Respect the Cops? WHY!

[kiwifruit]

Try driving at 100 in snow with 10meters viz and see what happens....

no ticket i bet
doing 111 on a fine day is worse

whoever for whatever reasons decided its to be 100 km/h........seems some have no control over there vehicles at that speed so no point in raising it.........

i certainly don't think the speed limit is too low.... just think a little good judgement needs to be exercised every now and then


i just get a little pissed when the (traffic) Rozzas dont focus on the real issues....
SURE, i was breaking the law every time i pinged, now im walking (57 days to go!).... but for fucks sake, if they would just use a little judgement, like the south island cops!
Anyway, i'll stop going on now

[Squeak the Rat]

This isn't soley a KB argument - this seems to be becoming the standard cop reply to threads on here. This is a widely held view, eg if you were with the guys I played golf on saturday and had a few pints with you'd have seen the topic was well discussed.

My opinions on the matter are based on observation. I see many adverts that are anti-speed. I see no adverts about any other driving behaviour other than booze. I see many speed traps. I see no cops staking out intersections. I see many cops driving around on SH1. I see the GD cop at the intersection shrug his shoulders at a red light runner. And I see people on the road who can't drive for shit and shouldn't have got a drivers licence in the first place!

[Patrick]

no ticket i bet
doing 111 on a fine day is worse


i just get a little pissed when the Rozzas dont focus on the real issues....
SURE, i was breaking the law every time i pinged, now im walking (57 days to go!).... but for fucks sake, if they would just use a little judgement, like the south island cops!
Anyway, i'll stop going on now

Dangerous driving, minimum loss of licence for 6 months. Not just a ticket, a court heraring. I don't ticket anything at 111, unless it is snowing and there is 10m viz...

We would love to focus on the real issues, and there are alweays campaigns on about them here and there... be it red light runners or intersections, what ever...

But those damn speedsters keep us all so damn busy.... hardly have enough time to eat my donuts!

[Matt Bleck]

Do the CRIME do the TIME!!

[kiwifruit]

I don't ticket anything at 111, unless it is snowing and there is 10m viz...

you are a different sort to the ones i have come across, obviously

But those damn speedsters keep us all so damn busy.... hardly have enough time to eat my donuts!

nice

[Patrick]

you are a different sort to the ones i have come across, obviously



nice

Not really... we all eat donuts!!!

[Matt Bleck]

The error of your way's MR KiwiFruit was stopping!

[kiwifruit]

Not really... we all eat donuts!!!

you know what i mean!

[Matt Bleck]

fttp!!!!!!!!

[kiwifruit]

The error of your way's MR KiwiFruit was stopping!

Hi I'm Sheriff John Bunnel. In the next 30mins you will witness some of the world's worst drivers and world's wildest police video chases

This renegade punk thought he could out run the law

A temporary moment of insanity can result in permanent consequences.

[Grahameeboy]

Not really... we all eat donuts!!!

Yeah but some eat the ones with holes in!!

[Smorg]

I agree spud.

Quick pull out the tazers and pepper spray and administer JUSTICE IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!


so long as we are all agreed

[Patrick]

Quick pull out the tazers and pepper spray and administer JUSTICE IN THE NAME OF THE LAW!


so long as we are all agreed

Now you're talkin... that'll slow down the speedsters too!!!

[Patrick]

Yeah but some eat the ones with holes in!!

But there is less of them if they have holes in them? Only those huge cream and jam filled ones, you know, the all in one meal, the ones with jam (fruit) and cream (protein) and icing sugar (energy).....

[Ixion]

This isn't soley a KB argument - this seems to be becoming the standard cop reply to threads on here. This is a widely held view, eg if you were with the guys I played golf on saturday and had a few pints with you'd have seen the topic was well discussed.

At the end of this month I am chairing the AGM of our local Residents and Ratepayers Association.

The agenda is based on issues raised by our members. They are not by any means petrolheads, much more into the "old lady" type. The householders and burgesses of the district. Instinctive respecters and upholders of law and order and the police force. Not petrol head bolshevik revolutionaries like me.

The first item on the agenda (first because it is the most frequently raised) is policing in the district.

People are unhappy, deeply unhappy (it even ranks higher than holes in the footpaths and graffiti !) about the policing, or rather, lack of policing.

They say they don't feel safe. They don't feel safe on the streets, they don't feel safe in their homes. They don't feel that their possessions and property are safe. And when something does happen they don't have confidence that the police will respond. They want a (nice, respectable, bourgois ) protest to be raised.

They are not anti-police. Very far from it. The near universal plaint is that the police are wonderful, but they are no longer there when needed. No longer interested.

We will frame a resolution , and I shall pass it on to the District Commander. Who will ignore it. The people will remain unhappy and frightened.

That is not a good thing. Whether the police focus on speed enforcement can fairly be blamed for it is debateable. But , fairly or not, the majority of the people do believe that the reason the police are no longer keeping them safe is because they are so committed to dishing out speeding tickets. And in such matters, the perception is the reality.

The original question related to respect for the police. FWIW, I think that , by and large, most people still respect the police. But they no longer have confidence in the police. People no longer feel that the police are capable of keeping them safe. So we have private security firms. We have gated communities. We have people with shotguns under the bed. And we have old ladies who no longer go out socially, because they are too scared. It is not speeding drivers they are scared of. It is muggers, handbag snatchers, car jackers. And of coming home to find their houses ransacked.

And when anyone tries to raise these concerns, the response is "It is only property crime. That does not matter. Speeding drivers kill people. 400 of them every year. ".

Which , even if it were true, is not a fair answer to their concerns.

I will return to the very first principles of a police force. What is the fundamental purpose of a police force? To catch speeders? No. To catch burglars ? No.

The purpose of a police force is to maintain the peace. So that people can live is peace and security. It is worse to be killed in a car smash than to be burgled. But if the odds of being killed are one in a million ; and the odds of being burgled are one in a hundred; then burglary may be a greater threat to the public peace than speeding. Those old ladies are not worried about people breaking the speed limit (except on pedestrian crossings). They'd rather drivers didn't speed. But what really worries them are the people who make them feel threatened in the shopping centres; the noises in the night - is it someone breaking in ; the fear of going out and coming home to a ransacked house, the treasures and memories of a lifetime gone or destroyed. They do not live in pease any more.

So, I will tell the meeting about the 400 deaths. But I do not think it will convince them. They want a policeman. Like they used to have. A policeman who is focused on keeping the peace, not on catching speeding drivers.