Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Police Face Car Chases a Lot of the Time

Aired May 08, 2002 - 14:28   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, by now you've probably heard how suspected mailbox bomber Luke Helder led police on a high-speed chase before he was arrested.

Well, police across the United States face this situation a lot of the times.

For example, you can take a look at this chase in Los Angeles on Monday. It ended with no car crashes and the suspects arrest. But getting to such a benign ending can take luck and professional training.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): No one gets hurt in this wild skin. On the test track, experienced police officers find the limits of what they know, and what they don't, about driving.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can go out here and you can push the car to the limit. You can push it over the limit, and you don't have to worry about hitting a telephone pole, a fire hydrant, another car.

OPPENHEIM: The Michigan State Police Precision Driving Program is 40 hours of intense training, where students in class and on track learn that pursuit of suspects requires a better driver, not necessarily a faster one.

LT. DAVID HALLIDAY, COMMANDER, PRECISION DRIVING PROGRAM INSTRUCTOR: Inside of 10 laps, probably in about 8 laps, that instructor will be behind you and he will try to push you around the track the last lap, and that's because of their knowledge of high speed handling.

OPPENHEIM: One exercise, called evasive maneuvering, requires a student go left or right, depending on the last moment word of the instructor.

The student who over-steers could wind up in a whirl of a skid and potentially cause damage in a real chase. In fact, learning when to chase and when to back off is a main theme.

The hope is graduates drive away with a more mature approach towards going after the bad guys.

DAVID NOYES, POLICE OFFICE: I've thought back to my own experiences, and what I've been through, and you know, I could have done this better, I wish I knew this then.

Every cop out there has been in an accident, and most are preventable.

OPPENHEIM (on camera): It's important to note that in the United States, nearly half of officers killed in the line of duty die because of traffic related injuries. A school like this can make a difference not just in terms of improving the professional lives of officers, but saving their lives as well.

Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Lansing, Michigan.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com