How much power are you happy for police to have?

[Enduro Numpty]

As the subject says.

As an active member of a North East of Scotland off road motorcycling club I thought I'd share our experiences of police behaviour this weekend.

Our club was hosting a British Championship Enduro round over the Easter Weekend. We hold this event every 2nd year and it attracts the best riders in the country and they travel from far and wide to attend. Below is a copy of a post I submitted to an off road forum.

While not an official spokesman for EEC, I am a member and have been involved with the running of the event. As has been stated the club has been in close communication with the Police, the Forestry Commission, local Council and all relevant agencies. This event has been well over a year in the planning and every box has been ticked with regard to officialdom. There were no grey areas! The road section was agreed with police, the police were aware that due to the nature of the event full size number plates were wholly impractical. As in the past it was understood that this minor shortcoming would be overlooked. The law in Scotland allows for this. Elgin has a long history of off road motorcycling with Woodside circuit and various other local venues for Scottish Enduro & H&H championship rounds as well as BEC rounds. Until now we have had a good working relationship with the local police who have supported the club as they saw how giving people a chance to ride legally reduced illegal riding.

What took place on Saturday was a complete breach of trust and is beneath contempt. Riders were basically ambushed as they left the forest to ride the agreed road section by what would appear to be Elgin traffic police. Several vehicles were used including an unmarked car. What promised to be a great event was very close to becoming a disaster. The second test at the end of the road section had to be cut out after weeks of preparation as it was clear that the police were going to harass riders to the extent that no semblance of a schedule could be maintained. This special test was a major part of the event and being forced into scrapping it through stupid, heavy handed policing is not acceptable. When the club secretary attempted to reason with the police he was threatened with arrest as were fully legal riders. This is Britain not North Korea!
The riders, as always, are the stars of these events and they made the most of the drastically modified schedule with good humour and resignation. Lossie forest which is the main venue has more than enough scope for putting riders through their paces and the day will probably go down as a qualified success. The club would like to extend our thanks to all riders and crews for their support. The clerk of the course worked frantically to extend the course within Lossie for day 2 which took place wholly within the forest. Day 2 ran smoothly but the loss of the 2nd test was a very bitter pill to swallow.

Many local businesses actively support the club and our British Championship Enduro as the event brings a lot of revenue to hotels, B&B's, restaurants, garages, skip hire, toilet hire etc.. People who come from all over the UK and beyond to race see what a beautiful place North East Scotland is and many come back not just to race. This irresponsible and over the top policing will have an impact on these businesses. The cost to riders and teams of travelling to and competing in our event is also very high.

The fact that what appear to be thugs in uniforms can disrupt a completely legal well organised British Championship Sporting event to the extent they did is not acceptable. The police had every opportunity to conduct themselves responsibly if they had concerns, but it would seem that their only objectives were to dish out £60 fines and try to ruin our event.

Elgin Endurance Club, its members and other Parties will be pursuing this matter.

[Tungtvann]

Easy pickings, mate. Turkey shoot for them.

[instigator]

I don't think it has anything to do with 'power' and more to do with them going back on their 'word'.

[pepperami]

Perfect example of bullies being bullies because they can
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Rogerborg]

Traffic aren't "the police", they're a sub-Force unto themselves. They're not called Black Rats for nothing. Strathclyde Traffic have (or had) an annual competition to see how many other coppers they could nick in the run up to Christmas.

You'd need at least a friendly Inspector on site to deter this kind of mugging, and even that wouldn't be cast iron.

I hope every one of those nicked riders chooses to have their day in court, although I have no idea what Scotch law you're thinking of that allows small plates.
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[moonzoomer]

we used to go for meets and rallies here in N.I but that has mostly stopped as we now need permission from the Parades Commission, if there are no police available to monitor the runs then they are classed as an illegal gathering.

[Enduro Numpty]

[Vracktal]

Next year, they should have a specific marshall who all the competitors can hand a regulation licence plate to, the marshall holds on to all the plates and waits at the beginning of the road commute section. Then, he can distribute them each their licence plate using their race numbers to organise whose is whose, then they can all ride that section.

-But- When they organise with the police they should claim that they're going to go by the same agreement that they were last year so the coppers will come out hoping to issue tickets again.... only to find that all the riders are legal this time and the police has wasted a good few hours watching a group of fully legal bikers ride past them.
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2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning

[Rogerborg]