing drivers.

‘‘Part of ensuring fleeing driver events are managed as safely as possible is better understanding why they happen in the first place,’’ Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing Sandra Venables said. ‘‘The paper suggests that attitudes towards police and a perceived presumption they will be treated as guilty have an impact on driver behaviour and the choice to flee.’’

For youth, cognitive development was also a significant factor, as was risk-taking and the want to elude police, she said.

Three main motivations were identified: the driver’s current situation and if they were under the influence, trying to hide something, or fleeing a crime; their previous experience with police, if they were influenced by family and friends’ negative experience, or thought they would be treated poorly; and the thrill of the chase to raise social status or obtain an adrenaline rush.

Although the decision to flee was with the driver, Venables said police were obliged to respond appropriately.

A 17-year-old man has been charged with manslaughter after the fatal police pursuit in which McCaul was killed on Tuesday.

He will make his first appearance in the Christchurch Youth Court, before the case is transferred to the High Court.