Police discretion

[Eddieb]

After all these negative threads on the police, and I must admit I share a lot of the views expressed regarding the traffic vrs 'real' crimes focus, I just thought I'd mention that there are some out there who can't be so bad.

Sunday and I'm driving down through National Park about 15km north of the Ohakune turn off on one of the long straights along there, unlimited visibility, straight road, dry, very light traffic etc and I'm just cruising along when Mr Traffic Cop comes round the bend in front of me. A quick scan of the speedo reveals I'm up for probably over $100 in voluntary donations (15ish km over?) so I think Bugger I'd better get ready to stop.

As he gets closer I see he's leaning well forward in his seat and as he goes past he's waggling his finger madly at me very obviously telling me off.
However as his car disappears into the distance behind me I breath a sigh of relief and realise there is still the odd one out there who knows how to exercise discretion.

So if it was anyone on here on duty there on sunday, cheers and thanks very much.

[outlawtorn]

good to know they aren't all utter bastards. No seriously, I'm actually thinking of becoming a traffic cop once I have my permanent residence.

[Biff]

You were lucky. I guess the majority of people get tickets.

I had a similar experience a few weeks ago, a cop claimed to have clocked me doing (I think) 134 ish on SH1. He radioed ahead for his colleague top stop me. Two cop cars, nice attitudes and no tickets.

Full story is on here somewhere.

[Skunk]

There's a few cops like that.
But not many members here would start a thread about cops doing 'good' eh?

[ManDownUnder]

I hear ya.

I got busted lane splitting on the NW motorway - cop directs me down to the Licoln Rd offramp, up round onto a side street, pulls me over and asks why the hell I did it right in front of him - I told him he's obviously not an idiot so I wasn't going to insult him.

He told me to just merge into traffic next time. He'd taken me way the hell down the road to get me out of sight of the MW cameras so I didn't have to be issued a ticket (he'd get hell if the operators saw what'd happened apparently?!?) and we started talking bikes etc.

I learned my lesson, he avoided the paper war, and two guys that love bikes got to stop and have a chat for 10 mins. The consolidated fund was the only loser on the day, and if memory serves, we're unning at a surplus of late anyway?!?

I'll vouch for the cops. I reckong they have a hell of a job, get bog all support from the pulic and from their bosses (aka Parliament cutting costs and putting place STUPID rules, priorities and performance objectives etc).

... the end...
MDU

[Biff]

I'm still undecided about what I think about the H.P here, and yes, I purposely differentiate between H.P and 'normal' cops (that's not meant to imply that the H.P are abnormal!!).

My last experience (as posted above) was a positive one. Common sense prevailed, I received a slap on the wrists and learnt a lesson (?). However my previous run in with the H.P seriously tarnished my opinion of them. I won't go into it here, but if you're really interested it's on here somewhere.

Running the risk of dredging up old topics and possible even going off topic somewhat, there are people out there who hear bad stories, some even second of third hand stories, about cops - then generalise and tar them all with the same brush.

I for one know the difference between the H.P and a normal cop, good cops and forqwits. Unfortunately it only takes a run in with a few forqwits to distort someone’s overall opinion of any group of individuals.

[vifferman]

I'm still undecided about what I think about the H.P here, and yes, I purposely differentiate between H.P and 'normal' cops (that's not meant to imply that the H.P are abnormal!!).

Yeah, me too (undecided).
Having had only one ticket in the last 30 years, and that for passing a little exuberantly in a passing lane (132km/h) after following a 4WD for miles, and miles, and miles, I can say that I'd rather I hadn't had to pay $300 for the 40 points I bought, but it was a fair cop, albeit a bit unfair from the point of view that I was passing safely, and it was the only speeding I did from then till when I was finally pulled over. However, I had been going faster than that previously, and I have been 'prepared to kill' on numerous other occasions, so :spudwhat: .

My son was given a ticket last year for crashing one of our cars. No-one was hurt, no-one else was involved, and the cop wasn't even there till 2 hours later. I dunno whether he was a HP or odinary cop, but the ticket was bollocks - quite undeserved, and it served no purpose. My son has always been a "by the rules" kind of guy, never speeds, hoons, or whatever, and always had a high regard for law and order. Quite unbelievable, but true.
The sad thing was, after being ticketed, he said, "I don't have much respect for the police now."

Thankfully, when the case came to court a few weeks ago, the judge was reasonable, and discharged him without conviction. So apart from all the time wasting, it didn't cost us anything. Except a wrecked car. And my son owes us $1k for the insurance excess.

[scumdog]

So how DID your son come to crash? and possibly the cop was doing the arse-covering thing and letting the Court decide the outcome, the old"well I did my bit" thing from the cop so he doesn't get a verbal kicking from above.

[dhunt]

I have yet to have a bad run in with the cops, had plenty of cops flash there lights at me to slow down but I guess I've caught them when they're in a good mood or something.

Also when I came off last year sometime I was very impressed with the cop that came to the scene. Came and visited me a the hospital etc.

But I've heard of lots of cops that stick to the letter not the motive of the law and that's what I don't like.

[jrandom]

My son was given a ticket last year for crashing one of our cars. No-one was hurt, no-one else was involved, and the cop wasn't even there till 2 hours later.

Why were the police informed, then? Perhaps those involved will know better next time...

I've had the same experience, which has led to a distinct reluctance to involve the boys in blue in traffic accidents where nobody has been injured.

In my last crash, the one thing I remember clearly is my frantic desire for speed in calming the cage driver down, checking the bike's structural soundness, getting it started again and bugging the hell off outta there before an HP car happened past and blanketed everyone with tickets on principle.

[Wolf]

When I was living out near Tauwhare and riding into Hamilton every morning on my unwarranted and unregistered motorbike, I rounded a 50km/h corner - on a side road off the main highway, fer chrissakes! - and encountered a road block.

The cop's little box was inquisitive and wanted to know my name and address, so I told it and it seemed happy.

Then the cop said "and how about your bike? All road legal?" He looked at the back of my bike, theatrically blinkered himself with his hand and said "looks fine to me" then waved me on.

Maybe he's a biker himself and also hates the massive increase in registration inflicted upon us by ACC (in order to pay PIs to snoop around with video cameras to catch "fraudsters"), I dunno, but the fact that I was obviously unregistered was of little consequence to him at the time. He didn't even stop to properly check my WOF.

[vifferman]

So how DID your son come to crash? and possibly the cop was doing the arse-covering thing and letting the Court decide the outcome, the old"well I did my bit" thing from the cop so he doesn't get a verbal kicking from above.

He crashed because he was inexperienced, a hawk flew up from the side of the road at his windscreen, and he got a fright and jerked the steering wheel a bit hard when he swerved. He was charged with careless operation of a motor vehicle.
To be honest, scumdog, looking at the piece of road he crashed on, and given the "not operating a motor vehicle with the level of care and expertise that could reasonably be expected of someone driving on a public road" interpretation of the "careless use" charge, it was a fair cop. BUT it was frivolous from the point of view that it didn't aid road safety or make my son decide he was a careless driver and should take more care in future, because it was all down to lack of experience, not lack of care.
Perhaps the judge was also influenced by the letter I wrote, by the fact my wife and I took time to come to court with him, and my wife saying, "if anyone should be judged guilty, it should be us as parents for letting him drive on his own despite having misgivings about his abilities".

Why were the police informed, then? Perhaps those involved will know better next time...

They weren't - the cop just happened to be driving past 2 hours after the crash, while Peter was waiting for the tow truck to arrive.

[vifferman]

Also when I came off last year sometime I was very impressed with the cop that came to the scene. Came and visited me a the hospital etc.

Oh yeah - I've had that a time or two as well. The first time (cop came to my home) was a worry, as he asked me some tricky questions:
"How fast were you going?"
- Dunno.
"Well - what if someone said they saw you before the acident and said you were going about 40 or more?"
- (Oh shit! Was I? Was there someone there?) No, that's not likely.

But in fact all my dealings with the police have been most cordial and reasonable, apart from one (non-ticketed) FoamingAtTheMouthBikeyCop who yelled and screamed at me, and I have no idea what he was on about. So it was a total waste of his breath, and of our time.

[Blackbird]

I've had a couple of tickets for speeding, both of which I deserved, but have had quite a few let-off's, the most momentous being caught bang to rights at over 140 k's on a deserted road - simply got a flash of the headlights and a slow down gesture. Have done one runner when I knew I'd be walking for 6 months, but I could hardly complain if I'd been done as I owned the problem.

To be honest, my encounters with the law have been far more positive than negative - far more so than the rest of society which has a much bigger proportion of boofheads.

I tend to ride quite fast but choose my time and place carefully. Riding like a twat in traffic is bound to attract attention.

Quite happy to be accused of being pro-police but I'm not. I'm just trying to be balanced and give an honest account of my experiences.

Geoff

[Ninja51]

(LONG POST) Well here's a tale from a few years back in the UK. I had been at my Dad's place with the Mrs. Had probably had a scotch or two. Left about midnight to ride the 20 odd miles into London. Made it to the elevated motorway about five miles from home and promptly ran out of gas! Doh! Decided to leave the Mrs to look after the bike on the hard shoulder. (Chivalry not being my stron point you see) As I walked along the shoulder I passed a panda car (local cop) attending another motorist. I explained that I was walking off the motorway to seek petrol. I was told that there was a traffic cop sitting down the off ramp and he wouldnt be impressed to see me walking along the motorway. So I approached him and having rehearsed my lines, apologised and explained the situation. As soon as I told him about the Mrs, he said "oh for f...ks sake!! Hop in the back!!" We tore back to the bike with blue lights flashing. The Mrs was standing there with a fag on. She got in the car and we were taken to a petrol station. (Which at that time of night was miles away) They waited while I blagged a can and then they took us back to the bike. I should have explained in this tale that a month or so earlier I had been stopped on the M4 for doing 104mph and my case was up before the courts who were considering disqualifying me.
Anyway as we were going back to the bike the cops were chatting away and gently reminding me that they had every right to ticket me for running out of fuel and walking along the carriageway. I sat there and said "oh that's the least of my worries" By that I meant I was concerned about being banned from driving for a year or so. But the cop who was driving replied, "No, I know what your worry is mate... I can smell it on your breath!!!"
I was shitting myself as you can imagine. I thought my number was up. But no, they sat there while I filled the bike up and got it started. As I was doing so, one of them came up to me and said "Just remember, you caught us in a good mood...now be off take that can back!"
So you see...they aint all bad.