Even magistrates don't trust the police...

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Regarding the plans for the police to issue on the spot fines for careless driving (story click here).

Obviously the chairman of the magistrates association could have said that they had complete confidence in the police and wholly supported this idea as it would free court resources

....but he didn't, instead...

[Skudd]

[Kickstart]

[map]

[Skudd]

It is not the pay that draws them to the post it is the power.
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[stinkwheel]

On the spot fines are also illegal under the oldest law we have in this country.

"No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, disseised, outlawed, banished, or in any way destroyed, not will we proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land." Clause 29 of the Magna Carta 1297
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[Keir]

well i suppose its only fair that the magistrates dont trust the police.... the police dont trust the magistrates either!

but more seriously, i dont think police should be judge and jury but i do think that the courts should use the powers that they have to give out real justice.
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[Mister James]

It's an interesting story - for many reasons.

Magistrates are generally extremely out of touch with modern society, as they tend to be wealthy, retired and upper-middle class.

In this case the magistrate simply seems to be protecting his own prestige and fiefdom - rather obviously trying to tap into the current fad in the media for bashing the plod.

One of the reasons he gives for not allowing this new measure is that many drivers will benefit from the new procedure by getting a small fine and 3 points when they might get hammered by the courts - surely that's good for some of you lot?

Writing a Fixed Penalty Notice is barely any less work than reporting someone for court - if it is at all. You still have to take all their details and write a witness statement for the offence - it might seem a little quicker to the offender at the side of the road, but not by much, and that doesn't include the 20-30 mins it will take the officer to write it up back at the nick - just as with a process book.

You can still elect to take an FPN to court - which is no different to being reported to the court by the police, so the offender has not lost any options - they've actually gained them.

I can't see most police issuing (m)any as it's such a subjective offence that is open to challenge. As the Mag points out, Insurance and Mobile Phone offences are simple, absolute offences - unlike shit driving. Officers won't want the aggro of old duffers like this arrogant fuckwit slagging off their judgement if it ends up in front of the bench.

Personally I just think it's another Home Office attempt to improve detection rates by making a new system that they hope officers will use. I suspect that many units will be leaned on heavily to hit targets for issuing these pointless new tickets.

One assumes that if officers see driving that they feel already meets a shitty standard, they would already feel able to report the driver for the offence - and having made the effort to do so would want him to get more than a piddling fine anyway!

[Mister James]

[stinkwheel]

[bazza]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Poor fishing attempt Mister James. C-. Must try harder.

All the best

Keith
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[Mister James]

[Kickstart]

Hi

More that you say that magistrates are upper class, when they are mainly just middle class professionals mainly (2 I have known, one is a retired civil servant on childrens homes, the other was my science teacher in the first few years of secondary school, neither any closer to being upper class than you or I).

Added to which that you appear to be showing complete contempt for the magistrates and then also suggesting you would be worried about their comments leading to some kind of agro.

All the best

Keith
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[Bofh5]

was thinking about this amongst other things and with the current huge amount of debt the country is in.
How long before the points system is altered to allow for more fines to be issued and more revenue to be raised?
The current system of 12 points and bye bye license is cash limiting so will they decide that lesser offences become fine only punishments allowing drivers (cash cows) to be milked for longer?
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[Kickstart]

Hi

Don't think the fines revenue is really that useful in bailing the country out.

Put it this way, with around 2 million speeding tickets a year (was higher, now dropping as the scamera partnerships no longer directly profit from more tickets), at £60 a time that is only £120m before taking into account processing costs. About 1 days worth of road taxation. Or a quarter of the cost of running the DVLA.

All the best

Keith
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[Mister James]

[Mister James]

[supZ]