Their reason was that the car had shown up as being from out of town, 4 lads inside in beanie hats, laden down with who knows what – all seemed plausible

Pfft – pretty thin stuff.

glitchyclickybump

Konabunny that is not pretty thing stuff, that’s ample suspicion to stop a car and talk to the occupants. I can’t find the post again to find out what time it was, but if it was night/early hours even more reason. There aren’t many people who have a legtimate reason to be out at night and in the early hours and if they do it isn’t ususally 3 people in beanies. Those are the kind of people who may well be out burgling and robbing. Surely as a law abiding member of society if you are stopped, asked a few questions about what you are up to (hoepfully by polite officers and not jumped up power tripping ones) then it won’t take long for you to get moved on with a few checks, otherwise I would suggest your vehicle may well be getting searched.

I can’t find the post again to find out what time it was, but if it was night/early hours even more reason

About 4am, in South London, on the way to catch an early morning charter flight. TBH I didn’t have that much of an issue with the justification apart from the resulting poostain in my pants, and they were nice as pie afterwards.

I can’t believe the immaturity of some posters on here. Slagging the Police one minute but they’d be straight on the phone if a burglar turned up at their house.

Every time I’ve been stopped I’ve had this problem as well – and I am a perfectly normal adult with no ‘previous’ or whatever they call it, I do have a shaved head though? Perhaps that’s the problem. But in all seriousness, I thought this was the ‘norm’, given the times it has happened to me, my friends, and my wife.

It happened to my wife recently and she was quite upset by it. My usual advice is to not rise to it, do precisely as asked and no more. I’m positive they’re either looking for a rise, or have become indoctrinated into expecting everyone to be a scumbag.

Gawd bless our lovely boys in blue. (no seriously, they have helped us loads. Perhaps the traffic lot are very angry about something?)

My mate from Oxfordshire plod say the traffic lot write with crayons, she is very critical of them.

I can’t believe the immaturity of some posters on here. Slagging the Police one minute

Not at all. Criticising the behaviour of a few individuals is all. I don’t think people asking for police officers to treat them with a bit of courtesy and respect is ‘slagging off the police’.

And I’m struggling to see why criticising flaws in an institution which has a duty to be exemplary is ‘immature’.

I’ve only ever been breathalised once, riding home fairly late at night (on the motorbike, not the pushbike). Wasn’t at all bothered to be stopped, but similiar to the story earlier in the thread the copper wouldn’t take “sober” for an answer- he did the test twice, came back totally dry, he said “I don’t believe you’ve not been drinking, do it again”. Meanwhile his mate was going all over the bike looking for a defect to pull me for. So I told him either **** off or arrest me, and unsurprisingly enough he ****ed off.

There seems to be a theme here. Doing your job- absolutely fine. Treating members of the public like criminals- not fine. I’ve had a few dealings with the police but most have been absolutely spot on, as you’d expect. The 2 chaps who arrested me a few years back were the absolute height of professionalism 😉

Pfft – pretty thin stuff.

So what if it is? What do you want – HD footage of the occupants doing crime, with a pre-signed confession and big neon arrow above the car saying “It was us – we did it & we’d do it again!”

Would you say that if you found out the following day that someone matching that description has been seen going through you shed and the Police hadn’t bothered stopping them to see why they were out & about at that hour?

What if it was a rural location plagued by dwelling burglaries?

Have you had a genuinely bad experience or jumping on the bandwagon?

Perhaps the traffic lot are very angry about something?

Might be onto something, the idiot who stopped me was a traffic cop. I work with the Police regularly and when I mentioned to some of the cops I know about the incident, I started with, “she came over to the car”, and they all said, “I didn’t know they could get out their cars”!

As I said before, only ever had the one bad incident, the rest have been spot on.

There aren’t many people who have a legtimate reason to be out at night

There aren’t many people that need a legitimate reason to be out at night.

Would you say that if you found out the following day that someone matching that description has been seen going through you shed and the Police hadn’t bothered stopping them to see why they were out & about at that hour?

Is that some sort of satirical hyperbole? What would I say if the police failed to stop people who don’t match a description of certain people?

Been arrested for D&D, held on football related matters and breathalyser a number of times.
Big deal!
Then went on to marry my wife who is in the job!
Top and bottom of things is that if I was not in the wrong for the first two matters I would not have been lifted.
If I did not raise suspicion I would not have been stopped and breathalysed, which have always been a negative sample.
The police are there to to a job and believe me it’s a shitty one, I could not and would not want to do it.
Having to deal with the scum of society putting there live potentially at risk.

Basically what number do you call if you house is burgled, car is stolen or whatever else warrants there help?
Yes 999…..

There are idiots in all jobs I know I work with some!!!

Big deal you’ve been breathalysed…..get over it!!!!!!

Let me see…

By and large, the Police I have dealt with in the past have been decent, with a couple of exceptions.

Back home, one of the local bobbies was ex-HCR and, I think, out to prove something to either the local population, or the other police at the station. I was tailgated through a village on the way home from a mate’s house oe night, and as soon as the 60 sign appeared, he blue-lighted me and pulled me over for a breth test. zero drunk, so zero result.

A couple of weeks later, I’m leaving my mate’s house after a curry and another car tailgates me (and I mean proper close) along a 50mph dual road. I stick to the speed limit like glue, but drop a gear and go round the roundabout at the end of the dual without slowing down to try and get away from what I thought were chavs. Scant seconds later, blues go on and I’m pulled over.

Him: “Round here we call that dangerous driving”.
Me: “Really? I was just trying to put some distance between my rear bumper and the front bumper of what I thought was some joyriding chav out to kill me”
Him: “Can you get out of your car please? Your number plate is almost illegible”

Next stop, breath test – Pass.

Third time was coming back from the pub following a mate. 50 yards from the pub I see cop car in the driveway to the village hall waiting to pull people over. Now, I’ve been Des for the pool team, so I’m clear, but I get pulled and am kept there, despite a green reading for a second and a third try because “it turned yellow for a second”. Then they let me go. The only good thing about them pulling me was that I could be sure that anyone that had been drinking at my pub got away before they got back to their stake out.

The second and third times that copper pulled me over he was rude, certainly not what I would expect from a country policeman. The guy that pulled me over the fourth time (Leaving pub, again Des, along an icy back road. I’m in 4wd, he’s in an Escort, so after a while I stop and let him catch up.) was a totally different case. He thanked me for waiting for him, apologised for taking up my time and asked me if I had been drinking. When I told him I’d been driving the pool team around, he nodded and apologised for taking up my time. Polite and nice all the way through. But then, he was a local.

I think you may be misunderstanding the whole concept of the Police. Yes, they are mainly seen as a reactive service, reacting to 999 calls etc. but their main purpose is to Prevent crime.

It is fact that groups of youths are out there in small cars committing crime in the early hours of the morning. It would be remiss of the Police not to stop a car with 3 youths in, in an area that this car doesn’t originate.

IF the car contains normal law abiding members of the Public, then fine – they will be allowed on their way after a short series of checks to verify identity, driving docs etc. However, IF it contains a bunch of Ne’er do wells out on the rob, then they will be left in no doubt they are being watched, so would be better employed sodding off somewhere else. If there’s nothing to lock ’em up for their presence will be noted and possibly entered onto an Intel’ database, so if a crime is reported the next day the Police can have a look at the intel and see that this bunch were in that area last night.

Would you rather the Police work like this, or would you prefer they stopped nobody unless they were there and then in the process of committing crime? I can tell you from experience that a great many high profile arrests have been from seemingly random stops. They’re not really random, but usually as a result of a host of factors that gets the copper’s nose twitching. One of which is the presence of a car in an area it doesn’t originate at a time of day that is notorius for dwelling house burglary (i.e. when you’re all safely tucked up asleep in bed). This fella wouldn’t have been found if it wasn’t for this type of Policing:

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/Bygones-Notorious-Notts-crimes-new-book/story-12206599-detail/story.html

The only good thing about them pulling me was that I could be sure that anyone that had been drinking at my pub got away before they got back to their stake out.

Why is that good?

Willard – so basically what you are saying is, that drink driving is totally acceptable?

If a member of my family was injured through the actions of a driver over the prescribed limit, I myself would be doing time at HMP Hilton, and I don’t think I stand alone with this.

Haven’t had much experience with them but the only times I have they’ve been alright. They were actually apologetic about having to give my mate a warning for possession of a bit of weed – they stopped the car and searched it as it matched the description of a car that had been seen leaving a burglary 😆

At uni two of them came round to the house when a mates bmx got stolen. Sat around chatting for a while til my he could dig up some photos of his bike to give to them.

Saying they do a difficult job dealing with a/holes as an excuse for treating members of the public like shit is bollocks
In my job I have to deal with difficult and sometimes violent people and if I went round talking to people like shit I’d get sacked, and I’m not on the salary or pension the the police are, no excuse for it IMO

The only good thing about them pulling me was that I could be sure that anyone that had been drinking at my pub got away before they got back to their stake out.

Very poor and perhaps they know this view and want to catch you to teach you a lesson ..its what I would do.
Drink driving is utterly unacceptable

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaveytx07vs[/video]

Yes I go along with that it costs nothing to be polite!

From past experience I have learned that if you are polite from the start they are polite also.

Was wondering when salarys and pensions would rear its head, and do you not think they contribute to there pensions?

Take it from me frontline police are worth every penny they get!

From past experience I have learned that if you are polite from the start they are polite also.

Not necessarily so.

Attitude test spring to mind.

In my job I have to deal with difficult and sometimes violent people and if I went round talking to people like shit I’d get sacked

+1

Been stopped on the bike & in the car once. When on the bike they were ok, had been reports of two guys riding away from a burglary at Smithy Bridge, we were near Hollingworth lake so understandable. Did have to strip off to prove my lack of tattoos though.

In the car they were complete tools, started asking if I had previous for drugs (not known to the rozzers at all), ‘was I sure’; claimed I had no insurance, told them to ring Direct Line as I pay about 700 pa for the privilege. Started spouting stuff about ‘benefit of the doubt’ and left.

When that guy jumped in front of my train both civil plod and BTP turned up as the train was full of football fans. The civil plod turned up first (about a dozen) and were worse than useless, they had no idea what to do, what was to happen at the scene and were a danger to their own safety. BTP were considerate and professional.

Plod do (rarely) request breath sample from train drivers, whether it’s within their remit is debatable, but if they did ask to bag you, whether they should or shouldn’t, it’d be wise to comply, refusing to provide is instant dismissal. Our alcohol limits are far lower than the road ones (allowances have to be made for cough medicine, mouthwash etc!). We get random or ‘for cause’ D&A screenings by BUPA / Mediscreen.

THEY THEY THEY.The police force are a collection of individuals in fact as we have no national police force they are a collection of collections of individuals.

Some are dedicated courteous and on occasion heroic. Some are mindless thugs some are rude.

They should not be lumped together for condemnation or praise.

They certainly should have their conduct subjected to scrutiny and criticism. The manner of some officers on routine stops as set out above is appalling. What those officers need to understand is that for many they are the first real life contact with the police and often that contact shapes the future perception of all police officers.

“Their reason was that the car had shown up as being from out of town, 4 lads inside in beanie hats, laden down with who knows what – “

konnabunney the stop described above seems bang on reasonable to me.

Bren2709….thats what i was thinking too.

So many people these days talk to the Police like that idiot cyclist who ran a red light and got pulled over by the cycle Copper (the video was doing the rounds recently) and wonder why the Police come across as rude when often the Officer is simply responding in kind but people have so little insight into their own conduct that they cant see this….

….there seems to be a section of society who are very much law abiding but take offence at being pulled over by the Police for the usual drink driving checks etc….the Police arent mind readers and dont know if you have committed an offence until they speak to you, the way some people moan you’d think they expected a formal written apology for passing a breath test.

Been stopped several times over the years and breathalysed a couple of times, got no problem with this….every time it was during the weekend at night and i was usually the only car on the road….theres a better than average chance a vehicle like that is coming home from the pub, a club etc and may have an intoxicated driver at the wheel….was pinged last year too for using the phone while driving, always found Police polite and actually up for a laugh if you just admit what you were doing (if you were doing something wrong) and speak to them like they’re human.

They deal with so much crap and so many scummy people that they are naturally guarded when initially speaking to anybody and this sometimes comes across as rude…in work mode i spend a lot of time with Surrey and Hampshire’s Police and in 12 years have never met a Copper than i thought was a nob.

*doppel post*

As Crankboy says:

‘Remember people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel’ and no doubt that is why so many people on here had made large sweeping generalisations as unfortunately one bad experience goes a long way to tarnshing a whole police force. Sad but hey what can we do? Hope that your next encounter with the police is a positive one where you will rave about how professional, supportive, courteous and polite we were.

Hope that your next encounter with the police is a positive one where you will rave about how professional, supportive, courteous and polite we were.

I’m not holding my breath, though I do recall TJ starting a Police appreciation thread some time ago.

It’s a funny old world we live in; On the one hand most people see the need for a Police service and I think most people, including officers themselves, want a transparent, accountable service. Most people agree that low crime rates are about prevention, as they would rather not have to wake up to find their house ransacked and car gone. Yet on the other hand, at least reading this and other threads of its ilk on STW, it would appear that people want this to occur in isolation of everything else, and with absolutely no Police interaction with themselves.

Ok, how is this to happen? Should we avail ourselves of Hollywood technology and setup a ‘Pre-crime’ unit? Should we look at our chrystal balls and guess who the criminals are (unfortunately mine are mere skin and grissle, so no fortune telling here)? Should we sit in the station drinking cups of tea, only coming to your house when you’re out so you don’t have to be degraded by an oik in uniform telling you of all people about crime prevention. Should we just send the SOCO team after the event, and not turn out at all?

C’mon – tell the Police how to do their job. You pay our wages after all (as I’m sure some of you have told the Police in your rare experiences).

Mildred – cops get jaded and develop a very jaundiced view of society and therefore tend to forget to give the benefit of the doubt which can piss off innocent folk stopped. Having said that the only times I have seen a cop being tough with people is when they start it with a bit of attitude. The “yes sir no sir three bags full sir” approach is well worth doing if you want to get off with something / not get into a confrontation.

As for how to change it? It appears there are real issues witht eh met so a review of them and look to why there are so many more issues wit the met than other forces.

“No fault” investigations into bungled incidents so as to get to teh truth. better training. However its a closed society so its hard to stop attitudes from reinforcing within it. Its hard for anyone to challenge teh attitudes shown by many cops.

It all gets a little bit freudian when you start talking about the Police. I’ve been a Police officer for a number of years and worked on a number of specialist units as well as normal response teams. If I were to say I’d dealt with an IT professional who was surly, rude, unhelpful and smelled slightly of gorgonzola so I am certain everyone who works with computers is a TW@. People would think I was an idiot. I like it to call it Daily Mailitis.

Ultimately lots of White middle class people think they should be allowed to do whatever they like and are never wrong. They expect a Marks and Spencer style customer service from the public sector and cannot abide anyone telling them that their behaviour was wrong or illegal. This most often manifests itself, in my experience, around the use of alcohol. Some people are mature enough to see that their actions or behaviour are unacceptable. Some people aren’t.

It’s also one area of public service that people seem to think they know all about and could do a much, much better job at. The reality of course is that is compete turd. The British police service have some of the most highly skilled and professional specialist officers in the world. Other countries look to the UK for advice and guidance and find it difficult to comprehend that we deal with the level of threat we do whilst being largely unarmed.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a proportion of police officers who are complete tools. Unfortunately you are much more likely to remember them.

By way of an example. I once arrested a nice middle class young man from Surrey who was on a night out in London. He was complaining vociferously that I should not have arrested him and demanded he speak to a more senior officer immediately. When I arrested him he struggled violently and ended up getting very slightly injured, after trying to headbutt me. He questioned my sexuality and suggested I was overly familiar with members of my own family. This lovely young chap had smashed a glass bottle on the bar and stabbed someone in the eye with it, causing permanent disfigurement and blindness in that eye. He felt that this was entirely justified for the following reasons:

1. “he f@£king deserved it, he was chatting to my girlfriend”

2. “do you know who I am? My dad runs XYZ company”

I can almost guarantee that from now on he will tell anyone who will listen how horrible the police are and how badly he was treated. The reality is somewhat different.

Hmm. But before you get carried away with just how wonderful and lovely you might think the police are, from your not particularly objective viewpoint, I would like to point out that myself and many, many other people I know have suffered verbal, physical and racial abuse from police officers, some have even suffered sexual and homophobic abuse, and quite a number have been wrongfully arrested and/or suffered disproportionate levels of violence from police officers.

I have a friend who was related to a man who died in police custody, a case in which coroners’ reports conflicted very heavily with police officers’ accounts of the incident, and one where there has never been an open public enquiry.

Add to that the countless incidents of police officers abusing their position and generally acting as a law unto themselves, and you end up with not a great deal of respect towards the police, from a great number of people.

A friend of mine is currently suing the police over serious abuses of police powers, a major breach of trust and a proper shocking case of the police acting way outside any moral or ethical boundaries, with absolutely no justification whatsoever.

If any police officer wants my respect, then they have to earn it first. That starts with being polite and courteous towards me, something which in my experience has sadly been lacking all too often.

1.He deserved it, as he was walking away from us at the time, not being at all agressive or violent, and with his hands in his pockets. Clearly a great threat and the appropriate response was to violently attack him.

2. Don’t you know who I work for? An organisation where my colleages and senior officers will lie on my behalf, to try to cover up my unlawful behaviour.

Just for a bit of balance, like…

As for how to change it? It appears there are real issues witht eh met so a review of them and look to why there are so many more issues wit the met than other forces.

After the riots in the summer, when for several weekends in a row cops from all over the UK were patrolling in London, the response from the MET was quite interesting. The feedback they got from their local communities, after cops had been walking around their towns and estates with no agenda other than just chatting to people and getting the craic, was very positive, and in there own words, a bit of an eye opener for them as far as police/community interaction goes.

The ‘eye opener’ for me was the way the police just stood back and let much of the rioting and looting happen….

cops had been walking around their towns and estates with no agenda other than just chatting to people and getting the craic

That’s what they should be bloody doing anyway; if you had more policing like that, more regular patrols of high-crime areas, a lot of people would feel a lot safer. We rarely see any bobbies on foot round here; the odd patrol car once or twice a day, at least a twenty minute response time if you report violent crimes happening, and police turning up two or even three days after a person has reported a crime, to take some details! FFS..

After the publicity exercise was over, and the media had lost interest, things went back to normal again…

That’s what they should be bloody doing anyway; if you had more policing like that, more regular patrols of high-crime areas, a lot of people would feel a lot safer.

I agree with you. That’s how it’s still done in some places.

It would appear we have two police forces – the Met and the rest so that is interesting what you say great ape. My Uncle was a senior bod in the met and a decent funny bloke as far as I knew him but he was deffo the sort of cop where suspects would fall down stairs.

Elfin I think we would both have to accept that neither of our viewpoints is particularly objective. You are clearly vehemently opposed to the police and start from a viewpoint that we must all be violent, racist, homophobic, killers as you’re nicely balanced and wide-ranging examples above demonstrate. I am in no way trying to justify rude, unnecessarily violent or illegal behaviour from police officers. I’m trying to add a bit of balance to the discussion. All I can say is that I have a MUCH broader experience of the police than you do. And to top it all off I’m really quite a nice guy, fairly left wing, and I don’t beat people up. Imagine that!