Hazzard County

[SixPackBack]

For the removal of doubt I am of course talking about Rodney County.......
Our local newspaper the Rodney Times has dedicated the front page to an article entitled "Red light for pursuit". The first paragraph succinctly sums the entire article.........."A Police pursuit that ended in the death of Jamie McElrea, 17, of Orewa should have been abandoned before a fatal crash, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has found". The article is damning in the actions of the officer claiming he was a 'Gold badge' pursuit officer who should have known better. Jamie's dad Mark plans a private prosecution.

Overzealous traffic Policing has become fairly obvious to not only the poor inhabitants of Hazzard County but also a fair proportion of New Zealands Motorcycle and Motorcar enthusiast. State highway 16 and Old North Road have been heavily Policed for many years, both are synonymous with the evil ginga and officers of his type.

Further proof of Hazzard Countys stalinist Police force exist on the ATNR. Licence loss and general ticketing have progressed from genuine policing to outright harassment. Such is the level of Policing on the ATNR the ride has been all but abandoned.

Given the amount of poor Policing in Hazzard County that has now been confirmed with the unfortunate demise of Jamie McElrea, I believe it an appropriate time for us to share our stories of Police conduct while travelling on 16, Old North or anywhere within the county.

My experiences are many but a couple come to mind:

• The ATNR crew waiting at the end of Kahikatea Rd [as they usually do letting everyone re-group]. Two Police stop and wander past the number plates of all the assembled bikes, checking the number-plates against a large piece of ripped cardboard they carried with number-plates written down upon it. Nothing was said by the cops and the scene was farcical, why they used a piece of cardboard instead of notebooks was never revealed. Keystone cops?...you betchya!
• Travelling along 16 on the Auckland Anniversary weekend run we had an unmarked Police car in front of us from the Kaukapakapa to 4kmh before the Brynderwns. Exactly why the cop felt the need to 'escort' a dozen bikers a distant of 50kmh was unknown.
• Of course getting my licence taken off me for 147kmh was understandable on the day, watching the same cop roaring up and down a surburban road on his motorcycle a few months later in a far more dangerous display was hard to stomach, but I suspect his behaviour typifies the collective Police attitude here in Hazzard County.

Tell us your stories of Hazzard County.

[nallac]

while i agree the cop should have gone thru the proper processes before ,during and after the chase, the main fault belongs to the Dumb FUCKWIT driving the Subaru.

If the fuckhead didn't do a runna none of this would of happened.

[SixPackBack]

while i agree the cop should have gone thru the proper processes before ,during and after the chase, the main fault belongs to the Dumb FUCKWIT driving the Subaru.

If the fuckhead didn't do a runna none of this would of happened.

Your opinion is not shared with the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

[jamiey]

Ah bollocks! I've just moved to Orewa, I will make sure I am a law abiding motorcyclist on my daily journeys

[nallac]

Your opinion is not shared with the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

They say that what the coppa did was wrong, which i said/mean't.

Still the main blame lies with the Sub Driver.

[nallac]

Ah bollocks! I've just moved to Orewa, I will make sure I am a law abiding motorcyclist on my daily journeys

Now how boring will that be?..

[jamiey]

Now how boring will that be?..

Living in Orewa or riding sensibly??

Both!!

[JohnC]

Couple of year ago I'm cruising along not far from the Byrderwn turn off when I see flashing lights in the distance.
I pull over take my lid off an wait for the inevitable,,,I'd been sitting on about 135kph.
The cop comes over say's "good morning" an asks to see my licence.
He tells me he clocked me at 125km and then asks if I'd like to see the Radar.
I say "no thanks I know what I was doing" so he asks me to wait while he checks me details and goes back to the car to do so.
After a couple of minites he comes back ticket book in hand,an hands me a ticket for 115 in a 100 zone.
I look at it,an say fair enough mate,see ya' late,,,he say's "take it easy from here alright " an we both go our own ways.

Right nazi he was,,,,,,

[SixPackBack]

They say that what the coppa did was wrong, which i said/mean't.

Still the main blame lies with the Sub Driver.

Absolutley. The report leaves no doubt that had the officer behaved a little less zealously the result could have been licence loss and lesson learnt, as it is the immaturity of the 18 year old Subaru driver was matched with the immaturity of the copper, and that attitude is far too prevalent within the Police force in Hazzard.

[nallac]

Heres a linky to the story so people know whats what.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/loca...ht-for-pursuit

[BM-GS]

Tell us your stories of Hazzard County.

Was passing a line of cars in an overtaking lane just south of Wellsford on SH1 at just a smidge over 100 (within the 10% tolerance) when it became obvious that I was going to run out of room before passing them all. They were all nose-to-tail and there wasn't enough room between them to push in at the end without looking like a dick. There was a big space about 4 cars ahead of where I figured I was going to end up, and, there being a fair amount of overtaking lane left, I gave it some gas to make the bigger gap, as any prudent motorist would. As I'm about to pull into the nicely-judged gap, I notice that the last car in the line coming the other way seemed overly equipped with reflective stripes and roof-mounted lights. I roll right off the gas... A glance at the speedo says a large-ish number. The over-equipped vehicle appears a few cars behind me in the line next time the road straightens out.

I turn off onto SH16, he follows & flashes all of his extra lights. I pull over and he explains that he momentarily had a radar reading of 134kph, but he couldn't tell which vehicle it was, since there was a line (and probably that I was slowing quite fast. He takes & checks rego, lic, WOF, etc, wishes me a happy birthday (for so it was) and tells me to be careful.

Sounded like a decent sort who probably gets fed up with scraping people off the trees & the road.

TBH I wasn't doing anything daft and in lots of other countries that road would have a much higher speed limit. In France the (bike) cops usually wave at you to slow down, thumbs up for riding nicely and cheer a decent wheeie.

[nallac]

So far my run in's with the local police have been fair-good.

Got a speeding ticket a few years back,was speeding so can't bitch.

Just got the R1 couple of months ago, overtook a undercover cop slightly exceeding speed limit, got followed in to work .He did wof ,rego and license check came back and said just watch your acceleration and left it at that.

I could of got a rather large fine and lots of demerit points,but didn't..
if i had it would have been my own fault any way..

So, sorry I can't really bitch about them.

[R6_kid:Me]

ATNR ride on 19/07/2007, I was given a ticket for 'overtaking on solid yellow line' - what really happened was I passed a group of L-platers doing 70kmh in a 100kmh zone, indicated the entire time and never broke 110kmh, i pulled in at the beginning of the broken yellow at the end of the passing area.

At the time the cop was about 100m back. He then switched on the lights and sirens, pushed past the L-platers (about 6 of them) and folowed me into the 50kmh zone at Waitoki, I slowed down and moved over before noticing it was me that he was after, by which point he was less than a metre off my rear wheel, I pulled over and attempted to stop as I didn't feel safe negotiating the corner with him on my ass - the front wheel subsequently locked up on roadside gravel and I sustained some pretty nasty (deep) grazes to my knees.

I contested the ticket on the spot, the reply was 'get in the car and i'll show you where you did it' - ie, his word vs mine. Westie was gonna knock the cop out because he thought I'd been knocked off. An ambulance was called for (by the cop) which I said I didn't need. Cop still gave me the ticket too - $150 and accompanying demerits.

To his merit, the cop took the time to fully explain the ticket etc etc, which is the only time I've ever that done.

[peasea]

I had a run with a cop in Rodney a couple of years ago, posted my experiences here

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ng+pig+scumbag

Good luck up there dudes and dudesses, the place is riddled with the vermin in blue and yes, they target bikers make no mistake.

I am so glad to be out of that place, a place that would be quite nice if it weren't overpopulated with dweebs and home to at least one lying, scumbag pig who is a disgrace to the uniform.

(Conversely, I was stopped a while back in Nelson and the cop was nothing but well-mannered. I responded in kind.)

[SixPackBack]

More from the article.................................
The authority found a number of breaches of police policy by the pursuing officer.
Before starting the pursuit he had no legal justification for exceeding the limit, and when he did start to pursue, he did not inform the communications centre as he was required to, so the centre could form an independent view of the risks and determine whether the pursuit should continue, the authority report says.
Having abandoned the pursuit, the officer should not have restarted without authorisation from the centre, and having recommenced it, he should have abandoned it when the Subaru’s driving became too dangerous.
"When the Subaru overtook the first vehicle, the risks posed by the pursuit outweighed the need to immediately apprehend the driver," authority chairwoman Justice Lowell Goddard said.
"At that point, the pursuit should have been abandoned."
The officer also acted inappropriately by driving through the crash scene, the report says.

Read: The officer ignored protocol and continued pursuing an inexperienced driver until he crashed. Had he called off the pursuit [as the Comms. centre would have recommended] the young man would undoubtedly still be alive.

You might wonder why I am fired up about this case. I know the young mans mother and have met her at several functions, she is not the same person pre accident...not the same at all!.......she has an over zealous officer to thank for what is close to the man slaughter of her sons death, and from experience her life will be that much poorer for ever more without the presence of her son.