Do Traffic cops have nothing better to do?

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T.C.
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#46 Post by T.C. » Mon Jul 28, 2014 9:53 am

lazarus wrote:TY.C.

Casting your mind back to the days when you were plod, exactly what5 targets were there? Did you have to dish out a minimum number of tickets per nday, for example?
We never had targets.

My bosses take on things was that our visual presence was the deterent and by being visible we were still doing our job.

He was not interested in someone being nicked for 2 or 3 MPH over the limit, but 20 or 30 over the limit was a different matter. The same with careless or inconsiderate motorists, non insured vehicles, drivers who drove whilst disqualified, Drink drivers, they were our targets

But of course times have changed, and these KPI's started coming in with the new generation of senior officers who wanted to make a name for themselves and could take the credit when figures were produced.
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#47 Post by lazarus » Mon Jul 28, 2014 4:15 pm

IT was interesting to read in the Times today a report on the 250 or so police officers who had been thrown out for gross misconduct and particularly that 80 odd % of these were as a result of the complaints of fellow officers. Public perception is that officers club together / watch each others backs which I guess must happen. As it did with Plebgate for example

The puzzle is why so few went as the result of public complaints. Is this because public complaints are ignored?

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#48 Post by Aladinsaneuk » Mon Jul 28, 2014 10:47 pm

i would suggest that most public complaints have already been the subject of an internal complaint that could not be proved..... once the public raise a concern, then the original complaint is looked at again

much easier / swifter / cleaner if done in house


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#49 Post by T.C. » Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:45 am

You also have to bear in mind that many complaints made by the public are for want of a better word "malicious" in that they have probably been arrested for a crime or reported for offences and they believe that if they make a formal complaint there is a good chance that the case against them would be dropped.

It used to happen a lot even back in my day, but now with all the video recordings, many (not all) complaints can be sent to file 13 within a few days. I am not suggesting that all public complaints are malicious or fake, but many are for those reasons, and those complaints that are upheld often results in severe action, depending of course on the nature of the complaint.

But in respect of complaints by colleagues (and doubt if it is any different now) the atitude always used to be that one bad apple spoils it for the majority and tars everyone with the same brush. A lot of good work is done by a lot of good coppers which goes unrecognised and takes ages for the word to spread, but one bent copper? The rumour mill will go into overdrive.

I always worked on the principal that I joined the job to make a difference for the better, once you start accepting bent coppers, then as an organisation you are no better than the scumbags you are trying to put away, on top of which that bent copper is also abusing his position.

I think many coppers still think that way even today.
Last edited by T.C. on Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:08 am, edited 1 time in total.
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#50 Post by D-Rider » Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:49 am

T.C. wrote: A lot of good work is done by a lot of god coppers
Are these the ones that move in mysterious ways?













.......... or just the ones that think they are above everybody else?
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#51 Post by T.C. » Tue Jul 29, 2014 11:09 am

D-Rider wrote:
T.C. wrote: A lot of good work is done by a lot of god coppers
Are these the ones that move in mysterious ways?













.......... or just the ones that think they are above everybody else?
Thanks for pointing out the deliberate mistake :smt002 Corrected now :smt003
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#52 Post by fatboy » Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:06 pm

A lot of good work is done by a lot of good coppers .

You been mugged TC, sue the bastards :smt002
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Re: Do Traffic cops have nothing better to do?

#53 Post by Ben » Tue Apr 07, 2020 10:51 am

While we have this lockdown on, I thought this would be a good time for the old bill to step up their efforts to fight motorcycle-related crime.

My logic goes that: if you're a law-abiding citizen and staying in, your bike's probably law-abiding too.

If you are 10 days into lockdown, it's the weekend, it's sunny and you think "f*ck it, I'm taking the bike out", you're probably more likely to be the sort of person that doesn't have the right insurance, has tyres that are a little bald, maybe you have a ringer of a bike.

Around where I live, the drug dealers use scooters and wear deliveroo jackets to fit in, but with far fewer vehicles on the roads, these guys are easier to spot. Again, I don't see why the traffic police shouldn't be out there getting stuck in.

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Re: Do Traffic cops have nothing better to do?

#54 Post by Gio » Tue Apr 07, 2020 1:10 pm

No they would far rather intimidate people for non essential easter eggs.
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#55 Post by RiceBurner » Tue Apr 07, 2020 4:29 pm

D-Rider wrote:
Fri Jul 04, 2014 5:26 pm
If only we knew how many doughnuts were consumed to achieve all of those successes, we might be able to determine the efficiency or something.



..... or at least contemplate in awe the number of doughnuts consumed .....


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This is one of the things that actually really pisses me off about the general public's perception of the police.
EVERYBODY in a job takes time off to eat, smoke, have a coffee during their work hours - and will often pop out to the shops/cafes to do it. So why are the police offices not allowed to do the same thing? They're STILL on call, and WILL drop everything and rush off if they get an urgent call - which is very likely far more than anyone else would if they got called back to the office during lunch.

Boils my piss it does. :smt013



For reference - I've worked police shift-patterns in the past: daily liaison to Thames Valley Traffic from TRL for 6 months (or more, can't remember exactly); they're an absolute killer.

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Re: Do Traffic cops have nothing better to do?

#56 Post by BikerGran » Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:21 pm

If I've posted this before just ignore it.

When I was working for Dorset Police we had quite a few of the 'old school' coppers still there, who mostly couldn't wait to retire cos the rules had changed so much. Not only were they told who they had to target and how many arrests/reports they had to generate, but all discretion had been removed so they couldn't choose whether to ticket someone or warn them and let them go.

There were also a lot of the new style police, who go into the job because it's well paid and they like the uniform and the power it gives them.

Example - I was in my bank's very small car park one day having just come out of the bank, and a police car with two young coppers pulled into the only remaining space. (I was on the bike so not in a car space.) As they got out one quite properly said "Should we be parking here, we're not going to the bank?" The other one replied "Course we can, we're the police, we can do what we like."
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Re: Do Traffic cops have nothing better to do?

#57 Post by fatboy » Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:28 pm

Something I have seen a lot of during the lockdown....
Because of the massively reduced traffic some are really taking the piss when it comes to urban speed limits.
Stupid,selfish,dangerous
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Re: Do Traffic cops have nothing better to do?

#58 Post by lazarus » Mon Apr 13, 2020 3:34 pm

Whops! Nearly replied to a post started years ago.

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