'Traffic' cop Vs 'Real' cop

[carvell]

*vote MarJay*
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Yamaha TDM 850

[Ste]

They do an incredibly hard job (after some of the stuff TC mentioned I doubt I'd like doing that day in day out really) and all they get is stick from most of the public. Yes, there are some who will annoy you or whatever, but at the end of the day if you break the law it's very very hard to argue if you get done for it. I mean, we're all fully aware that race cans are illegal and the police will generally not do you for them unless you are doing something else or going on the redline through the town centre with it annoying everyone.

The country would not work without some law and order, and that has to be enforced by some way, and traffic police do a much better job of enforcing stuff than a camera does as they can use thier judgement in the situation and just speed camera's do not catch people who are driving like an idiot or something.

Sure you are likely to get some people who are just out to get everyone for every thing they can do, but you get that with anything and everything (like security guards in shops who think they're in the SAS ), but at the end of the day if we didn't give them anything to book us for then they're have problems .

The experience I've had with police have been fine, one who pulled me over in Reading once told me I should be wearing earplugs as it got really loud above 120mph at least he has a sense of humour about him . The experience my family have had with the police dealing with the crash have been really good as well, they say the officer was really helpful and supportive of what was going on but I'd guess for the situation they choose the most appropriate one they had really .

Generally, don't be abuse at them be polite and take what they're saying on board and listen and take thier advice as they're trying to avoid the next time they see you being when they're moving your body off the road. They also have a lot of experience and knowledge (well I hope so ) so take on board what they're suggesting to you as it could just save your skin. And a bit of being polite and friendly could just save you from a nice fine and some points as well .

[Kickstart]

Hi

I haven't been pulled over for ages. My experience has varied, with those in Winchester / Portsmouth area being (except for one case) arrogant and rude, with one whose technique to pull you over was to drive towards you on the wrong side of the road with their headlights on full main beam (and the same one pulled a friend over a few days later for 42 in a 30, but the first words either of them spoke was the copper saying "we don't need arseholes like you on the road). The worst piece of tail gating I have ever suffered from was from a police car in Winchester, with the second worst being another police car between Winchester and Portsmouth.

Since leaving Hants I have been pulled over, and they have not tried dangerous driving to try and force me into speeding, and they have been polite. They may have come up with silly excuses for pulling me over (ie, accusing us of racing when we were doing about 45mph in a queue of traffic, making no attempt to overtake the cars in front) but at least they were polite and professional.

There are good and bad in every profession. Most employers hide the staff with a bad attitude from their customers, but pretty much all the police deal with the public on a fairly regular basis.

All the best

Keith
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[Ste]

Remind me to watch out for Hampshire Police as that strikes me and hopefully everyone else as slightly over the top police tactics to be frank! Crazy really thinking about it and what could have happened as a result of thier action!

[T.C]

One thing that needs to be born in mind is that some forces have what are called area cars.

These vehicles look like traffic cars, are kitted out like traffic cars, but are often smaller variants, for example the Met use Vectra's but i believe they are just starting to switch to BMW's, some like Hampshire use Volvo's and some use smaller engined Omega's instead of the 3.0 used by traffic.

Our force even had area motorcycles! that were 450 BMW twins (giving my age away now) but they were marked like traffic bikes and when they did something wrong it was us who got questioned first because all that could be remembered was the fact that it was a white BMW with orange striped down the side, they didn't look to see if it was a 450 or an 800/750. Fortunately these bikes were done away with.

The point I am making anyway, is that many of these area cars will try and behave/purport to be traffic cops when in fact they are nothing more than divisional bods who happen to hold an advanced driving qualification, and again to many members of the public they are perceived as traffic cops!
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