Cutbacks of Traffic Police

[Bad Company]

We have debated speed limits and cameras many times but this really bothers me:-

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/ingear/cars/article1160842.ece#

Mrs BC & I drove thru the West End of London yesterday and saw a taxi driver reading a newspaper while driving, a driver texting and several using mobile phones. None of this can be resolved by cameras.

 

[Recycle]

I routinely see drivers using their mobile phones behind the wheel, often when I have been prompted to look after a close pass. I think they should make black box recorders or carcam mandatory.

 

[tadpole]

Just after the cable on my back brake slipped giving me a start and leaving me with no working back brake, I overtook a guy driving and texting on a tablet sized device in his car with a cup of coffee held between his thighs. I was so tempted to pass him and then brake sharply to see which he would drop first, but the risk of him not even seeming me slowing down and driving over me put me off.

 

[Drago]

It varies with the force, but as a general trend there are more roads policing officers than in any time in the last 20 years. Add to this the ANPR units most forces now have, and who's remit overlaps into the Roads Policing model, and things are numerically pretty rosy for the bulk of forces.

The problem is manifold;

No one wants to pay more Council Tax to fund more officers.

The very vociferous sector of the population, often prodded along by the tabloid press, regard a lot of road policing activity as petty.

And here's the biggy, ask a random sample of people what they think the top 3 policing priorities should be and you'd be lucky if as many ad 1 in 20 lists anything to do with Roads Policing, and even then it's likely to be speed related matters, even though they almost certainly speed themselves.

Indeed, the highlight of my police career was catching the head of a residents action group against speeding, speeding through his own village himself. I know another bobby that repeated this feat in another village.

My observations? We're not short of Roads Policing officers but they're all off doing other things - the acerage arrest generates 7 hours of admin sovartest someone early in the day abd tou wont see that bobby for the rest of the day. the theres drivers thenselves, most if who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, cos show me a driver who says they've never broken a law on the road and ill show you a liar.

 

[dellzeqq]

Indeed, the highlight of my police career was catching the head of a residents action group against speeding, speeding through his own village himself. I know another bobby that repeated this feat in another village.

years ago my favourite copper, the one that helped scrape me off the road when I was rear-ended, told me that he'd booked the same village worthy five times. His pleasure was only slightly lessened by these two factors

1. On the sixth time she outran him when his Vauxhall police car 'dropped the engine'.
2. She was his wife.

 

[xpc316e]

I can only speak as a retired Met officer, and one who knows a little about the situation in his home county, but I am pretty certain that there are far fewer Trafpols on the road now than there were when I was still in the Police. I used to work at a garage in East London that regularly paraded over thirty men per shift. Those kind of numbers are a thing of the past, and drivers know that the chances of being caught for something that a camera cannot detect are miniscule. The standards of driving (and roads policing) are getting worse.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

They are all trying to get onto Police, Camera, Action, how is it that 2 kids on Motorbikes, attracts 8 marked Police cars, 6 unmarked cars, a Helicopter & 2 Police dogs, or when they stop an immigrant who doesn't have a licence, no insurance & no test it take at least 5 Police officers in separate cars to all arrive at the scene.

Alan...