72 replies to this topic

[BerkshireMini]

I personally don’t mined being pulled over and breath tested or because I look young (that would be nice now)
Because one day they might pull over the drunk or 15year old or the tw@t with out insurance who if not stopped would have hit me or my family!!!!!

Good shout!

[mattyoung69]

I personally don’t mined being pulled over and breath tested or because I look young (that would be nice now)
Because one day they might pull over the drunk or 15year old or the tw@t with out insurance who if not stopped would have hit me or my family!!!!!

someone with sense here!!!

i must admit, i have pulled a couple of minis over the last year or so, only to chat with them about some fancy alloys they had on or what mods they had with the engine...

personally, i prefer not to bother motorists going about their business, i got pulled loads when i was younger, by some of the same people i now work with, but as me RS said, if we dont do it, were not gonna get the un-insured and unroadworthy cars off the road.

[Jackman]

I personally don’t mined being pulled over and breath tested or because I look young (that would be nice now)
Because one day they might pull over the drunk or 15year old or the tw@t with out insurance who if not stopped would have hit me or my family!!!!!

someone with sense here!!!

i must admit, i have pulled a couple of minis over the last year or so, only to chat with them about some fancy alloys they had on or what mods they had with the engine...

personally, i prefer not to bother motorists going about their business, i got pulled loads when i was younger, by some of the same people i now work with, but as me RS said, if we dont do it, were not gonna get the un-insured and unroadworthy cars off the road.

The police do such a good job as it is really, ive not been pulled over yet but thats because i drive to the limits as they are set for the reason and i know what you mean Matt, there is alot a paperwork and even if you do arrest someone you can get done for too much force. I can imagine it being hard.

Also with these kids, if you arrest every kid which does somthing like that where will they go? It wont be long before all the prisions and stuff are full of kids and community service wont do much for them.

Last night was driving GF and some Chav kids just walked into the road and looked at me saying i had to stop, best bet is to keep going for them, slow down gradualy as you get closer as they wont notice you are doing it and believe me it scares them, they dont do it again, it does put them in their place. Be ready to stop though just in case they dont move.

Jackman

[pikey7]

While I agree with RSs statement, my perception (and I know others with the same thnking) of the control of traffic by Police has just become one of "stick another camera up".

I too don't mind getting pulled over for checks. If each time a group is pulled over and 1 guy is found uninsured, untaxed or drunk, then in my mind, It's another bad egg off he road, and maybe another life saved. But the plethora of speed cameras cropping up in ridiculous places (OK, outside schools and on blackspots is fair enough) is just an excuse to get some extra coffers.

Also, with this question about the kids (it is the topic afterall!), I find that the attitude of todays kids, and even their parents, it's next to impossible to do anything about it. In my day (I feel old now!), if you got caught doing something stupid and were told off by an elder, and especially a copper, then you got well and truly told off, and you were scared off of doing it again. Now the attitude is one of indifference or even a complete disregard of that authority. Now it's fair enough what the police try and do, but if the attitude of the parents doesn't change, what, in reality, can they do more?

[Charlotte]

Last night was driving GF and some Chav kids just walked into the road and looked at me saying i had to stop, best bet is to keep going for them, slow down gradualy as you get closer as they wont notice you are doing it and believe me it scares them, they dont do it again, it does put them in their place. Be ready to stop though just in case they dont move.

It's things like that which make me both glad and sad that we aren't allowed to carry guns in this country. Glad, because I'd probably be in jail for trying to shoot the brats, and sad because I really want to shoot the brats some days!

[Dan]

"i must admit, i have pulled a couple of minis over the last year or so, only to chat with them about some fancy alloys they had on or what mods they had with the engine..."


I'm sorry Matt but that's just the kind of illegal, illegitimate abuse of Police powers that gives people a low opinion of the Police in the first place. I don't agree with the practice of pulling people who don't appear to be doing anything wrong on the flimsy excuse that they might have no insurace or no tax. The real reason is to try and hit your government target for detection.
It's the DVLA's job to track down people who avoid road tax not your's, in the same way that it's not your job to track down someone who avoids paying their income tax. There's a much older and more powerful organisation to look after that. Trust me people, you don't want a Customs officer after you, they are a lot more powerful than the Police and they don't need a judges permission to break down your door.
Sting operations are a much better way of finding people who break these kinds of laws, you can catch a lot more people in a day checking number plates against a list on the computer than you can by pulling people at random. Simply based on the odds, there's a lot more drivers who do abide by the law than those who don't.
The Police seem to assume that everyone is guilty unless they can prove otherwise rather than the other way around. For example if they spent more time trying to catch burlgers than trying to prevent burglary from happening in the first place people would back them a lot more than they do today. My opinion is that most of the public want the Police to catch criminals rather than try to deter criminalism (especially since the proof that that hasn't worked for the last 20 years is all around us whatever the massaged figures may say), and like all large organisations they just don't listen to what people really want from them.

[Roxoff]

hey just been down the police station gave all the kids names lol my sister just came home from school and said when they came out of school there was 2 police cars outsaide arresting them all!!!! thanks Guys! really helped !

Nice result. Now find out whether they admitted to doing it to the police. If they did, sue their parents for the cost of the damage, personal damages, personal trauma, and lay it on thick. Should be a good one for several thousand pounds - and their parents wont be very happy with the little bastads.

[mattyoung69]

I'm sorry Matt but that's just the kind of illegal, illegitimate abuse of Police powers that gives people a low opinion of the Police in the first place. I don't agree with the practice of pulling people who don't appear to be doing anything wrong on the flimsy excuse that they might have no insurace or no tax. The real reason is to try and hit your government target for detection.


Try s.163 of the Road Traffic Act - as minis are not the most secure car in the world and owning one myself, i try to ensure that people know that we are interested in who is about, one of the people i stopped is now joining the job.

Personally, i couldnt care less about figures, i used to work for a bank and if i wanted to play with the numbers, i wouldnt have left. For me, id rather spend my time turning burglars over and putting doors through, not thinking i have to get XX amounts of whatever everyday...

Those with nothing to hide 9/10 dont get pulled, decent people very rarely get bothered by my lot, yeah, at 3 or 4am we'll have aquick chat but only to make sure that they should be in the car...

Nobody's ever going to be happy with the Police, shame that most of you at some point in your life will need them, what alot dont seem to realise is that the reduction in crime is through the ruddy hard work of officers who spend there time deterring crime, personally, id rather someone dettered a scuffer from doing my house than they caught them doing it....

however, cant please some people.

[Dan]

"only to make sure that they should be in the car"
Which is kind of my point. Do you go round knocking on people's doors at night to make sure that all the right people are in their house? No, but cars are such easy targets aren't they? And such fun to chase.

It's all about intent. If you genuinely pull these cars over to investigate the occupants, to check their insurance or something like that AND because you had due cause then fair enough but if you actually have just pulled them over to check out their alloys or chat about their engine then you are in the wrong, and hiding behind a section of an act is even worse. You are trying to blind the public with the law by doing this and people shouldn't have cause to be afraid of their laws. This is not, despite Mr Blairs best efforts a Police state.

Speaking as someone who has been pulled for absolutely no reason in the past I can tell you that people do mind it, It worries people greatly if they get pulled by the Police and it seems to happen only when you are trying to get somewhere on time. As someone said above if you are doing nothing wrong then you start thinking 'why the hell is he pulling me in? What did I do?'. That is after you've worked out that they do want you to pull over as most of us are unaccustomed to the procedure.

When I was younger I was a huge supporter of the Police and I still am in many ways, I considered joining up myself and a few of my childhood friends became Police over the years. I applaud anyone who will put themselves in harms way for others, but I'm not so naieve as I was when I was a kid. The three or four times I have really needed the Police in my life (burglaries, assualts, car thefts etc.) they have been no help or use whatsoever. In fact the only thing that happens as a result of reporting a crime where I live is that my home insurance goes up the next year. I suppose it's because I have the great good luck to be in the Thames Valley that things are so bad. The TVP cars have 'Reducing crime, disorder and fear' written on the side. It should say 'Increasing council tax, insurance and distrust'.

My GF is a Paramedic and one of the Ambulance cover points she is based out of is the traffic Police base at Taplow in Buckinghamshire. I get told all about the conversations the motorway Police in that station have about how many people they plan to pull that night and which types of cars they're going to target. I also get to see the big (and I mean big) pile of wrecked Police cars they keep in their yard.

As I said above I have a lot of respect and admiration for the Police and what they do. I just think that they can do it so much better.

[CharlieBrown]

This has turned out to be a very interesting topic. Some very stromg (and well argued views).

Ive never been pulled by the police or had that much dealing with them to be honest.

I think they do a decent job that will only be getting harder as our society gets worse.

[minimole]

like i said previous never been pulled while driving. actually there was one time when i had just passed my test but they actually let me off as a honestly didnt know i had done anything wrong . i have been pulled many times walking home from the pub most of the time because there has been alot of breakins etc around that area. sometimes they are pricks but most of the time they are alright me and a mate even got a lift home one night because they stopped us asked us what we where doing and saw that we where quite clearly drunk (very) and i said you can give us a lift home if you like and they said yeah ok where you live . although that has only worked once

[mattyoung69]

it doesnt matter what trade your in, you cant please everyone, yeah, i admit i do stop cars - hell its part of my job and if while doing that, you can have a chat with the people about general stuff then why not?

this very morning (yet to go to bed after working 10hrs) - i was told about some young lads in what i was told a dodgy lookin saxo, driving like plebs etc... so, we pulled them, turned out he'd passed his test a week ago and was lost, the lad was papping himself and his mates found it funny..so i made a point of chatting with him to put him at ease, he'd done nothing wrong but as were not trained psychics, we dont know unless we stop people...

what you dont sometimes realise, you turn the wheel to avoid a series of potholes or change cd etc...to some people, it looks like your all over the road, they ring the police and we have a look...not a case of stopping people for no reason, not round here anyway..

im not apologising or arguing for other forces that have let people down, but what the government hide well is the pressures on beat officers. on top of going to calls or whatever, i have a personal workload of over 11 crimes, these i have to deal with on top of accidents and day to day tasks...theres no balance and sometimes the wrong thing has to give just to balance out..

[mini-mad uk]

i say eather beat the C**p outer them or run them over an say they should b messinabout on the path