London

In the past four years 10 people have died and 55 have been seriously injured in car crashes following police chases in London.

Usually the victims are those in the cars being pursued - but sometimes it is a totally innocent person who simply finds themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Read the full report on police crashes.

Innocent victims

In April 2007 26-year-old Natalie Forde became one of those innocent victims.

She was a rising star in a top law firm who described her as one of the most outstanding trainees, but to her mother she was simply an angel - a devoted daughter and member of their church.

On that fateful night Natalie and her boyfriend had been travelling home in a taxi.

When they were nearly home, a speeding BMW smashed into the side of their vehicle killing both her, the driver and seriously injuring her boyfriend Simon.

The chase which ensued saw the BMW driving at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour through residential areas in North London - at times on the wrong side of the road.

The car ran a number of red lights before eventually crashing with Natalie's taxi near Bounds Green.

Her mother, Teresa, believes that it is time the police reviewed the use of high speed chases, "Clearly situations occur where it's necessary to pursue criminals - however, this should literally be only life and death situations…

"As a mother I don't want any other family to go through with the nightmare of losing a loved one in such a senseless way."

And with one recent report suggesting that the likelihood of pursued cars voluntarily stopping being around one in seven, and the large numbers of disqualified, uninsured and inexperienced drivers being involved in these pursuits the figures seem to bear out her beliefs.

Speed and safety

As ex-head of the Met Traffic Division - Kevin Delaney - told us:
"A pursuit is always, always a compromise between speed and safety and I am afraid to say that luck plays a very great part in the outcome.

"And luck is something that the police driver has absolutely no control over whatsoever."

The Metropolitan Police Commander of Roads, Policing and Aviation - Commander Shabir Hussain - told us that senior figures within the police force argue that they've got to strike a difficult balance between public safety and fighting crime:

"The people who want to commit serious crime don't respect traffic laws - it goes hand in hand. Why would someone comply with one set of rules and not another set of rules?

"The person going through a red light isn't just going through a red light. They may be a murderer, they may be a kidnapper, or they may be a rapist - and are we simply going to let them go?"

Restricting police pursuits

But would crime detection really suffer if police chases were restricted to serious crimes only as they now are in many states in America?

In fact the city of Orlando now operates one of the most restrictive pursuit policies in America - possibly the world.

"Of course it's frustrating when a crime occurs and we can't go after the person.

"But deep down inside most of us do know that you really have to weigh up whether or not it is worth it to chase that person and risk everybody's life or if we can just deal with the crime and hopefully, through investigations, we can catch the person that way."

So could this work in London?

Kevin Delaney thinks so - in fact he says it would be the best place to start, "I think if you were looking to introduce a policy like this, London is the ideal choice….it is actually very difficult to drive safely at speed and pursuits in London are probably more dangerous than anywhere else in the UK because of these factors.

"If you don't pursue then you are probably going to be able to follow the vehicle or at least find the vehicle on CCTV - we in London have probably got more CCTV than anywhere - any other city on the face of the earth...

"You certainly won't be able to drive far without appearing on a camera somewhere and finally of course we've got helicopters... you can simply follow them for above and there is nowhere for them to go."

Clear leadership

Ex-Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner and Lib Dem candidate for London Major Brian Paddick wants to make the issue a priority:

"We're talking about offences involving firearms for example where it would be clearly important for the police to take that firearm out of circulation in order to stop it being used on other people."

Paddick also believes that careful assessment and leadership is needed in police pursuit situations:

"It could be a case where a pursuit is justified. It's part of the police macho culture, I'm afraid, which is still dominant to engage in these adrenaline rushes pursuing people.

"It would need very clear leadership and very clear policy from senior police officers and strict enforcement - a reminder to officers that they should not engage in these pursuits unless the offence is very serious."

Visit our insider's guide to police pursuits.

Also featured

The Secret  Garden

Eileen Soper illustrator of the world celebrated 'Famous Five' books not only created some of children's best loved literary characters, she also crafted a haven for wildlife in her back garden.  Very few people have been allowed into the garden.  Richard Daniel tells the story of this remarkable woman and get a rare glimpse of her hidden garden.

Read more about this story below:

Measles epidemic

Three hundred children have been diagnosed with measles in the last few months in Hackney, that’s more than are diagnosed in the average year across the whole of the country.

Read more about this story below:

Location of the week

The O2 arena, formerly known as the Millennium Dome, was originally constructed to house an exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium. After the closure of the exhibition at the end of 2000, the Dome has been refitted and renamed as The O2 under new ownership.

The capacity of the O2 is equal to thirteen Royal Albert Halls or two old Wembley Stadiums. The Eiffel Tower could fit inside the canopy lying on its side.