camera operator wrote:
Mad Moggie wrote:
They chopped the number of trafpol by over 50% about three years ago.
per BBC Traffic Cops and the local North West newspapers collectively: stories were carried from Cumbria down to North Wales .. with press condemnation.
amazing they dismissed 50% 0f the RPU, surely they would get unfair dismaissal, or did they dissolve the dedicated RPU units into base stations,
BTW what do you class as RPU
Ours puts "armed response..
DOG mobs
and the horsey brigade .
. along with the car fleet, the one cam van and single PC Gatso"" under the one brolly.
It's hard work keeping up with them all too
When I watched the Traffic Cops programme ..
It alleged that Cheshire had a high prosecution rate of drink drivers up to 2004, which dropped down - and significantly they appear to have recorded a rise in drink related accidents per own admission on the programme concerned .
The shows featuring Cheshire after their "streamlining of resources" showed that their Traffic Cops were like all other Traffic Cops across the UK in that we are not dedicated to copping the "terminally stupid on road" out there - but are expected to be working with the other teams to back them up in a bid to cop the "generally terminally stupid"
. In other words - more General Police duties instead of dedicated to one area.
Budgets.. resources.. training and delivering all that the public wants (failing all the time on that one as you just
cannot please
everyone (Especially them Mad Cats who are my toughest critics
)
Ironically Cheshire used speed cams to pull their suspected drunks at some road side pulls. We tend to lurk around watering holes and nail them for it early on.
cam op wrote:
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The remaining team remarked on the BBC programme that their KSIs were up... and that the KSI were NOT speed per se - but mostly drunks/unlicenced/defectives .. most of whom they did manage to collar .. only to be thwarted and undermined by a daft legal system
is that the fault of cameras as well
Well - you have to admit that reducing routine patrols hardly helps matters. Cameras, sadly, only record speed. I may have ANPR and other stuff to help - but they are only "ubiquitous" when car based. Ummm .. our "toys" are equipped with the "right set of toys"
We may well target a set point which we have - via intelligence - detected as a "hot spot" - but even so - word gets out and the "street wise"
- tend to give us the "run-around"
at that point ...
It's a case then of "knowing and being able to read the mind of the local scrotes"
Not an easy job - so by and large - given the overall crime clear - up - I think all of us
do
a decent enough job.
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Training? I would say it is not of the standard once revered.. but we also have to bear in mind that the training .. any training .. only enhances and polishes up a person's skills and ability and expands their knowledge and understanding. It does not endow with superbly perfect skills.
so no pursuit driving course either !!!, IMO you need a specific driving grade and a specific vehicle for RPU pursuit, i can drive a van, car and unmarked patrolcar, i cannot pusue i cannot commit road traffic offences, but i have used the blue lights under authorisation
I already had IAM and RoSPA under my belt when I joined up. My training more or less "fine tuned" some skills.
We all start these courses with a set of different abilities. Some Hendon graduates will be excellent. Some will be good - but not really than much further on than a competent and experienced IAM member/RoSPA/RoADA high achiever. Passing a police course means "competent" as we DO have to satisfy a darned tough standard - but within that rubric of standards are various levels of ability - which can indeed be matched just as well by others out there on our roads who are NOT police trained drivers. These people I am talking about may not even have taken IAM tests either. They will be normal, intelligent folk who take care to be as considerate as they can to others sharing the roads with them.
I have always pointed out that it does not really matter what the training behind us in any case - but that we should always be prepared to use that existing training and acquired knowledge and experience to help us learn and develop as a continuum.
I told a young driver on this forum in hte "Near Miss forum" who appeared to be getting disillusioned after a bad experience that he must chalk to experience - learn .. and that I am
still learning after all these years - some of my working career to date spent training other police officers to drive properly You should then never stop learning
But pursuit driving cam op. Yes .. it takes skill. We spend a hell of a lot of time trying to get it right .. reduce the risk to selves and others. If you recall we got hammered by the press in July when our teams boxed in a criminal perfectly safely. (That manoeuvre requires precise skill and team work.) Incredibly,
he rammed the central reserve and created a carnage - which the press had a field day over
But yes - we make high demands in that course - but it does not mean a "perfect driver" 24/7 and 100% "perfect" all the same
We are always LEARNING and there is always some "new hazard" to deal with each time we drive out there.
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But then - we have to start somewhere .. and constant nagging of COAST till it becomes the norm to all .. seems a good place to start
i dont have any incentive to promote COAST
You should .. and .. er .. it was developed by .,.. ummmmmm POLICE DIS courses
But we will get there eventually. We do offer DIS and SPEED AWARE courses here ... in the good old fashioned, quaint and twee hub or England.
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