Safe Speed Forums

From Brighton Argus
(by email, not known to be on line)


by Tom Pugh


Banned: Chief Inspector Peter Mills was flashed doing 88mph


A senior Sussex police officer was today starting a six-month driving ban
for speeding.

Eastbourne-based Chief Inspector Peter Mills was flashed by a speed camera
doing 88mph on a 70mph road.

He was driving his BMW 525 series on the A21 Tonbridge bypass in Kent in the
early hours of July 1 when he was caught.

The Argus revealed last week he had been summonsed to appear at Sevenoaks
Magistrates Court and yesterday he pleaded guilty by post.

In a letter to court, Mr Mills - Eastbourne's district commander and
chairman of the town's Crime Reduction Partnership - said: "It is with
regret that my case appears before court today."

In mitigation, he apologised to the court and said there were no other road
users at that time in the early morning.

In his absence, magistrates fined him £250, ordered him to pay £35 costs and
added three penalty points to his driving licence.

Previous road traffic offences meant he already had nine points, pushing him
to the 12-point disqualification limit with this latest offence.

Afterwards, Sussex Police announced Mr Mills would be handed a formal
misconduct warning. But he keeps his position as Eastbourne's most senior
officer.

In a statement, Mr Mills said: "I feel I have let both myself and Sussex
Police down."

Chief Superintendent Paul Pearce, divisional commander for East Downs
division, praised Mr Mills for his combative crime-fighting.

He said Mr Mills has been treated the same as anyone else would have under
similar driving offences.

Mr Pearce said: "Peter Mills has been district commander in Eastbourne for
the last year during which time there has been a significant reduction in
crime and a huge increase in the number of crimes detected.

"He has earned the support of many people in the community who have
benefited from his positive policing style."

Mr Mills is one of the county's highest profile police figures. He has
involved himself in virtually every aspect of the community.

He has been publicly credited for his crime-fighting, most notably his
offensive on drug dealers, boy racers and anti-social behaviour.

His robust tactics drew praise from Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy
when he visited Eastbourne ahead of the local elections in May.

Mr Mills took over as district commander in November last year with a
message criminals would have nowhere to hide.

He and his officers have executed warrants on drug houses almost on a weekly
basis, securing the seizure of hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of
drugs.

In one month alone 200 people were arrested, 1,200 stop checks made and more
than 450 man-hours dedicated to high-visibility police patrols.

Last year, Mr Mills sent handwritten Christmas cards to Eastbourne's most
prolific offenders with a message: "You are regularly coming to police
attention for committing crime in Eastbourne. You will be arrested unless
you stop. Happy Christmas, Chief Inspector Peter Mills."

_________________
Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

There's a similar report of the story online here:
http://www.eastbournetoday.co.uk/ViewAr ... eID=896637

I'm sure that doing 88 mph on that dual carriageway at 5am was very dangerous indeed... he really deserves to be banned for that murderous behaviour.

Still, if anything you'd think this would make him speak up against cameras, but it seems he's just taking it lying down.

AFAICT, speeding is a criminal offence. From the Northamptonshire CPS web site:
So, I have to ask why a convicted criminal is allowed to continue as a high-ranking police officer?

_________________
Will

There are those of us who lose our job if we lose our licence. I would.
How can this guy perform his duties with no licence. Local PC's picking him up, driving him around? Tax payer picking up the bill?

Because it would not cloud his judgement on other crimes - the ones he deals with ... whereas it could be deemed that motoring offence for a trafpol may make them "less objective"

There are worse .... Mad Doc gave me an ear-bashing on telephone over the Manchester on who perverted the course of justice - uninsured and injured someone.... resprayed his car and tried to get his girlfriend to take the rap. That makes me uneasy and I would find it difficult to work with him as I would not be able to trust his integrity. If I were his boss ... think I would have asked him to "consider his position"

Then there is the GMP detective (witness protection specialist) convicted for a drink drive offence. He gets demoted two ranks down to Sergeant ... on an internal disciplinary. You may not think that a severe punishment ... but, believe me ... it is.

But .. with the above inspector ... they will have noted his past contribution and his future value to his role ... and a 6 month disqualification is a blot on his personnel file, but overall should not detract him from doing a valuable job ...nabbing "real villains!"

In Gear,

I'm sure that all these posts are simply tongue in cheek as no-one would want such an excellent officer to stop doing the "real" police crackdown work he is doing.

A convicted criminal should not be allowed to hold a position within the police force. What he did was NOT criminal and we are all simply pissed off at being labelled as criminals for doing something as hideous as driving over the speed limit.

If the police want to label us as criminals then sack any officer for being a convicted criminal, simple.

A misdemeanour, on the other hand, would be a more appropriate term and therefore would not affect the officer's employment.

_________________
Ross

Yes I'm a hoon, but only on the track!!!!

Guess he might be like that US detective ... was it played by "Fugitive" actor David Janssen (think he has passed away?) .

Anyway .. he got the bus everywhere .....Understand that Derbyshire has Bobbies on the Beat Bus ... travelling with the normal bus using public around the High Peak!

But I do take your point that it does not seem "fair".

I rather think he will be using taxis, the bus for his private and personal business, and in the normal course of his work .... his colleague may well have driven him around and continue to do so.

True ... tongue in cheek .. I have to work hard to convince my mate Will that most cops can drive and are competent ....... Will has had the misfortune to meet every pretzel in a Panda in the past!

This is an unfortunate misdemeanour and embarrassment for this guy - who is actually a jolly nice bloke!

The other cases ... the ex Chief Inspector convicted of drink driving was under a lot of stress from a marital break-up and work as well ... He had one white wine spritzer too many and misjudged the amount.

Criminal record for drink driving .. but again does not detract from his work. The demotion is the real stinger for him ... not the 12 month ban.

The other one ... perverting course of justice ,... should be drummed out of the force.

In this case, I meant pretty much what M3RBMW wrote. The ACPO chairman has waged a vendetta against motorists and has claimed speeding to be a very serious criminal offence (IIRC, putting it up there with things like burglary). If speeding is so serious, Peter Mills should resign or be fired. If not, then it's high time that the authorities openly admitted that they have it wrong, that speeding is not a serious offence, and that scamering is all about jobs for the boys and fleecing the public.

As an aside, I was under the impression that a police officer could not remain on the force once convicted of any criminal offence. Obviously, I am mistaken. However, if Brunstrom is right retaining an officer convicted of speeding has to be equivalent of retaining one convicted of (say) larceny

_________________
Will

IG - I'm sure you will be doing this anyway if you know Peter Mills - but if you get the opportunity, please pass him our sympathies.

There is mention in here of him "...taking it lieing down". I think he has no option - caught between a rock and a hard place. If he were to have made waves or adopted any of the Pepipoo methods, it would have been worse for him. Although other members of the force have spoken out, they have usually waited until they've retired (Buchannan is a case in point).

Yup .. he got lotsof mail comiserating with him....

As you rightly say .. he has no option but to "take it on the chin" and they are making point that we are subject to the same rules as everyone lese when not on duty

Probably a cop would have used his discretion at that speed on a deserted road - (as we would to anyone else ). But s/cams don't....which is probably one of the main reasons why they are unpopular with the general public. (IG stating the obvious ... naturally!

I appreciate this quote included a handful of emoticons - but I am convinced the police driver off duty is subject to much more. In point of fact, I am confident that a large percentage of readers of Pepipoo, here and "Unsigned", police excepted, would have given this one a run for their money - probably along the 172 - high penalty likely, therefore no need for me to self-incriminate, therefore I retain right to silence" route. I certainly would.