The head of the federal police union says criminals are goading cops into pursuing them, as ACT Policing comes under fire for reportedly chasing an escaped inmate down the wrong side of the road.
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Alexander Maconochie Centre detainee Patrick McCurley was brought back into custody on Sunday night after a tip-off led to his arrest on Majura Road.
McCurley and fellow inmate Jacob MacDonald had allegedly busted out of the prison a day earlier, causing a city-wide man-hunt.
McCurley had previously been spotted driving a Suzuki Swift through Weston Creek, police said.
Scant details were aired in court of his alleged break-out and subsequent capture but witnesses flooded ACT Policing's Facebook page with accounts of near-misses during the chase.
"This guy nearly had a head-on with us today while he was being chased by the police he was on the wrong side of the road going extremely fast we were so lucky he went back into his lane at the last minute!' one woman wrote.
"I was marginally saved from a head on collision when police pursued this guy who was driving on the wrong side of the road on Horse Park Drive. I was with my two kids and managed to slow down giving wa to these cars. We were just shocked how narrowly we escaped from this collision," another man wrote.
While an ACT Policing spokeswoman said it was not appropriate to comment as the case was before the court, she said all pursuits in the ACT were reviewed by the Driver Incident Review Committee.
In March, ACT Policing changed the protocols around pursuits to mean police could begin pursuits on Canberra's roads only when there is a serious risk to public safety, or if there is a major crime planned or under way involving serious injury or death.
But Australian Federal Police Association president Angela Smith said the policy put both police officers and the public at risk.
"What is happening is the criminals are now goading and taunting police into pursuits. Criminals are driving at my members and they are having to take evasive action and firearms are now being pulled to basically discourage them from driving at my members," she said.
"They have driven within inches of them while they're standing on the road trying to direct people to stop and it's becoming so incredible dangerous, I've had members say to me this is one of the most dangerous times they've ever been a police officer."
She said an officer had a narrow escape from injury on Monday, when police pulled over a stolen car.
"The driver put the officer's life at great risk by driving away when the police officer was trying to remove the driver from the car," Ms Smith said.
In another recent incident, an officer was forced to draw their gun on an offender to stop them from hitting the officer with their car.
"The stolen car swerved and very narrowly missed the other police officer who was trying to deploy stop sticks," Ms Smith said.
An ACT Policing spokesman said both incidents were currently under investigation.
But chief police officer Rudi Lammers hit back at the union's claims, saying "the community has overwhelmingly supported the move to a limited police pursuits".
"Now the union wants to return to the days when police had unfettered power to pursue fleeing drivers for offences as trivial as a broken tail light. This is irresponsible and advocates a position where people will unnecessarily die on our roads which is exactly what we saw prior to this policy," Mr Lammers said on ABC radio.
While Mr Lammers acknowledged a six-month review of the policy found some police were being goaded into pursuits, he pointed out not a single person had died due to a police pursuit since the policy was implemented.
"It's true some police are being taunted by people and we're going through a difficult transition at the moment and some changes will have to be made in the way we deal with those people but the police union has also said police cars are continually being rammed by offenders trying to evade police. I know of no police cars that have been intentionally rammed by an offender, certainly not under the circumstances described by the AFPA president," Mr Lammers said.
Mr Lammers said under the policy, police officers retained the discretion whether or not to pursue fleeing offenders.
"Just yesterday there was a police officer who was arresting someone in a stolen car. The offender jumped from the front passenger seat to the drivers seat and started the car up and tried to squash the police officer between his car and another car. This is really serious and I accept that but it's not a pursuit. importantly in those circumstances the police officer retained the discretion to consider a pursuit. He chose not to," Mr Lammers said.
