by KRISTIAN GRAVENOR

When cops flipped on the sirens and launched into a heated pursuit of a stolen Camry over the Jacques Cartier Bridge last August 26, it was the latest example of an increasingly common phenomenon. Last year Montreal cops embarked on 11 per cent more chases than in 2002, and of those 117 chases (another 25 were called off by supervisors), 58 ended in accidents, as did this one.

Montreal's accident rate last year was also well above the usual rate of accidents during pursuit, according to Florida-based police analyst Lou Reiter, who pegs the norm as "somewhere between 30 to 40 per cent."

"Injuries and fatalities are most common to the person being chased," he says. "The second most frequently injured is usually an innocent third party, and the last at risk is the police officer."

Perhaps the best-known of recent pursuits-gone-bad took place in February 2002, when Officer Benoît L'Écuyer was shot after ramming Stéphane Boucher's vehicle, following a high-speed chase. The chase started over a speeding infraction.

One analyst unimpressed by the August 26 high-speed chase - that left both officers and suspect injured - is Réjean Mongeau, president of police watchdog group Mouvement Action Justice. "There are 150 cars stolen a day here, so to put lives of citizens in danger to stop one of those makes no sense," he says. "I think that the police should realize that their vehicle can be considered another weapon. They want the trophy, but trying to get it can hurt people."

According to Montreal police stats, last year eight attempted escapees were injured and three Montreal police officers were hurt in pursuits. Montreal police rep Steve Morissette says officers are allowed to start chasing anybody who flees but must prioritize safety. "The officer must evaluate the level of danger for citizens, himself and his partner," he says.

Quebec's officers are trained in police pursuit on a special track at the National Police School in Nicolet. They're also lectured on when not to chase. "But at the end of the day it's a judgement thing," says school press rep Pierre St-Antoine. "You can't always teach it, but our courses allow us to evaluate candidates and we decide whether they'll make it through."

Reiter says that increasingly, American police are only allowed to chase suspected violent criminals. Still, 70 per cent of chases stem from routine traffic incidents. Reiter says disrespect for authority often provokes the police. "They call it ‘contempt of cop,'" he says. "It's the audacity of that person - ‘He's not going to stop for me?' The chase is a consequence to the challenge of authority."

Cities with no-chase policies include Baltimore, Maryland, Long Beach, California and Charleston, South Carolina. "If I was a chief of police, I would absolutely opt for that," says Reiter. "The driver trying to get away is usually a young person, can't drive anyway or is someone drinking alcohol or using narcotics, so if they can't drive safely at a sane speed, how will they do at 100 miles an hour?"