powerman1

Drove my wife to her friends house last night(saturday) at 7.45 and noticed a few cars coming the opposite direction flashing their lights and although i wasn,t breaking the speed limit i noticed in the distance a ordinary patrol car parked up with the police passenger pointing a speed gun at on coming traffic and he seemed to be loving it.On the way back i noticed he had stopped a couple who were obviously on their way out for night out being booked.Surely there is better thing for two police officers on 30k plus to be doing on a Saturday night and lets face it if you rang them for a incident the normal answer is we are very busy we will get somebody to you as soon as possible in the next 4 hours

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Have to agree .. not sure about the 30k plus though ....

As for a waste of police time ... testing for drink would of been useful !!!

warrenm2

do speed limits only apply at certain times of the day then, and not on Saturday nights?

powerman1

Good point and obviously not but surely Saturday nights are for fighting? elton john thinks so..

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Obviously !!

ScoobyWon't

As it's abank holiday, most of them will be on duty.

With the important promotion/relegation football matches this weekend and the usual bank holiday events, the number of officers on duty is increased so chances are you'd get a faster response.

I say it's nice that they are actually out and about rather than just hanging around at the station.

DYK

yea it's great to see that they are out,But with catching the motorist in mind again.when theres all those fights they could be attending to outside the local bar's and kebab shop on a Saturday night..or was it a bit too early in the evening for that.saying that they were in an umarked car,so obviously not your local street bobbies..

ScoobyWon't

Even in an unmarked car, they would still be uniformed bobbies. CID don't do traffic duties.

j4ckos mate

its a difficult one for me, to be honest,
when i was a kid my mates mum was murdered, looking back the police, where great, one cid copper took him and me to united loads of times, out of his own time and money, and im sure this copper kept him on the straight and narrow.he really took an interest in him.

and with the scanner i had they deal with the really low end of society.

and if they were speeding why shouldnt he let them off what if it was the road where your kids school is on?

i rembeber a post j4cko did on here for a neighbour sppeding down his cul-de-sac and most people where of the opinion that his kids were in the wrong for playing out.

theres a saying "young dum and full of ***"
when your life changes and you have kids you cant afford to drive fast

Abdabz

They could have been stopped by the coppers for anything??? I think you should have stopped and asked them why they were doing their job while on duty in their job doing what they are paid to do in their job whilst out doing their job...
My theory is the people being booked were probably breaking the law in some way or another and therefore the police were right to be doing their job whilst on duty doing their job...

Next time, find out first before casting aspertions against these knights of the law. Thanks.

Tee hee

pslewis

Is it OK to do as you like on a Saturday Night then?

Why is the speed limit worth sticking to at all other times, but when you are off on a lovely night out you should be immune to prosecution if you break the law?

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Its not so much they shouldn't be stopping people for me, its the lack of Police when I've needed them.

pslewis

Granted, they do seem rather keen to get a few speeding motorists rather than doing anything else to make our streets safer.

However, I think that the job of these officers is to deter unlawful motoring ... ie. they are employed to monitor the roads .. not do anything else.

DYK

yea your right,but what i meant to say was they were probably traffic police and not your local street bobbie.plus he did actually say it was an ordinary patrol car,so i got that wrong also.im surprised no one spotted that and called me an idiot and corrected me on that..This isnt like scooby net to let mistakes go unnoticed..

dunx

iTrader: (3)

They were just filling-in till they got some proper work to do !

LOL

DunxC

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

What a pointless post.
Shock horror!!!! Police out doing one of the tasks they are employed to carry out!!!.
Do you get so irate when a surgeon carries out an operation on an ingoing toenail when there are people needing heart transplants?
So was there a fight going on at the very moment you saw the police out earning their wage? Were they traffic officers? Were they volunteers/ Do you have volunteers in your area? Have there been public complaints from the public in your area regarding speeding motorists?
If you just don't like the police, come out of the closet and announce it.
Or would you rather them be sat in the police station on the off chance that something more important happens?

Fuzz

Quoted for the truth

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

I'm not surprised they were out - most of us know friday and saturday nights are often when the boy racers go out 'cruising' in their maxed up Corsas - perhaps there have been complaints or accidents on that road ?

Maybe they were there as a detterent to get people to slow down, or to put them off drink driving if they think there will be police around on their way home ?

I would much rather the police ruin the saturday night of a few pi55ed up drivers using speed in the wrong place than have to hear about another driver or pedestrian being scraped off the road, and the guilty driver getting a few months inside and a small fine.

If they were a traffic car I'd imagine they also had the thing for checking tax and insurance in the car, so that could be why they had stopped the people.

The Zohan

Saturday night speeding rules do apply i believ, however saturday night is one of the nights when there is most trouble due to drinking and drug taking - ******* idiots take over.

Police resources should be set u to deal with this not knicking a few prats a few miles over the limits - it is all about generating money!

Me, i would rather see cops stopping and searching kids they suspect have drink/drugs/guns/knifes as a priority. This howver does not makes as easy figures or generate money in the same way a motorist does so point proved i suppose.

No a pop at cpos more at targets and gov't

Fuzz

Traffic police doing traffic duties then.. Doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing.
Those "few prats" are the "******* idiots" for thinking they can leave the pub pissed and drive home!!

The Zohan

Wow, speed cameras can now detect drunk drivers, how long has this been true, news to me. What sort of technology is used, some sort of sniffing device.

can it spot bald tyres, no mot, illegal/unroadworthy cars as well, no that would be impressive!

Do not make me laugh, do not mislead or start to believe your own hype either!

Felix.

Traffic police deal with traffic. Response and local beats (which they are far more) deal with the rest. If there is a specific problem in speeding on Saturday nights on that stretch of road which the local community have highlighted, then why shouldn’t the police target it. Bare in mind they will also be looking for stolen cars, disqual drivers, drunk drivers etc etc – they won’t just be purely relying on the speed camera.

If you want to start bringing in figures into all of this, then stop search is taken as a figure as well as fixed penalty tickets.

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Would agree with Paul. Without knowing the circumstances (complaints about speeders from local residents etc) it is impossible to be sure why they were there. However, i'd be more in favour of them driving about, looking for unstable drivers who might have had a few post footy or doing an ANPR on locals to check for tax insurance etc.

5t.

ScoobyWon't

Where did you find speed cameras? The initial post was about the officer using a speed gun.
Traffic police don't just sit there aiming a gun and sending fines. If they detect someone speeding, they will pull them in and have a chat with them. At this point they generally run the other checks on the vehicle, such as check for valid MOT, tax, insurance, examine the car if the think it is unroadworthy.

Last time one of my mates got nicked for suspected drink driving (he was under the limit) it was by two officers in an unmarked high-performance Honda. They weren't interested in collecting fines, but removing dangerous drivers from the road.

The Zohan

Oh dear,
If you must be pedantic, insert the words 'speed gun' instead of 'camera', the same applies though. Will a speed gun detect bald tyres, drunk/drugged drivers just by being pointed at a car, i think we both know the answer is a resounding "NO!" unless they happen to be speeding at the time they pass a stationary speed gun sat at the side of the road, bit like a speed camera, in a van maybe. Funnily enough i can see a similarity


Maybe the government have finally convinced the police that speeding in the BIG crime

ScoobyWon't

The officers will conduct all the other checks. If they wave someone down who doesn't stop they will pursue them.

If they are moving and they see for example a brake light that doesn't work, they will pull over the driver for that. This is when they carry out the other checks that a camera does not do.

So basically, if the police aren't out there and relied purely on speed cameras, then more people would get away with committing offences. Which of course is not what anyone wants.

The Zohan

So, how will the parked up police car be of any use - unless a person(s) is speeding and therefore the camera picks this up - the person needs needs pulling over... It is not. This approach gives a snapshot of driving and designed to pick up speeding motorists in the first instance...You miss (or maybe choose to) my point.

Our local shop which is becoming a no-go area at night - rarely see cops, the co-op has two security guards on at night it is a small convineince store in an arcade of four shops.
The only times i see the local community officer(s) is at night. I see him stood next to the road, with his bike, camera in hand loking down the road. He really makes all the difference...

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Police are a utter waste of time round here,saw a bunch of teenage fcukwits sat drinking alcohol in the park the other day at 12 pm, who were abusing a bunch of kids who had the audacity to think that parks were for playing in and not for getting p1ssed up
I popped into the police station to report it and after taking my name address, contact number, alternative contact number they inform me they are very busy but will look into it asap

Need a few dci gene hunt's round here,the sh its would not be so cocky after a good old fashioned police beating.

Felix.

perhaps they are dealing with other jobs.....
Which would take priority - burglary in progress or the kids in the park.?

ScoobyWon't

The last police officer who was pulling in drivers here in Nottingham that I came across, was standing on the street. His vehicle was a motorcycle.

The one before was driving a unmarked car which had teamed up with the dog squad and there was a big f*ck off Alsation in the back seat.

The motorcycle officer was just looking for speeding drivers. The officers in the car are looking for people driving badly e.g. not indicating when changing lanes, lights not working etc.

Generally, if there is an officer catching and waving down people, he/she generally has support just down the road to catch anyone who does not stop. I'm now expecting you to say that's two vehicles wasting their time, but if an uninsured car/unlicensed driver drove past them and hit your car, doing damage to it, I'm sure you would not be happy.