Presumably Grid Guide would probably supplement their assortment of pressue plates/MAD scanners with video feeds and a simple program that matches the two together.

Grid Guide doesn't cover everywhere though, so turning off a freeway might be all it takes to solve the problem of "Grid Guide is telling you to stop running".

reminds me of the chace scene in the first gits movie, where i could have sworn the barricade was autodeployed...

We already have Traffic Master, here in the UK, which covers nearly every road with simple IR traffic-volume-and-speed sensors which are good enough to count how many vehicles go by and what speed they're doing, and send it back to a central control room which generates road condition reports from the data.

GridGuide doesn't really need MADs and pressure plates if it's got those cameras, except where such things are easier to protect from vandalism than cameras on poles. It *does* need realtime information on where its customers are, and I'd expect that to be GPS sensors in the vehicle and Matix 2.0 transmission to city control. I can imagine that a middling-low priority for the GG routing algorithms would be to make getting around awkward for non-GG customers, spacing traffic out to make a string of cars passing a non-customer trying to turn out into the main road as long as possible without leaving a big enough gap to jump into...

Dude chill (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I'm not really blaming cops. They do their jobs and they follow orders and protocol.
It has been pointed out how risky it is to stop a car with that tactic and there are saver methods. It is however not the individual cops fault, if someone is to blame it's the policy makers.

Yet it amazes me how much coverage those chases get in the media. They have a certain entertainment value (together with other reality shows). Doing needlessly risky things and showing them on TV seems to be a part of US culture (please correct me in case I am mistaken). Ofc it is also part of other cultures, but they usually lack high speed pursuits so I couldn't make fun of them in this context.

And seriously, don't get all worked up over things you read into my post. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I find it rather insulting to assume that US police never use radios, road blocks or spike strips and that they use PIT maneuvers because of a "reckless lack of training".

I am 9000% sure that if a road block or spike strip are available and appropriate they are considered first line options. Obviously they aren't always available. And both have inherent dangers for the police officers, especially deploying spike strips. And oh look, the cop in the video is an American!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif) BTW, the most popular spike strip system used in the UK, call the Stinger, is made in the US.

And for the record, the PRECISION Immobilization Technique (or PIT maneuver) is a highly technical driving skill that police are taught at advanced driver training schools. And oh look- it was invented in Germany. How enlightened.

</generalization> please.

It's still crap and completely misnamed. Just because something was invented in Germany doesn't make it good.

No, but it does mean a German shouldn't be giving us crap about "reckless American car bashing" stuff, or whatever. The fact it was used by American cops in the video we just saw doesn't mean it's just some zany cowboy bullshit.

So some cops on the streets stop cars in a way I consider reckless (btw, that cowboy image was something you brought into the discussion, don't put that on me) and the media is covering it. I make fun of that. But since you and those cops are from the US I have no right to make fun of it because it insults you?

Awesome.

And I have even less rights to make fun of it because some german invented it and I happen to be a german?

I don't think so. Nor can you insult me with that.
I am not responsible for what happend in that video and neither are you. (If you are personally involved that would be a different matter)

You read more into my post than I actually wrote. You got insulted by my lack of understanding (and a minor pun) for covering dangerous and potentially lethal action on TV. Your country and your media is something I make fun of, just like any other nations media and nation if I think it's funny or wrong. Patriotism is cool if it works for you, but please don't jump on anything slightly insulting to another US citizen or regulation.



I never claimed that. And I agree: [/generalization]
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Actually, I think I did with my comparison to most cops on those videos to Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane goin' after "Dem Duke Boys!".

Which is the image I got from some of those self-same videos where the officers are wearing Cowboy hats.

no, but the multilayered police force does provide some interesting integration challenges that don't exist in the much flatter structure of the UK or AU police forces. Also, I never said reckless lack of training.

But there is a fairly clear difference in approach to pursuits in UK/AU, most of europe and the USA. It's really interesting, and I don;t think anyone is claiming the US police force is radically (or any) better so it's an open question why this is so. It's also why most of those stupid 'best police chases 13432' are from the USA.

The "reckless lack of training" comment was by Shiloh.

And you're right about the challenges of integrating our police structure in the US. I think people might forget that the US is A.) almost 3 times the size of the entire European Union, B.) just about as culturally diverse and C.) has about 14 times the population of Australia. According to our Department of Justice we have an estimated 17,784 law enforcement agencies, spread out across the federal, state, and local levels of government.

I personally think the lack of integration is a big part of our crime problem, but again anyone who makes an overly generalized statement about how police do anything in the US is almost guaranteed to be wrong.

EDIT (a feeble attempt to get back on topic): now that I think about it, this lack of integration is probably a lot like SR would be with all the different corporate, private and governmental police forces working with, around and against each other. Yet another explanation of how shadowrunners could exist in a pervasive culture of surveillance and "security".

The US needs something like the Mounties to allow for interrelations or dealing with issues over multiple jurisdictions, and against Federal Criminals!

Oh, right, US Marshal Service. Never mind.

And FBI.

And the DEA, and the IRS, and the BATFE, and ICE, and the list goes on and on. Honestly, we should just bring all of the enforcement arms of the alphabet agencies under the FBI if for no other reason than effieciency and elimination of duplication of effort.

Just pay attention to the lession that the RCMP learned the hard way...

Don't forget to copyright the uniform!!!

*Snears at the MouseCo for owning the Mountie Dress Uniform*

Alright, listen. In the interest of explaining where I'm coming from, I'll break it all down. I'll admit, first, that I've been a little cranky around Dumpshock for the last few days, because (it seems) I've spent an awful lot of time on here defending America, American firearms, and now American cops, from a couple of German guys. I've got nothing against German guys (or I'd hate much of my own family), but if I'm being defensive lately it's because it seems like German guys have something against me and my home.

You started with this:

Now, maybe because English is your second language, you don't realize that there are a few things being implied by this statement.

"Bumping into his car" is to blame for the "police cars endangering the traffic," when that sentence is broken down. You're making it sound as if they're (a) not consistently waiting until they're on a stretch of road that's fairly clear of regular citizens before risking their lives by engaging the bad guy in a high-speed pursuit manuever, and (b) just ramming into him willy-nilly, with no idea what they're doing. These guys aren't out there swigging beer, shouting YEEEE-HAW, and just bashing into some random car in the middle of a high-traffic zone.

Second, the entire "is that for the pure entertainment value for the media" is a ridiculous question, and you know it. No police agency in the world does something dangerous for no reason, much less specifically just because it'll look cool for a camera. Hollywood? Sure. They'll make movie-star-cops do all sorts of stupid shit that doesn't make any sense, say that the film was based on a true story (which just means they got a name right), and then advertise the hell out of something. But real life cops, of any nationality, don't risk their lives just to look cool on a video for Youtube.

"I never got that part of US culture," with a lack of clarification attached, leaves it unclear which portion of your statement it is you're attributing solely to US culture. The dangerous yahoo cops bashing around rush hour traffic for shits and giggles (the overall subject of your post) is the most easily assumed statement.

And so, put all together in one thought, your initial post made it clear that you think American cops are stupid and brash, prone to using excessive and unecessary force just to look cool, and willing to gleefully risk the lives of every civilian in sight while doing so.

In counterpoint, it was mentioned that the PIT manuever was originally a German technique.

As such, I found it interesting that all the media-junkie-American-cops-bash-cars-around-for-no-good-reason stuff you were spouting came from them using a police car-control manuever of German design, not American. That being the case, all your "bumping into his car" and "endangering other traffic" has nothing at all to do with American cops, except for the fact that it happens to be American cops doing it right there in that short video segment, and everything to do with them adopting a German police technique. As such, if anyone is endangering traffic by using some silly "bumping into his car" manuever, as implicated in my last post, it is the German police (not the American).

So if you're going to bash anyone for the PIT manuever being dangerous, bash your country's police force for coming up with it in the first place. Not my country's cops for trying to use your move and it not working out real well in this instance, and the whole thing being caught on film (thanks to the First Amendment) by a news chopper.

There. Did I spell it all out clearly enough for everyone?

we could say the same thing about the armed forces. it might save on procurement bullshit.

/stupid navy and their F-18s.