Police Association members are on average exposed to 15 offenders a month deliberately ramming their vehicles – up from 10 a month only six years ago. More alarming is that some officers are being targeted outside their vehicles.

The tragic loss in January of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, the first policewoman to die in the line of duty, underscores the seriousness of ramming incidents.

Police National Intelligence Group director Dan Wildy cites other examples of officers being confronted by someone at the wheel of a 2-tonne weapon. In the first two months of 2024, of 33 “ramming of police” incidents, five deliberately targeted police staff outside of a car, 26 were directed at a police vehicle and two were reported near misses.

At least 59 incidents since 2020 have resulted in officers requiring admission to hospital because of injuries sustained from vehicle rammings. One a month, Dan says.

He fears that number will quickly grow. The number of assaults on police where a vehicle was used as a weapon was reasonably stable from 2017 to 2021. It doubled in 2022 and stayed at that level in 2023.

“We don’t have all the data for 2024 but it is certainly on the same trajectory to remain much higher than it was previously.”

Figures ‘alarming’

Coupled with this is the concern that fleeing drivers are becoming more willing to take drastic actions to avoid apprehension. Analysis conducted by Dan’s team shows those actions further increase the risk of a ramming.

“We know that when a carjacking has occurred to evade police, the risk of ramming [goes up]… We also know that when police use vehicles to try to block somebody in and they're trying to evade police, then that's when you're more likely to get a ramming incident. It’s a series of escalating behaviours, in response to each other.

“Some of the key judgments from the analysis is that it is a staff safety risk and an increasing one,” Dan says. “And there are real limits to what staff can realistically do because real-time risk assessment is incredibly difficult.

“There’s seldom any warning, and what was routine can become potentially life threatening in an instant… the only advice is to be aware that, with no notice, things can change and to make sure you've got a plan to get yourself out of danger, particularly if you're on foot.”

Police Association president Chris Cahill also fears for members’ safety and believes the consequences for offenders need beefing up to act as more of a deterrent.

“It has become clear some offenders are seeing officers as a target in their intentional ramming of vehicles and the increase in both seriousness and frequency of such incidents is alarming,” Chris says. “The charges offenders face (often ‘assault person with a blunt weapon’) need to reflect the seriousness of these incidents and these charges should not be negotiated away as part of a guilty plea for other offending.”

Chris also says the courts need to consider such tactics as an aggravating factor at sentencing, “making it clear again to offenders that such actions will result in higher penalties”.

He also questions whether Police needs to consider if changes in training are required to address the increasing risk that these incidents present.

Police is focusing on improving data collection and intelligence-gathering efforts in response to the growing threat. Frontline officers are encouraged to meticulously record all incidents, including near-misses, and use specific search terms such as “RAMPOL” to aid in tracking the trends.

Appropriate alerts in Police’s national intelligence application (NIA) are also invaluable, Dan says, especially for series linking and identifying high-risk offenders.

Additionally, Police conducts interviews with offenders to better understand their motivations and mindset when using vehicles as weapons.

 

Writing off wrongs

Police figures show intentional car rammings by an offender are the second most common cause of damage to Police vehicles (No 1 is police hitting a stationary object). 

Data released to the Police Association under the Official Information Act shows that from 2018 to early October 2024, Police had to write off 110 vehicles that were beyond repair due to deliberate damage – a loss of more than $4 million in assets.

That’s an average of 16 vehicles written off each year, an annual loss of well over $500,000 before other repairs are factored into the vehicle fleet budget. 

Then there’s the cost to the frontline, whether it’s time off to recuperate after a ramming incident or teams forced to operate without vehicles until they are replaced or repaired.

In their first two months of this year, events involving police cars and/or officers being rammed have racked up steadily. The most serious was the incident in Nelson that killed Lyn Fleming and injured two other officers on January 1.

Other incidents of drivers using a vehicle as a weapon include:

• A fleeing driver, clocked going 177kmh on the Waimate Highway and running red lights in the Timaru area, drove at a police car and two officers attempting to lay road spikes, forcing them to take evasive action. Police later found the vehicle in Dunedin, blocking it in before arresting the driver.
• An officer in Huntly had just stepped out of his car when another vehicle collided with both him and his patrol car. The officer was treated in hospital for moderate injuries and later discharged.
• A man stole a vehicle at knifepoint before driving dangerously around the Waitematā north area. He was later spotted in Warkworth where he rammed a parked patrol car before fleeing on foot. Early the next day he was caught hiding up a tree.
• A pair in a stolen vehicle rammed a police car, fled at high speed across Auckland, and then attempted a carjacking before being arrested. 

IN THE HOTSEAT: April’s Police News magazine will feature first-hand accounts of officers who have faced drivers ramming them and their vehicles.