Thread: How's the Police where you live?

Originally Posted by Firstgear

Yup - in these parts you get a ticket for talking on your cell while driving.

Realistically though, I don't think there's much the cops can do in this situation. If they decide to look into it - this guy could very easily say it was you that drifted into his lane. It's basically your word against his, with no real way of knowing whose telling the truth unless you have witnesses to support your story.

The question is if he did call the police?
If he did, which I doubt, what would he tell them as he didn't have my registration numbers or anything else? Police had my version of events withing 2 minutes of the accident.

PS: It is not the police who decides who's at fault, it's the insurance who does it. And hit from behind means a lot for them.
However I needed the police in order to make a statement due to the fact that the other driver decided not to stop. And the police should decide on their own to investigate why he decided to run away, maybe he was drunk?

Originally Posted by ioan

We do have built in hands free in cars around here, you just press 2 buttons on the steering wheel and presto you can phone without taking your hands off the wheel or the eyes off the road!
....

Really?! Wow, that’s fascinating! I long for the day when us Canadians can benefit from such incredible technology. Realistically though, we first need the motor vehicle introduced into our country, then electricity into our igloos so that we can charge the mobile phones. Alas, until that happens we’ll have to continue to live in the dark ages mushing dogs to pull our sleds across the snow, and communicating with signal fires.

I am thankful though for our progressive-thinking provincial governments who, in anticipation of the arrival of such marvelous technology, have passed legislation prohibiting the use of mobile phones, including hands-free, when driving.

Originally Posted by schmenke

Really?! Wow, that’s fascinating! I long for the day when us Canadians can benefit from such incredible technology. Realistically though, we first need the motor vehicle introduced into our country, then electricity into our igloos so that we can charge the mobile phones. Alas, until that happens we’ll have to continue to live in the dark ages mushing dogs to pull our sleds across the snow, and communicating with signal fires.

You almost convinced me to move to Canada and have a quiet life with no mobile phones, blackberies and what not!

Originally Posted by schmenke

I am thankful though for our progressive-thinking provincial governments who, in anticipation of the arrival of such marvelous technology, have passed legislation prohibiting the use of mobile phones, including hands-free, when driving.

They do funny things in that country of yours!

Had an experience this weekend which made me think of this thread.

Was out biking with a mate of mine when we worked our way past a train of cars on a single lane carriageway, had a blast for a bit then hit a town where I slowed it right down to 30. A minute or two later, one of the cars behind it but on its lights and sirens and pulled us over, a uniformed cop in an unmarked car who'd tailed us for a bit.

We'd done 96 mph in a 60 zone he told us, though it was while we were overtaking. More importantly we'd averaged 80 for the rest of the 60 zone before coming right down to the limit once we were in town.

I have to admit I thought I was looking at the end of my licence or a good few points but no, the copper who was clearly a biker himself didn't even ask for our licences. Instead he criticised various aspects of our riding technique and pointed us towards some advanced riding courses to look into. Oh, and he told me my bike needed a good wash before he got into his car and drove off. No points, no caution, just a good bollocking and well placed words of advice.

Looking back I think if we'd not slowed down enough for the town he'd have taken us to the cleaners and we'd not have had a leg to stand on, but I think we showed we weren't entirely moronic by slowing down.

I have to think that what he did was pretty effective. I thought very carefully about the advice he gave me and I'm looking at advanced riding courses now. I will probably be safer as a result and as a rider I'll still view my relationship with the coppers I've met quite warmly. Any advice he'd have given me would have been completely forgotten and ignored if he'd slapped me with points or a court case IMO.

All in all highly context sensitive policing aimed not at banging people up but at reducing accidents in the future and maintaining a good relationship with the particular part of the public this guy served. I'm impressed, and I'm not so sure coppers in other countries would have behaved the same.

We shall soon find out - Probably a couple months before election day
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Sends Birther Investigators To Hawaii | TPMMuckraker

Roamy, why would an Arizona Sheriff send a fact gathering team to Hawaii at the cost of Arizona tax payers when this has nothing to do with his jurisdiction? Arpaio’s jurisdiction is Maricopa County in Arizona, and that’s it! And what the hell is his freakin' "Threat Management Unit" doing investigating The President of The United States of America? I think the first comment below the article sums it up quite nicely:

You can't spell crazy without AZ

I also think this part of the article deserves quoting:

Before now, the unit was perhaps best known for its role in a criminal investigation into Arpaio’s opponent during the 2004 Republican primary for sheriff. Arpaio’s investigators accused the challenger of sexually assaulting his adoptive mother 30 years earlier when he was in his mid-teens. (The challenger later said it was his mother who assaulted him and ended up suing Arpaio.)

All things being equal the Chicago PD did a pretty good job containing the protests at the NATO summit this week. Granted they were always on camera but it still sent a lot better than all the fear mongering that was flying around town with people afraid to wear suits to work and many offices closing Friday and Monday.

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

Roamy, why would an Arizona Sheriff send a fact gathering team to Hawaii at the cost of Arizona tax payers when this has nothing to do with his jurisdiction? Arpaio’s jurisdiction is Maricopa County in Arizona, and that’s it! And what the hell is his freakin' "Threat Management Unit" doing investigating The President of The United States of America? I think the first comment below the article sums it up quite nicely:


I also think this part of the article deserves quoting:

Where there is smoke there is usually fire. If they can produce enough facts congress will have to investigate. I would imagine if Obama falls behind by 10% in the polls he will withdraw base on the birth issues. Then Hilary will run in his place. AZ taxpayer are still governed by many federal regs which I am sure you can understand.

Done deal!!
I'm tired of all this thinly veiled racism.

Originally Posted by Dave B

Racist, violent, corrupt, lazy... oh that's just the Met.

Now it transpires that the Met's anti-corruption unit is being investigated for... you'll never guess.

Four arrested in Met police corruption inquiry | UK news | guardian.co.uk

Originally Posted by Dr Giacomo Rappaccini

Done deal!!
I'm tired of all this thinly veiled racism.

Hey Nice Photo Shop are you a Gov employee? I am applying for a job at the secret service

Originally Posted by Roamy

Hey Nice Photo Shop are you a Gov employee? I am applying for a job at the secret service

What was I thinking? I'm not going to argue with a birther.

What has Obama's birthplace (a sad, tired argument if ever there was one) got to do with the police?

Nothing. Whatsoever.

Originally Posted by SGWilko

Do we have a police force over here? What do they do exactly?

From my own personal experience I'd say they are, incompetent and disinterested.

The entire police force in the UK could be obducted by aliens overnight, and I doubt anyone would notice for a couple of weeks......

Agreed, they've never been helpful towards me when needed, and I've lost count of the number of times I've seen them parked on pavements, in double yellow lines, disabled spaces etc
No wonder people have little respect for the doughnut fan club these days.

I've always found the police here to be either correct and respectful professionals.... or lazy rude morons. There doesn't seem to be anyone in between, so when you have to deal with them it's the luck of the draw.

Originally Posted by fandango

I've always found the police here to be either correct and respectful professionals.... or lazy rude morons. There doesn't seem to be anyone in between, so when you have to deal with them it's the luck of the draw.

Most coppers I have come across have tended to be OK. Quite a few jobsworths and some that abuse their power but mostly are pretty competent.

Now, the Police in Milan are pretty lazy IMHO. More interested in driving around in their Alfa's and looking pretty than getting their hands dirty doing a job.

Originally Posted by schmenke

Really?! Wow, that’s fascinating! I long for the day when us Canadians can benefit from such incredible technology. Realistically though, we first need the motor vehicle introduced into our country, then electricity into our igloos so that we can charge the mobile phones. Alas, until that happens we’ll have to continue to live in the dark ages mushing dogs to pull our sleds across the snow, and communicating with signal fires.

I am thankful though for our progressive-thinking provincial governments who, in anticipation of the arrival of such marvelous technology, have passed legislation prohibiting the use of mobile phones, including hands-free, when driving.

In most things, Calgary and Albertans in general are smart, realistic folk, but they elected a nanny state Premier in the guise of a conservative (Alison Redford is so much like our nanny state Liberal Party Premier McGuinty I swear they are related) and her government passed a hands-free BAN. Now of course, how can the cops tell if you are talking to your wife or singing to the radio, or talking out loud? Totally unenforceable, but never tell a liberal politican their laws are stupid....

AS for police in my neck of the woods, they couldn't catch pneumonia if there was an epidemic, but they are good at pulling people over for traffic citations, and they are just WIZARDS at writing parking tickets.

Police here are not what they once were. Shaved heads and steroid absue is rampant, even as crime of all sorts has plummeted compared with 15 years ago, they act more and more agressive, demand more military type toys so they can pretend they big brave soldiers and the populace is "the enemy'

That said they must be better than the wannabe GeheimStatsPolizei in Aurora, Colorado...
Got a "tip" the bank robber is somewhere nearby? Handcuff everybody and search everybody's car:
Police Stop, Handcuff Every Adult at Intersection in Search for Bank Robber - ABC News

Police in Aurora, Colo., searching for suspected bank robbers stopped every car at an intersection, handcuffed all the adults and searched the cars, one of which they believed was carrying the suspect.

Police said they had received what they called a “reliable” tip that the culprit in an armed robbery at a Wells Fargo bank committed earlier was stopped at the red light.

“We didn’t have a description, didn’t know race or gender or anything, so a split-second decision was made to stop all the cars at that intersection, and search for the armed robber,” Aurora police Officer Frank Fania told ABC News.

Officers barricaded the area, halting 19 cars.

“Cops came in from every direction and just threw their car in front of my car,” Sonya Romero, one of the drivers who was handcuffed, told ABC News affiliate KMGH-TV in Denver.

From there, the police went from car to car, removing the passengers and handcuffing the adults.

“Most of the adults were handcuffed, then were told what was going on and were asked for permission to search the car,” Fania said. “They all granted permission, and once nothing was found in their cars, they were un-handcuffed.”

The search lasted between an hour and a half and two hours, and it wasn’t until the final car was searched that police apprehended the suspect.

“Once officers got to his car, they found evidence that he was who they were looking for,” Fania said. “When they searched the car, they found two loaded firearms.”

The actions of the police have been met with some criticism, but Fania said this was a unique situation that required an unusual response.

“It’s hard to say what normal is in a situation like this when you haven’t dealt with a situation like this,” Fania said. “The result of the whole ordeal is that it paid off. We have arrested and charged a suspect.”

The other people who had been held at the intersection were allowed to leave once the suspect was apprehended.

So no idea who the "perp" is? No problem, the 4th Amendment with its guarantee of freedom from unreasonable searches and [b]seizures---which any time a cop stops you is a "seizure"---the who nonsense about needing "probable cause" is just some old words written hundreds of years ago, and some schmuck decided this was a case where an unusual response was called for, so cuffing random citizens and sitting them on the curb for 2 hours is, evidently perfectly OK for these morton cops
"because we got the guy in the end"

Idiots, obviously, brains destroyed by drug and alcohol abuse, uneducated , too and armed to the teeth..

Makes one wonder how many people they would think is justifiable to detain without the least bit of individual suspicion on the whim of their supervisor/master?
40 was OK "because we got the guy"
would 100 be OK?
400?
4000 "because we got the guy" in the end.

Disappointing also that, as far as we can find, none of the goons thought that what they were doing was illegal and refused, none upheld their duty to PROTECT the citizens and uphold the law---and go over and arrest the person ordering them to do illegal acts .
cowards and thugs in Blue, what's new?