Should Dispatchers Order Citizens to Stop?

Police and the media in Ottawa (Ont.) are debating the case of two citizens who last week saw a street crime, and then picked up the victim of a sexual assault and chased the woman’s attacker through the streets at up to 105 mph, allegedly encouraged by a dispatcher who was on the phone with two Good Samaritans. Police have not released the logging tape of the call, but the two men say the dispatcher never told them to slow down or discontinue the pursuit. Police eventually set up a roadblock and caught the suspect. Read the latest debate, in an editorial from the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.