Skip to main content



Whatcha Gonna Do When They Come for You?

After committing a crime, offenders are faced with a simple decision once the police decide to actively engage: surrender and face the punishment for the committed crime or attempt to flee.

If the criminal surrenders (which means the police do not have to actively pursue), then the criminal faces jail time for the one crime committed. Analyzing the payoff in terms of monetary value, the criminal will lose income while in jail, income from future jobs (assuming a felony will negatively affect future salary), lawyer fees, etc. In this situation, the authorities incur no monetary benefit for arresting the criminal but save the costs involved in a pursuit.

In the situation where the criminal successfully flees the crime scene before the authorities arrive, the police then will have to launch an investigation to try to identify the suspect. This cost represents the salaries of investigators and resources necessary during the search. In this situation, the criminal escapes and therefore incurs neither a positive nor negative monetary payoff (assuming that they are not discovered later).

If the criminal attempts to flee the situation and the police force attempts to catch him or her, a high-speed car chase may likely occur. This will have a negative payoff for both parties involved. From the criminal’s perspective, trying to outrun the police will only increase the number of crimes for which he or she will be convicted since the police will eventually catch up to him or her. Similar to the situation where the criminal surrenders, the captured convict will loose sources of income and may have fees associated with the trial. However, the criminal will incur a larger negative monetary value because he or she will spend longer in jail for attempting to flee the police. From the perspective of the police, the authorities would prefer to avoid the car chase in order to protect the innocent and prevent unnecessary damage to the city. If the chase ensues, the police will face an increased cost due to the danger caused in the process of capturing the criminal, including the cost of damages to the city and the medical bills of injured civilians. On September 11, 2012, the police arrested three men after a high-speed police chase ended in a car crash in Florida. While no one was severely injured in this specific instance, car chases endanger the lives of innocent bystanders.

In the extremely rare case that the criminal surrenders and the police still choose to use force against the suspect, the police would be brought under serious scrutiny. For example, charges are being pressed against Corey L. Hooper of Birmingham, Alabama after repeatedly striking a man, Martez Gulley, who was secured and handcuffed in the backseat of his cop car. Gulley received $71,290 after the 2009 lawsuit, and Hooper is currently on leave from the police force without pay pending another lawsuit for the use of excessive force.

When looking at the actions of the police and the criminal, there is no Nash equilibrium since there is no dominate strategy for either party. The choice that both players make will be reactionary depending on the strategy chosen by the other player. Furthermore, there is no situation where both parties are making the utility maximizing choice.

 

Sources:

http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21008507679817/police-chase-ends-in-crash-3-detained/

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/10/jury_selection_begins_in_exces.html

 

-Fashionably Pink

Comments

Leave a Reply

Blogging Calendar

October 2012
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  

Archives