elzorillo – it sounds like you have been really unlucky there and I genuinely feel for you. Can I just explain a couple of things, because most of the things you are complaining about are as a result of the Law, the Criminal Justice system and Government policy.

From your description of what happened I can surmise a couple of things. Firstly that the other guy made a complaint to the Police of assault, and neither you or Jim did until after/during interview or at least not until after the other guy had (correct me if I’m wrong).

Now to clarify a couple of things. If a guy comes the police with a broken jaw and says you beat him up and were racist, they CANNOT treat you as a witness. You HAVE to be interviewed under caution at the very least and will probably be arrested for a number of reasons e.g for the prompt and effective investigation of an allegation of crime. They may have wanted to take forensic samples such as hand swabs or have any possible offensive/defensive injuries documented by a forensic medical examiner for example. This is in order to prove or disprove your involvement in the incident and to establish what happened.

You had the benefit of actually being there, the police weren’t. they can only go on the information they have at the time they are investigating the matter. So if they are told a load of rubbish at the start, they have to go through the motions of establishing exactly what happened.

As regards charging the other guy. This is not usually a decision for the police. They gather the available evidence and put it to a CPS lawyer for a charging decision. If there is no realistic chance of a prosecution succeeding then the CPS will not authorise a charge. This would include a fight where there were no independent witnesses as to what happened.

As for the racist element. Any racially motivated violent crime is seen by the government and the police as particularly abhorrent and attracts stricter sentences. The police are under a duty to investigate it as thoroughly as possible and this is set down in law by the goverment. If the complainant believes the crime was motivated by racism then it is recorded and dealt with as such. Even if this may not always be the case.

Finally – you’re police officer mate at the Boxing club sounds like an absolute tool.

Well I can guarantee I know waaaay more coppers than you and I know them a lot better. Very few are a you described elzorillo. Who’s fault is it that you were on bail? Yours, the police, or the person making the allegation? Would be preferable for the police to ignore a GBH and not investigate it? Take a step back and have a think about it.

Elf I’m teasing. You almost make it too easy 😉 I agree with you on certain points, like the selection process not being rigorous enough. But I’ve been in the Police for quite a few years and never seen unjustified use of force with my own eyes. Not saying it doesn’t happen, just it’s nowhere near as prevalent as you make out. Did you watch the programme?

The DHB roubaix from wiggle have been great for me so far

Just have to wait for Elfin to start going on about how they cut out the bits where the prisoners were being beaten up and innocent people traumatised by evil authoritarian fascist cops.

I go through it every day at work. It’s very accurate.

I loved it when I did it last summer with an early start. Missed the telegraph turning though and ended up slogging it back. There is a fair amount of carrying up, but the descent is at least 90% rideable for an average trail rider.

Ive got the new shape petrol Octavia VRS with the DSG gearbox. Its a Golf GTi with a big boot. Really great car, love it and fits 3 people with bikes and kit for a long weekend. Or me, better half, toddler and 18,000 tons of kiddy rubbish.

Merlin with their VIP discount

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!

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.

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.

I’m working does that count? My 15month old son sleeps from 7pm to 7am.

Trek Remedy FS
Genesis Altitude HT

The police probably did go through the CCTV footage, although not necessarily at the time they took the report. CCTV rarely gives footage good enough to make a positive identification from. Bike theft is very important to the individual but the police have to make a judgement call on which types of crime to prioritise. Therefore rape, terrorism, murder, robbery (theft using violence), and residential burglary are all seen as more important and get more resources. Where I work we catch dozens of bike thieves a week (without beating them up), however the criminal justice system is at absolute breaking point. This means that most of them are given a fine, juvenile reprimand, drug treatment order or community sentence. This means they are back out stealing again thesame day they are caught. Blaming the police is in my experience often a misguided perception of inaction based on reading the daily mail and believing what you read on the Internet, or anything Elfin types. As for those people saying that if you touch anyone stealing a bike you’ll end up in Alcatraz making sweet love to Jona Lomu read up on S.3 Criminal Law Act.

Think he might be having a dig at S.5 of the public order act.

Bike register is regularly checked by the police. Also have to make sure you note frame numbers down.

Ford Kuga? Skoda Yeti?

You’d be much better off getting a good 2wd car and decent summer/winter tyre combos though.

He also looks like my dad

Some of the sweepstakes are going to be a bit off. If the NiP letter doesn’t arrive within 14 days at the registered keepers address you’ve got an outer.

I went up Llanberis path and down Ranger in the summer. Think that’s how most people do it. Really good fun, make sure you figure the comfiest way to shoulder your bike though.

Is descent climbing like trying to run up the down escalator? 😉

For what it’s worth my dad made an almost complete recovery and is still getting on my tits 20 years later.

My dad had a really sever haemorrhage when he was in his 40’s and I was a youngster. I had no idea at the time how close he came to passing away. The facilities, surgeons and aftercare in the NHS for brain surgery are quite simply amazing. He will be getting looked after as best as is possible. Hope you and your family keep your spirits up. All the best.

If you’re scared of the iron a hot hairdryer works well too

Marriage (or a version of it) and thinking incest is a bad idea are pretty much the only universal societal norms from an anthropological viewpoint. So lots of people clearly believe in it.

Because she moans when i keep digging up the patio so I have somewhere to keep the hitchhikers.

Does the ant in question have any pre-existing medical conditions? If it had a tiny dodgy ticker the fright might kill it.

By way of clarification. I’m not an ant doctor. Or vet.

And can it be moved to the Chat Forum, unfortunately I’m a disablist moron.

Catty Mc Cat Cat the uber Cat.

or

Fangs of fury, claws of courage, arse like one of those rubber tea towel holders.

Edit: sorry I’ve had one too many Sierra Nevada Pale Ales.

Innerleithen is great. Particularly on an uplift day. Kirroughtree and Glentress are both really good too. Just because there is some great natural stuff in Scotland doesn’t make the trail centre any less fun. In fact there are some amazing restaurants in Edinburgh. Why don’t you leave the bike and just eat your own body weight in deep fried produce creme eggs instead?

Nendaz (part of the Verbier area) for Christmas. I spend all my cash on bikes and a toddler so not bought anything new for a while!

Inner tube zip tied round the clamp might work

Don’t think so. Certainly not rear lockout.

Plump DJ’s, Stanton Warriors, some of the older stuff from Skint records.

There isn’t.

Reverb – faultless for six months. None of the hassle of cable operation.

Educator all police collisions aren’t as a result of chasing a stolen moped ffs! Most of the time the police are on blue light rubs because they are responding to emergency calls from the public. Do you have any idea how many life threatening incidents the police deal with? You clearly have an axe to grind with the police and have a very poor understanding of the way they work. I’ll leave you to your misguided ranting and go to work for the night shift. I’ll be sure to ask all the people who made the emergency calls if they would have been happier if I observed speed limits and keep left bollards when I get to them.

Junkyard the decision can be made by the driver or by the control Inspector who is “managing” the pursuit.

That’s it I throw in the towel. You win. The police are all barstewards who do the job to drive like idiots and beat people up. Go back over the statistics and decide for yourself, given the nature of the job they do and the type of driving they are required to do, and the number of emergency calls they deal with, if you think the stats are unreasonable. What about ambulance drivers? Fire engines? Or are they ok because they don’t oppress the proletariat.