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

[sAsLEX]

When it comes to speeding this is the easiest and most effecient method of upholding the Law and I guess that this cannot be argued.

yeah sure cause my tickets have slowed me down ............... tui anyone?

[Swoop]

I've been interviewed once about noisy pipes...

Bloody bastard plumbers and what they charge!!!
Want to become rich, learn to be a plumber....

[ajturbo]

on the news this morning (TV1) the police don't have "quoters".....


THEY HAVE TARGETS TO REACH

[cowpoos]

yeah sure cause my tickets have slowed me down ............... tui anyone?

nah...I think you need a ghey auckland beer...you ride a honda!!

[Quasievil]

Well as far as Im concerned, their is absolutely no doubt that the police are interested in "gathering Revenue" I dont believe for a minute that the huge emphasis on ticketing has anything to do with road safety.
For my past tickets both on Motorbikes, one south of Hunterville doing 114kmph , the next one was 112kmph going downhill on a three lane road on the Ducati. I got these tickets, I stopped as soon as I saw the lights , I was nice to the officer etc etc etc, I really really expected to be let of both occasions considering the light traffic and the negliable "over the limit speed" but NO, both officers didnt even batter an eyelid in ticketing me.

Interestingly I was in the cop shop on Saturday collecting my lost number plate and was reading a poster about the polices core objectives one of these stated (not an accurate quote) "to maintain confidence and respect from the public" (something along those lines) and I really thought mmmmmm thats a bit rich considering 90% of road users are nothing more than intimidated my the police particulary the HP, I use the word intimidated purposefully there because I strongly believe thats what is going on. For me I drive or ride on the road shit fucken scared of getting a ticket I know alot of people do.....................dont anyone give me that bullshit about if youre doing nothing wrong you have nothing to fear argument, because slight over the speed driving in my book is doing nothing wrong, so where do they draw the line then you ask?? well they draw the line individually using discretion, an art long since lost due to the undenyable quota system. I know the HP do have expectations of their officers such as performance, results etc, this is done by way of tickets issued. Okay Im not a cop dont know "absolute" but I have spent probably a 100 odd hours in a HP car and get the idea of how it all works.
For me I have nothing but respect for the general duties cop, I hold them in the highest regard possible, however the HP, the Government and the IRD are the same thing, they in effect do not do the NZrs a fair service, they intimidate and scare people, they all choose what they do and for me they sit around the social tiolet bowl of the population of this country (maybe a bit harsh)
NZ need to stand up and give a bit back, I do, my last ticket was in November and it was a right royal stitch up, I sent the officer a 5 page disclosure letter which made her freckin head spin, I only now after all that time have all the requested information to take it to court, sure I might have to pay but they really had to work for it. I even got a letter from some top cop wondering why I needed all this information.......... my role as a New Zealander is to give some of these pricks a bloody hard time, theyre wrong and I intend on making work as hard as possible.

Fuck did I really write all that.

[Squeak the Rat]

We (NZ) gave it away to drop a road death toll that hasn't appreciably diminished, and thanks to an increase in the number of drivers with minimal skills training on the road, will probably gently trend upward to match population growth.

Kaching! That is the point that makes me believe 100% that it is a revenue gathering exercise. There are numerous over things that could be done to improve road safety in conjunction with road policing. But nothing of any substance is done....

Eg driver training. If we're talking about quotas, fail 25% of people who sit the driving test. Remember when tests used to mean people could fail......?

[Ixion]

Y'know, the quota thing would have a lot more credibility if the quotas included other stuff. Like running red lights, failure to keep left, failure to indicate etc.

Is the quota (or target or whatever) only on speeding? I'm sure if I was a cop I could fill any quota in no time without a single speeding ticket.

One time I counted and between the Strand and Queen St (a distance of about 2km) I counted 21 instances where I'd have dished out a ticket if I were a cop. And that didn't include ANY speeding .Mind you, I'm a pernickity bastard. Good thing I was never a traffic cop, eh. 'Tis a fun exercise though, to pass the time on a boring commute (especially if you're in a cage). Just tot up the numbers. Incidentally , prolly a REALLY good diversion if you've got teenage kids in the car. Nought like teaching 'em young.

[Lou Girardin]

They've toughened up on excessive speed in Italy too. And it's has reduced the road toll. The difference is that they were cracking down on 160 km/h plus speeds, not 11 km's over.
Autostrada limits are 130, traffic travels at 130 - 150 and you have to be doing 170 plus before you're at risk of losing your licence for a month. And even then the cop won't write you up unless there are aggravating factors.
I can't help wondering, if it really is about road safety, why isn't cop performance measured by the reduction of accidents in their areas?
Too embarrasing?

[Quasievil]

Y'know, the quota thing would have a lot more credibility if the quotas included other stuff. Like running red lights, failure to keep left, failure to indicate etc.

Mate youre right there, the thing is human nature will always lead us to the least effort for the maximuim return, ie sit in a car and let a bit of technology do the work is was easier than a cop actually doing police work.

The whole police and road thing is fucked, all we have is a buncg of IRD staff collecting money for minor infringements, where is the police work in that????
alot of good stuff has been discussed on this thread, lots of good ideas, I firmly believe that these are realistic and achievable, Im even more certain that agreement would be forthcoming from the powers to be in regards to some of these ideas, But I can guarantee good solid workable road safety initiatives wont be realised in this country as long as we have a money grab culture of enforcement.
Why do they need money anyway????? for me I dont care about the cash fine, I care about the demerits, why do they take money and demerits from you ????? surely demerits is suitable and ample punishment alone.
Hows that for an idea, no cash fines, demerits only ......Yeah right

[GIXser]

instead of turning this in to a cop bashing thread.....how about we turn it into a government bashing thread!!!

errrrr... BAsh em both"

[scumdog]

Kaching! That is the point that makes me believe 100% that it is a revenue gathering exercise.

So, if the penalty was one demerit point for every km over the speed limit and there was NO monetary penalty it would make the KB anti-speed ticket whinging brigade ecstatic????
After all, it wouldn't be revenue gathering, would it?


BTW Why DO people post their anti-ticket complaints on KB?

Would it not be more constructive to collectively badger the politicians about it?

[SPman]

Its a secret!!

Soo........its the Secret Policemans Ball!





Who's starring this year...........

[Squeak the Rat]

So, if the penalty was one demerit point for every km over the speed limit and there was NO monetary penalty it would make the KB anti-speed ticket whinging brigade ecstatic????
After all, it wouldn't be revenue gathering, would it?


BTW Why DO people post their anti-ticket complaints on KB?

Would it not be more constructive to collectively badger the politicians about it?

See Quasi's post re the demerits. Good idea, but 1 demerit per km/hr is a bit excessive - Lou made a good point about other countries - in UK you can do 100mph on the motorways without too much bother.

The gripe is that road safety is given as the reason for draconian enforcement of one law, where other road laws are not targeted and other measures are ignored. Rule one of problem management - fix the root cause. Issuing tickets does not address the root cause.

We're human - we want things to be fair and we don't like being deceived..... or getting tickets

[quackquack]

I have to say the problem is with driver education If people stayed left when not passing and tried to look before they changed lanes we would save more lifes than stopping me doing 113 on state highway 1. Can some explain the difference between a quoter and a target sounds like someone has a PR microphone coming out there ass

[Quasievil]

So, if the penalty was one demerit point for every km over the speed limit and there was NO monetary penalty it would make the KB anti-speed ticket whinging brigade ecstatic????
After all, it wouldn't be revenue gathering, would it?


BTW Why DO people post their anti-ticket complaints on KB?

Yes it would make me extremely happy if this was introduced Mr Scumdog, also it should make the police on the beat extremely happy also as they wont be compared to the IRD, Im sure that pisses you guys n gals off. One of the sad things with the cops on the beat is I truly believe they joined the force to make a difference and thats admirable, once they are in and get assigned to HP, or join (or whatever) how quickly does their moral plummet knowing they are menacing the public for minor speed infringments? I know a large number of HP are very disheartened with what they do.
I also know that alot of general duties cops are a bit pissed with the flashy HP guys with the flash gear and nicer cars.

answer me this, do you think their would be as many resourses poured into the apparent "road safety inititives" if there was no money involved in ticketing? I could answer that for myself but would be interested in your view.