Police working to a quota?? Surely not...

[spudchucka]

why isn't cop performance measured by the reduction of accidents in their areas?

Because the reality is that the cops can't control every persons actions all of the time. They can only influence driver behaviour through enforcement.

[spudchucka]

I dunno why people are suprised, it's what you get when you attempt to privatise everything and focus on business models and ideals. The day the LTSA and Guvmint were able to 'contract' Police and essentially force the traffic arm into business ideals and values was a sad one imo.

This is the total crux of the issue of road policing and ticket quotas. Change the way the police are funded, take away the influence of outside agencies that have their own agendas and use their funding advantage to get the results they want from policing and you will solve "the quota problem".

[spudchucka]

Spud, I don't doubt for one moment that you and other cops have caught criminals through traffic stops. I would be very suprised if you hadn't. My beef is that a cop would use that as an excuse to justify stopping vehicles. It should be an additional benefit, not the primary reason.

A cop will most of the time stop a driver pursuant to the land transport act, often once a vehicle is stopped other offences are disclosed so the cop will deal with them as fit. There is also a power under the crimes act to stop vehicles and exercise statutory powers of search but there needs to be reasonable grounds to believe that an offence has or is being committed before you can stop a vehicle under this power, so it used less often.

The land transport act allows you to stop a vehicle to check a drivers licence, check the vehicle etc etc. Its once the vehicle is stopped and the driver's details are checked etc that other offences come to light. Heaps of wanted crims are locked up on warrants as a result of traffic stops for instance. Also I would bet my right nut on the stats relating to misuse of drugs act searches being largely the result of a traffic stop.

We often get calls about suspicious people or cars. If we didn't have the powers under the land transport act to stop vehicles then a suspicious car would probably just be left alone to drive away without ever stopping it, findingh out who is in the vehicle and having the opportunity to ask them what they are up to.

In short, the powers under the land transport act aren't just a tool for targeting traffic offences, they also provide police a great general crime fighting tool.

[Quasievil]

On another level not as a biker but as a car driver who drives all over the country all the time, Im sick of having to spend as much time watching my speedo as I do the bloody road. Im a excellent driver, I have not crashed a vehicle on the road in 25 years bike or car, not even a scratch, Im on about 50 demerit points, if I loose a seconds concentration on my speed at the worst time and drift over the "threshold" on a couple of occasions in the next year or so and thats my license gone, how fair is that??? is that intimidation?? I dont like having the stigma of police intimidation in my countries roads and I dont want my country to regards the peoples roads as a PROFIT CENTRE as it is now, I want sensible effective road safety initiatives like driver training, sensible youth restrictions on vehicle powers, better roads built for dum people not roads with freckin huge bumps in it with the only warning being a sign saying "bumpy road" and that being the satisfactory solution, lastly I want roads where I can drive without the appearance of a HP car instilling the fear of god into me as I panick to check my speed isnt over the threshold of acceptable limits as the hill im driving down has with the help of gravity encoraged me to do so,
me "I could have braked officer but the 18 wheeler forestry truck was on my arse"
Cop "yeah sorry mate but that was a little fast look to help out I will drop it from 116kmph to 112kmph ok"
Me" Oh thanks"

5 Minutes later

me " yup the police bunch of arseholes"

How many times a day some a similiar situation occur? a few I bet , down hill tickets have got me twice , one 112kmph, one 114kmph, what was the point actually????

[spudchucka]

Only to be kicked in the guts by the sentancing Judge when he hands out a piss weak 20 hours community service or family group conferance sentance

Sadly thats likely to be the case but its no reason for cops to stop trying to lock up criminals.

[jimbo600]

There are heaps of statutory powers of search, not just MODA and if I'm issuing an ION and I smell cannabis then you can expect to be searched too.

If I arrested you for stolen property and you weren't under arrest then I'd expect you would walk too but since I would have arrested you for stolen property I would have arrested you again for escaping custody if you decided to bugger off despite being under arrest. Copy??

Bottom line is he aint talking bullshit, traffic turnovers are basic part of good policing and it results in very good policing outcomes on a daily basis.

Fair enough. Better not carry all my stolen goods in the car then.

By walking I was referring to court as in illegal search, inadmissible evidence etc

[spudchucka]

me i like the "fish n chip act 2006" the best

2006?? I thought you would still be operating under the 1975 version.

[spudchucka]

Fair enough. Better not carry all my stolen goods in the car then.

By walking I was referring to court as in illegal search, inadmissible evidence etc

Yeah, I know what you meant, I was just being a smart arse.

There are plenty of statutory powers of search including one to search for stolen goods, sections 314B, 224 & 225 for instance.

[Timber020]

Thought I should add this piece of info

There isnt a quota, there are targets and LTNZ has a percentage increase on this target over time. Ie the targets keep increasing so the quota which isnt a quota is increased, which apparently has especially high focus on the above 111kmph "criminals.

The horse told me so

[Grahameeboy]

.

GB, bikes are only magnets for tickets because of the way they are ridden.

Totally agree...I guess I was trying to say that the nature of bikes puts us in those situations even if ridden well........given that you like speed according to your profile....can I arrest my point....pretty please??

Both times I got done for 130k in out of the way traffic clear areas...was a regular haunt of mine....I was not riding like a hoon....after 25 years keeping clean I ran out of lives....all my tickets have been riding bike.....chances of me getting pinged in my people carrier are virtually zero.

No arguments and I have learned from it.

[Squeak the Rat]

And now we pay witness to a hypothetical situation in which our hero Officer Nobchez reports back to the staton after a day on patrol.

Sgt: How many tickets Nobby?

Oficer Nobchez: None, every one was driving safely. I warned a couple of drivers who were going 115 but they looked in control.

Sgt: Well done Nobby, thanks for making the roads safer and doing good PR. Have a payrise and a donut.

[scumdog]

And now we pay witness to a hypothetical situation in which our hero Officer Nobchez reports back to the staton after a day on patrol.

Sgt: How many tickets Nobby?

Oficer Nobchez: None, every one was driving safely. I warned a couple of drivers who were going 115 but they looked in control.

Sgt: Well done Nobby, thanks for making the roads safer and doing good PR. Have a payrise and a donut.

It sounded like a conversation at work - until you mentioned 'payrise' - that blew it into fantasy world big time.

[scumdog]

I HEARD IN SOME COUNTRYS THEY JUST CATCH CRIMS WITH GOOD POLICE WORK INSTEAD OF HARRASING EVERY ONE

No bites?
You'll have to troll better than that, maybe even use a bit of berley....

[igor]

if we don't get a decent pay rise. (like up to 20% the prison guards got)

I thought I might take 1 day off sick a week as psuedo pay rise.

that should take me over 4 1/2 years to use the 233 days I have

[Lou Girardin]

Because the reality is that the cops can't control every persons actions all of the time. They can only influence driver behaviour through enforcement.

That is not the point. If enforcement is the silver bullet, it would be reducing accident rates overall. But we know it's not.
That's the embarrassment for your bosses.
It's a bit like the Yanks 'winning' in Vietnam by focussing on the body count, all the while they were losing the war.