HowardQ wrote:Traffic Cop, what's that then TC ??????
The big problem as I see it is that most Chief Constables (or is it Police Authorities) are getting rid of them and relying on cameras to do their job, which I believe is totally wrong.
The traffic "job" now gets done by some copper out in a car for whatever reason, or some Civvi pseudo cop or warden.
For the reasons you stated and many others you didn't bother adding, we need traffic cops, (prefer the fully dressed version though!).
I agree with your sentiments 100%, and much of the trouble is to do with the Government wanting an immediate and cost affective penalty/deterent and secondly this allows Police Forces to reduce their annual budget expenditure by not having to invest in specialist personel/vehicles/equipment and training.
Many forces also have what is called tenure of service which means that if someone specialises, then after a set time, say 5 years, the person is back onthe street with a tall hat on or moved to another department.
This means that we no longer have a professional traffic department (what is left of it) where there are specialists within the department, you don't have the old sweats (as I was) who have spent all their service on the department training the new guys, and they don't even have the professional driving qualifications that we were obliged to have just to stay on the department.
It took me 16 weeks of continous training for my class 1 car ticket, the same again for my class 1 bike, I had to do a 12 week traffic law course and pass an exam each week and then I had the specialist training in addition, accident investigation, riding instructor, vehicle examination, HGV/PCV course etc.
Now they do a 3 week driving course with an in house qualification rather than a Home Office class 1, they no longer have class 1 bikes except for a very few specialists, and the traffic law course is 1 week
And this takes me back to the likes of Bikesafe. It is being sold as assessments conducted by experts, but most of the instructors I have examined hold nothing more than a basic riding authorisation, only about 5% actually hold a class 1.
A RoSPA gold grade rider is actually better qualified than some of the Bikesafe instructors/assessors, but they never tell you this, it is left for the individual to assume that because they ride a Police bike they are up there at the top of their profession
It is one of those occasions when I still hanker back to the old days for the reasons you have covered. We had a professional traffic department with experts in their field who had a sense of humour and discretion when it was appropriate!
