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Then there are the idiots with their current fad for sticking the Halfords blue lights in their gril/washer nozzles. Just a coincidence that it's the same type of blue the police use? I thought you could be pulled for impersonating the police? Obviously not........
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Aren't those lights teeny tiny anyways? Kind of like little LEDs stuck into the grills and wherenot on a car and even if they were to 'flash' like a Christmas tree they wouldn't resemble the gneuine flashing blue (and red) lights of unmarked cars?
Road Traffic Law also says you must not use your front fog lights when it isn't foggy and a car should not display anything but a white light to the front - this obviously excludes genuine xenon bulbs - but the point is, if you transgress too far from the written letter of the law then yes, you will find yourself dealing with Traffic on a one-to-one basis ;)
I don't understand what you're getting at ProtonGuy?
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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Sorry, but this made me fall out of my chair and laugh uncontrollably. The Law still stands...whether it be marked or unmarked police vehicle, if the Police indicate for you stop, then you should.
I'd stop if a car that I knew to be an unmarked police car ordered me to pull over.
But if I was ordered to pull over by a car that might or might not be an unmarked police car, I would be more likely to drive carefully to the nearest police station, or (if I was somewhere unfamiliar) call the police (handsfree...!).
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I'd stop if a car that I knew to be an unmarked police car ordered me to pull over.
And 99% of people would. Which is correct.
But if I was ordered to pull over by a car that might or might not be an unmarked police car, I would be more likely to drive carefully to the nearest police station, or (if I was somewhere unfamiliar) call the police (handsfree...!).
And that is what most Force's recommend that if you are in ANY doubt you call them direct and they will advise you if one of their cars is involved or proceed to a location where there are people, like say a Petrol Station forecourt where there can be nuemrous witnesses etc. and I doubt that you'd be criticised.
Common Sense must prevail at the end of the day.
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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A couple of years ago there was a spate during late evenings when drivers in and around Liverpool city centre were being stopped by "police officers" in unmarked police vehicles - it turned out that they were imposters.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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And there was the theft of some Foreighn HGV van driver on the M25 18 months ago? It does happen no doubt - but think of it another way...whats the ebst way in which to steal a vehicle? Stick it on a flat bed and drive it away...and the flatbed? Could be liveried up as a Council Vehicle or as (in some instances) AA/RAC vehicles - how many times have you seen a car with it's alarm going on the back of a flat bed, or whilst being 'lifted' and thought: He deserves it for parking incorrectly? :)
So yeah, it will happen, but if in doubt, call the Police :)
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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@ ihpj I am getting at the fact that at night the sight of two 'police blue' lights in yur rear view mirror can easily be mistaken for a genuine police car. I know because I have been the victim of this. Their trick is to come up close behind you knowing that you will slow down and then they can overtake you. Only then do you find out it's an old Astra or whatever. In my experience these are usually the same jokers who use fog lights during the day or even better, fog lights on a clear night but don't turn their night lights on.
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Then did you report these cars to your local nick? Or at the very least drop in their registration plates that if they ARE pretneding to be Police vehicles, that they can be then stopped and checked over? The problem is, like with unmarked cars, many of the lights can be 'invisible' unless the car is stopped and checked over. So if one were to pass a markled car say dyring the day, unless you were looking clsoely, you might not see the concealed lights?
If these idiots are pretending to be Police then their registrations need to be forwarded and the cars looked at.
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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Then did you report these cars to your local nick?
No chance. Their behaviour is wrong, but I've got better ways of spending an hour of my time.
I've tried before now to inform the police of seriously bad driving. Their only response is to tell me to visit and make a statement. Last time I did that it was well over an hour.
Won't bother next time.
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No cars involved in this one but it's relevant:
Many years ago I was stopped, while walking along a pavement, by a 'plain clothes police officer' who flashed an official looking ID card in front of me then shouted "up against the wall" and manhandled me roughly by the arm.
When I'd walked past the same spot 15 minutes earlier a burglar alarm was going and the police were indeed about. This smartly dressed 'officer' was with a group of young men and I assumed my predicament must be connected with the earlier incident. The man asked who I was and what I was doing in the area. I didn't think it was the time to question this man's authenticity, though something didn't seem quite right. When he let me go the other young men started laughing.
When I got back to where I was staying I called the police, who came round and their officer said it definitely wasn't a real policeman, confirmed by the Met's ID card looking different.
The twist was that next morning I'm sure I saw the guy who'd stopped me looking out of the window of a house across the road from where I was staying. And what was that house? - A bail hostel for violent criminals - muggers GBH-ers etc.
cheers, Sofa Spud
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No chance. Their behaviour is wrong, but I've got better ways of spending an hour of my time.
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Right, but if the Police aren't aware there is a problem or issue, then how can they combat agaisnt it? Sometimes it is possible to come across a 'crime in progress' and deal with it then, but msot times, it's reported incidents that have to be investigated. No report, then how can there be an investigation?
I've tried before now to inform the police of seriously bad driving. Their only response is to tell me to visit and make a statement.
If the Police do not witness the incident, then they must speak with the witness(ess) because they provide the evidence. Now, if you saw a crime, then you are a witness and what you saw is imperative since by asking you (in detail) what you saw and did thats where the eviednce comes from - and this needs to be recorded in the form of a statement - how else do the Public assume Police go about investigating matters? Most times it's an initial witness statement (IE: a statement of fact) that can be relied upon to determine what offences there might be and then put to the offender once traced.
>>Last time I did that it was well over an hour.
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Ans sometimes a witness statement can take longer. If you can't spare an hour to report an incident then don't grumble when the Police don't do anything because without your evidence, they can't act since they weren't present at the time - and that goes for ALL incidents where the Police arrive 'after the event'.
Won't bother next time.
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Well I hope that you are never a victim of a crime, but should you be unfortunate enough to say be a victim of crime and left such that you cannot speak for yourself, then other members of the Public will step forward and 'bother' and give the Police their time to help them gather the evidence. You wont bother? Well I hope others will - the rules is the rules Chum...
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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My point, ihpj, is that if the only way to tell the police about any incident, no matter how small, is to attend at the station and spend an hour (at least) making a witness statement, then the police should not be surprised if small matters such as the example discussed above are not reported to them.
A serious matter would prompt me to report, for precisely the reasons you give. But I am not going to spend an hour of my life waiting for an officer to take a statement about a chav with blue lights on his car.
I have tried to tell the police about minor incidents, so that they can gain the intelligence that they need in order to do their job. An example was a driver who was not exercising due care; there might have been a patrol car nearby, for all I knew, so I thought I'd ring it in. But they were not interested in this and just wanted me to visit in person. Now, if I honestly believed that they would follow up an report like that, I would have visited. But I don't, so I didn't. My belief was based on experience of past interactions with the police (see previous posts). Is that my fault or theirs?
We agree, I think, about what policing SHOULD be like. But we disagree about whether it actually is like that.
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There are a number of ways to report non-emergency incidents to the Police. Each Force is diferent and I cannot comment on your particular Force, unless it is TVP or The Met.
But remember, most Force's have civilian call center staff who, through no fault of their own, stick to a rigid schpeel whenever someone calls in. Sometimes you don't get the level of service needed and with the abolition of local control rooms, these sorts of amateurs are going to be compounded because you're having to speak to someone say in Reading, whilst you are in Milton Keynes.
I'm glad that a serious matter would prompt you to fulfil your civic duty - but no it is not right that you end up spending an hour at the Station - but if an idiot is impersonating an Officer, this is a more serious matter and needs to be dealt with...by means of a statement. You might think that what you report is not important, but for the Police it might be - so it is important that you report instances. However, it is nobody's fault, but rather that of the 'system' - within which you and I operate. Unfortunately, on the delivery side of things it is the Police who get the flak - but most times they're working within the system that we as voters have voted for and agree to abide by.
If you make a report, then it msut be backed up with fact - else it's quite worthless since if the Police go out and act on it (by arresting the offender) where is the evidence? Then the libertarians will be jumping on the Police for 'wrongful arrest and detention' - thats why a system exists to protect everyone. Your liberties and mine. So keep the faith man!
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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In the late '70s, the chav fad was for two-tone 'Sweeney' types sirens. One Saturday night near Romford, I was riding my Honda CD175 at the end of a line of cars going at around 30ish. I heard a siren behind me and pulled over to let it go past. A tarted up Cortina overtook the entire queue on the right-hand side of the road, clearly not a police car.
It transpired that the queue had been going at 30 mph because of.......
the marked police car cruising along at the front of the queue. The Cortina was stopped 300 yards up the road. I didn't stop, although it looked entertaining.
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