Speed cop out

Someone has used the Freedom of Information Act to harry Brunstrom:

http://icnorthwales.icnetwork.co.uk...d=50142&headline=speed-cop-out-name_page.html

"JUST six out of more than 100 North Wales police drivers clocked by
speed cameras ended up in court"

"None was answering 999 calls and they did not have blue emergency
lights flashing."

"Reasons included attending emergencies, gaining on a vehicle ahead
in order to stop it, "and a multitude of operational reasons."

 

Erm, sticking up for ploddie-poos here seems to be frowned on, but... Plod,
Trumpton and Ambulances are actually exempt from speed limits as long as the
vehicle (an official one, that is) is being "used for the purpose". Road
traffic act doesn't say that they have to be going all lights and sirened up.

It would be hard to sneak up on billie the burglar if the act required plod to
only exceed the limit if going round with lights and sirens blaring. Other
example would be going to, say, an elderly person found dead in bed.. no
suspicious circs. You'd want to be getting there as quickly as possible
(distressed relatives and all that), but it hardly justifies a full on blue
lights and sirens/jumping the lights approach. You'd make best progress you
could, which in all probability will set a few speed cameras off. Result..
speed camera activations, legal and justifiable use of speed exemption, but no
blue light showing in the picture. Fodder for the likes of the Mail etc who
would hardly like to sully a story with a few facts.

I know a lot of forces require the driver to *prove* that at the time of
speeding they were actually doing something which they could claim the exemption
for, if they can't then sanctions abound.

Most cops of my acquaintance (generally TrafPols) are quite appalled by the
bloke from a county force who got off driving like a prize pillock by claiming
that he was "testing" the car. As they like to point out, it was fellow cops
sent him to court and supported the prosecution. The muppets on the bench let
him off.

London's top traffic cop is in all sorts of bother for ordering his driver to go
over the speed limit/blue light it etc to a meeting. The driver, who is a cop
himself, got points on his licence. The senior officer is up for discipline.
They do seem to be taking it seriously and not trying the "rules don't apply to
cops" route.

Just another viewpoint

 

That is a very good point.

 

Only by some - not by others, including me. We've had some good ones
on here in the past, 't would be nice to have some more.

 

Do **** off. When did the police last turn up to a burglary quickly enough to
chase the perp?

 

I'd be more outraged if they were doing **** all, tbh.
--
| ___ Salad Dodger
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\|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG*
'^' RBR 2005: Abandoned - Bronze Award.

 

Can you ask Kent Police what they're doing to the bloke that stole my
identity on 14th September?

Oh, wait a minute, they're not doing **** ALL, even though Barclaycard
have the call on file of him changing my address to his own, and Royal
Mail have records of the mail redirection service being set up.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Salad Dodger amazed us all with this pearl of
wisdom:

Exactly what I was going to say.

 

So if they're *not* doing **** all, what are they doing?

 

Wanking in the corner, I imagine, Ginge.

 

BGN wrote

Who in their right mind would want to be you?

Name and shame.

 

You have a strange imagination.

 

According to my next door but four neighbour, 2 weeks ago. She's quite pleased
about it, actually. Got her property and car back. (They'd nicked the car keys
and car as well). Thanks to the next door but three neighbour actually ringing
when he heard something weird in the house [1], and not waiting for an hour
'just to be sure', or as seems to be the norm, not bothering at all.
It was all very big news over the garden fences this past fortnight, I'll tell
you that much. Nothing much ever happens round here normally.

[1] Mrs Next Door But Four was on her hols and the house was unoccupied.

 

Someone who hasn't done their research very well. I do have a
fantastic credit rating, though.

Timeline for use at later date:

26Sep 0730: Log into Barclaycard online banking and notice there's
less available to spend, so I have a look at the 'new transactions'
and see a £50 payment on 22Sep to VODAFONE LTD.

Sure, I have Vodafone contract phone, but I pay that off monthly via
Direct Debit.

26Sep 0745: Call Barclaycard to ask how the payment was taken (over
the phone, chip & pin, etc) and they say they're not sure. I let them
know that I may be disputing the payment and wait for the Vodafone
offices to open @ 8am.

26Sep 0830: Call Vodafone Customer Service and give them my Vodafone
number. They check, no payments have been applied to my account for
£50 at all. I ask them to look into it for me and then call me back
at 12:40 tomorrow.

26Sep 2000: Call Barclaycard and say I'm really not sure about the
payment, I can't find a receipt for it, Voda know nothing about it and
I don't remember buying anything. They say they'll send out a form.

27Sep 1235: Vodafone call me as promised and ask "Do you know a Martin
Matthews?" to which I reply No. Evidently Mr. Matthews presented my
card information to Dial-a-phone (either online or over the phone)
including my card security code (on signature strip on back of card)
in payment for a deposit for a mobile phone. Voda wouldn't give me
his address (Data Protection) and say that I should dispute the
payment with BC.

27Sep 1300: Call Barclaycard after I've finished lunch to say that
payment is NOTHING to do with me and they say they're going to cancel
my card and issue me another which they'll send to 66 Grindsley Avenue
(or suchlike, I can't remember it but I wrote it down wrong) to which
I reply "No, that's not my address" <fx. Sound of penny dropping> I
get transferred through to BC Fraud team who take some details and say
they'll call me back.

27Sep 1330: Barclaycard Fraud team call me and ask me a load of
questions from my original application form for a BC 4 years ago and
they say they're satisfied I am who I say I am. They say that on 14th
September someone identifying themselves as me called Barclaycard
Customer Services to let them know that I had moved house and was now
resident at 66 Whatever Road, Kent. Evidently they have the call on
tape and have listened to it and the person didn't know my password
and couldn't remember if I had any other additional cards on my
account, but did know my date & place of birth as well as my credit
card number, security code and credit limit. 14th September is also
my credit card billing date, could it be coincidence that they waited
until my statement date to change my details so I wouldn't notice the
statement being missing for another month? Perhaps, perhaps not.
Either way, I only noticed this fraud from looking at online banking
if I hadn't then I wouldn't be any the wiser now, until the middle of
next month.

27Sep 1500: Barclaycard have withdrawn and cancelled ALL of my plastic
from all of my bank accounts and have changed all of the credit/debit
and account numbers and are all pending re-issue.

28Sep 0930: Barclaycard Internal Investigations team decide that no
internal fraud has gone on on their own doorstep and call me to ask
some further details "As the address is in close proximity to your
own" but will not give me the address which I wrote down incorrectly
at the time due to "data protection."

29Sep 1000: I call BC Fraud team up and ask what I should do with
regards to police involvement and ask them to look into it their end
and I'll file a complaint with Kent Police.

29Sep 1030: I call Royal Mail as advised by BC Fraud who advise that a
mail redirection service is in operation at my address for my name. I
explain the situation and they then say they will cancel it but will
not give me the forwarding address! (data protection!)

29Sep 1100: I phone Kent Police and tell them the whole story and they
say they'll look into it and get back to me in two days.

01Oct: BC Fraud form comes through post

....Haven't even got a crime reference number yet, only the rolling
report log number. I'll call and scream at them tomorrow.

 

I'm spending all your money. And getting loans and credit cards made out
to you.

I fancy a K5; I'll let you have a go on it, if you like.

 

So, what you're saying is that far from doing **** all, they've only known about
this for a couple of days, and that the source of all of the hard evidence is
going to be coming from BarclayCard. I'd suggest that they have possibly been
trying to actually get hold of BarclayCard. You reported it on Thursday, you
can assume it will take at least a few hours to get it in the system and
assigned to an investigator, so they probably wouldn't have managed to get hold
of BC fraud until Friday. I leave it to your own imagination to wonder how easy
they may have found getting answers from BC fraud on a Friday! Then comes the
weekend, when most forces only have bare minimum CID coverage, and that usually
only for covering new ongoing major incidents. Not hearing from them over that
time scale is possibly not too much to be getting het up over.

Damned frustrating when it's your card, cash and identity I'm sure.

I'd most respectfully submit.that it's hardly fair to allege the plod have been
doing as little as you initially suggested, although if it was me who was the
victim I'd probably not be quite this sanguine!

 

I don't care about the card, but the identity thing is annoying. My
Experian/Equifax/Call Credit records are on the way. I dread to think
what's going to have appeared on them recently.

They're Kent Police. It's not difficult to accuse them of doing
nothing. I will give them until Tuesday and if they haven't phoned
then I'll give them a call and ask if they've done anything at all.

 

Fair point!

Hope it all works out okay for you

 

I have been pondering this. And I have reached a conclusion.

Bollocks.

Do you not read the writings of Those Who Know? The Home Office? ACPO?
The "Safety Partnerships"?

Speed Kills.

It's that simple. Apparently.

This means that any police officer who exceeds the speed limit (unless
it is a life-threatening situation) is needlessly putting lives at risk.
Innocent men, women and children (will no-one think of the children!).
To do so without the use of lights and siren is surely tantamount to
attempted murder!

Of course, it's possible that "Speed Kills" is a gross simplification.
If we can accept this, then that is a good thing. Get rid of the fucking
cameras and get a few coppers-with-a-bit-of-nous back on the roads.
Catch a few more drunks. Nick the uninsured. Get the plain old-fashioned
bad drivers off the highway.

But unless this happens, then we know that Speed Kills. It's that
simple.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
SBS#39 Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

Simian wrote

Have you made your thoughts known to your local radio station?

Cut and paste your comments, or a link to this thread, in an email to
the local station manager.