Spate of recent ram attacks on police and their cars a concern: Police Association

Criminals have rammed police cars on nine occassions this year in what the Police Association fears is a growing trend.

The latest incident took place in Taupo on Wednesday night when a patrol car was rammed just before midnight by a fleeing driver in a stolen SUV.

The two injured officers restarted their damaged car in order to leave the scene and wait for back-up but were followed by the offender.

He was later tracked down and arrested at a Taupo motel.

Association vice-president Craig Tickelpenny says this type of behaviour showed the reckless disregard for safety that police officers faced.

"Police are under extreme pressure on the frontlines every day," he said.

"They can do without adding ramming injuries and written-off patrol cars to their list of concerns on the job."

Taupo's arrest was among four such incidents in May.

This included a Hamilton man ramming a police car last Thursday after he was earlier seen driving erratically in a stolen 4WD ute with a horse float attached and two horses inside.

He has now pleaded guilty to 12 charges.

In New Plymouth on May 7, police tried to pull over a car for speeding but it reversed into their patrol car and immobilised it.

The pursuit was abandoned when the driver fled, only to be found dead a few minutes later, having crashed into a power pole, Tickelpenny said.

In Morrinsville on May 5, a stolen truck rammed the front doors of the Morrinsville police station and then drove towards officers twice.

He was only stopped when the officers shot out the truck's front tyre.

In Christchurch at the beginning of the month, a fleeing driver tried twice to run over two officers, who had laid road spikes to stop him.

"There were also incidents in Mangere in March, Henderson in February and Northland and Tauranga in January in which officers were injured and vehicles severely damaged," Tickelpenny said.

In 2008, a police officer was killed by a fleeing driver while laying road spikes in Porirua, and at the end of last year an officer was seriously injured and hospitalised after being hit while laying road spikes in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Ticklepenny said ramming police officers was only going to increase the severity of charges brought against offenders and was "a practice that can quickly turn deadly".