I don't understand police at all!!

It is common practice for police to NOT use sirens, and sometimes not even lights (such as at night) when dealing with sensitive situations where they do not want the perp to be alerted to a police presence. This is a necessary part of policing action.

Going at a high rate through an intersection is never a good idea reguardless of the situation, though. One is just begging for trouble if doing it.

The pedestrians maybe could have looked both ways to see that cops were approaching at a high rate with lights on. I'm not at all familiar with the intersection or the situation's specifics, so it's a maybe. Maybe the pedestrians could have been the most careful people in the world and still not known what was coming. I don't know, as should already be obvious by now.

I would hesitate to say these cops were abusing their powers. Sometimes it is necessary for the police to focus more attention on apprehending a perp than on the immediate public safety. Of course nobody wants innocent people hurt, but they could risk an even higher loss by not catching someone. This is a common consideration in the debate involving police chases....to pursue or not to pursue depends largely on the risk of not catching the perp.

Anyways, I'm not saying that this situation is necessarily one where the police should risk public safety through their driving techniques, but perhaps it is one of those situations? Also consider that police are, in general, given pretty good training on handling their automobiles.

I don't like cops anymore than the next person....in fact I probably like them less than the average Joe, but they shouldn't be discredited altogether. Sometimes they do deserve more credit than they are given.

b