Lum wrote:
In Gear wrote:
True .. and why we give a margin of 10% + 4 here as rule of thumb. We do offer a bit more "slack" if we think appropriate and professional judgement is always applied anyway. ; cough
I cannot vouch all will do the same.. I am told the SCPs are zero tolerant.
I know, my point is directed more at SCPs here. Two identical people, of identical driving ability in identical cars in identical conditions at identical speeds could get two very different penalties based on how accurate the car (or camera) that gets them is on that day.
Oh.. I am aware that "slippage" can occur and all the truck load of arguments pro/con
I think we rely so much on gadgets at times that we can fail to judge our own common sense
(Proven by the Sat Nav fools in particular and even one member of Ted's family.. one of the Manchester teachers who has an old Cavalier which she uses for the "mucky jobs such as "tip duty" She's spent the past year in "project declutter"
Anyway that car's speedo under-read by a fair whack and it increased to as much as 10 mph at high speeds. She kept complaining that everyone seemed very "impatient" when she drove that car, Her dash said 30 mph. Her actual speed was 24 mph
Ironically - she kept saying the car seemed "slow compared to the other two cars she and her husband use." But she simply believed what her eyes told her and not what her "feeling" REALLY told her.
It came to light when the Mad Cats and self all went down to help her and her husband sort things out when they moved into the house next door to their old maiden aunt (wheelchair bound of almost 90 years) We followed her to the local dump and wondered why she was so ruddy "slow" as we were in the cars with the trailers of junk and garden cuttings in the Mad Cats's case
She was adamant that she was dead on 30 mph "because the speedometer said so". ,,, and "jazzed up" at Ted for being a ruddy hoonin' git" (That gal tells us to our faces what she thinks
.) We mildly pointed out that she was at 24-25 mph all the way. We had no problems with that .. but wondered about al she'd been saying about that J reg Cavalier (in mint condition despite the dirty jobs she uses it for
) We then found that 1991 Cavs had been under-reading by that margin when we took this car to the local dealer - Grimshaws of Prestwich.. Guy told us that this particular model did not have an on-board computer and could not guarantee a new speedometer would deliver on that basis.
Now PROFESSIONALLY - I find that to be WORRYING and thank God that those old Cavs are now becoming a "collector's item"
Now some of my above comments are .. not quite as daft as they may first sound
.. as plenty of witness statements can be "subjective" after they have wrestled to make sense of whatever - and it's when these are questioned in court that the discrepancies are perhaps "combed or teased out" under cross examinations.
Lum wrote:
Again this is not directed at you personally since I know you apply a bit of sensible judgement which I suspect isn't too far removed from the "don't take the piss" rule that I apply to most situations.
Thank you. I have always tried to apply reason and fairness. Even if the person I arrested was "difficult" - the last thing you do is show disrespect or fail to do things via "set procedures" as the wide boys know how to play you like a baited fish
The only time I know I failed professionally? Just after Wildy's accident. It occurred just two months after we lost Ferdl and his brother Rudi in separate non fault incidents. All the regulars know the sad tale . but for the newbies .. Ferdl was the victim of a defective truck at 20 mph. Driver lost control. It wnet through central reserve and hit Ferdl directly.l He died instantly. He would not have seen it nor been aware .. per the inquest and that's a comfort.
Rudi? Body never recovered. He was on a plane which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean) Couple of months later - we nearly lost the wild
herself in another freak incident. Driver taken ill.
I admit.. I became the cop you all love to HATE. I literally went for anthing "which upset me" for a month and ended up being pulled up by my guv and "getting a talking to"
Thankfully for me . he understood my personal situation and I got a transfer to a different field of police work . which turned out to be a positive for me. So I perhaps now think things happen for a reason as a result of all this.
Lum wrote:
Quote:
Of course the press will focus on the "disturbances" because those make the news
I know, I was actually mentioning this in defence of the police. Not just in relation to the protests but in general the thousands of BIB that do a sterling job are all brought down, treated as scum, called "pigs" etc. just because of one "Constable Savage" incident. Same thing with the protests purely because of Shouty McHeadwound man.
I know mate. I am not at all one of the "holier than thou" brigade. I accept folk may well call me "scummy pig" because some officer did something stupid .. in heat of moment.. red mist. pure reaction as a human being under very extreme pressure??
But I don't tend to over-react.
(In this I differ from the Mad Cats who do . and in their defence . I will say that their recent lifestyle is a bit "extreme" as the
is not recovering and he's gone into "over-protect mode"
)
Lum . if someone screams at me in a
angry outburst . I will feel upset as a human being. As a professional I will just accept that it's not personal . that it's directed at a uniform and NOT ME PERSONALLY.
I was trained to do this way back when as a 20 something year old green shoot of a recruit.
I accepted all that, You have to if you join this profession. You enter with eyes wide open .. and training gets those eyes out on stalks. as you learn what anoher human being can do.,, and some of that . as a decent chap. I have emptied my stomach more than once in sheer shock.
Yes . I know the press feed on the negatives. Bad news sells copy after all - and this does not mean I think journos bash plod - just the idiots who make the negative headlines and let us all down by their stupidity
For record .. I do not condone those who let us down. I stress again
POLICE ARE NOT ABOVE THE LAW. WE ANSWER AND PAY HARD INTERNAL PRICE FOR ERRORS WE MAKE
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off memory. Back in 2003 . another trainer was done on his way home from training officers. He received a 3 month ban in Jan 2004.