Labour is considering ways to clamp down on motorists who fail to stop for police, party leader Phil Goff has told the Police Association annual conference.
Mr Goff said pursuits had been a burning issue recently and police were put in a difficult "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation when trying to apprehend offending motorists who refuse to stop.
He said police engaged in over 2500 pursuits a year, with one in four ending in a crash. Fifteen people have died this year as a result of drivers trying to flee police.
"The evidence has never been clearer -- drivers who try to outrun police are likely to kill themselves or innocent people who inadvertently get in the way."
Mr Goff said the blame for such incidents rested "fairly and squarely with the drivers who try to outrun the police".
He said Labour was considering three options to address the issue.
They include toughening existing provisions in the law, such as mandatory licence suspension and impoundment of a vehicle on a first offence, and taking the Police Association's recommendation to have failure to stop become a qualifying offence under sections 128 and 129 of the Sentencing Act, meaning the offender's vehicle would be at risk of confiscation.
Labour was also looking to Australia, where the New South Wales government was about to introduce new offences with serious terms of imprisonment as a penalty.
Mr Goff also talked about addressing the issue of time wasted by the lengthy processing of drink-drivers.
"Police officers have told us about their frustration that if they pull over a drunk driver in the evening, they can be taken out for the rest of the night taking an individual back to the station to be processed."
He said if offenders could be processed at the roadside it would be a big time saver.
"Jurisdictions overseas have introduced new electronic processing equipment. Also, overseas there is a move towards breath-testing as complete evidence, now that machines are much more accurate and reliable today."
Police Minister Judith Collins told the association on Wednesday that she was supportive of a proposal to kit all police cars out with lock-boxes containing firearms.
Police Minister Howard Broad is conducting a review of how to make firearms easier and faster for police to access and Mr Goff said more questions needed to be asked and Labour would study the detail of the review when it came out.