Hazzard County

[SixPackBack]

Most of my dealings with said police officers have been deserved. However, their attitude in threatening to add more charges if I ever politely contest the current charge is quite disturbing.

A classic example of dodgy police behaviour. Once in court the JP/Judge automatically believes the officer.

There was the night last year (summer I think, around october?) that they had a total of 8+ police officers form a roadblock/checkpoint at the end of peak road. they had an unmarked 'sweeper' vehicle riding in our ride in the same direction, basically anyone who passed him etc.. had their number plate noted. So at the roadblock we are one-by-one told to stop and pull over. I travelled past one of the officers at about 3kph looking for the next safest place to pull over - as I didnt stop instantly I got hit around the head with one of those big-fuck-off police torches. Cars coming in the same direction were not stopped. Sweeper car catches up, and starts searching and ticketing by the list they had made.

Police brutality and or stupidity!?.........Morc is not an imposing figure or someone requiring the bash. Are we dealing with the mob or those that are supposed to protect us?

Another incident last year - A marked car waiting at the bottom of the passing lanes on SH16 - just 3kms from westgate. He turned his radar on as we approached. He then proceeded to follow us down old north road. It was dark and we had about 10 bikes out. I decided to do a detour, and whilst in the middle of the pack I turned down taylor road. Police car decides to follow me. I took 3 turns at intersections (as usual to do the taylor road loop) and he followed me through all of them, when joining back with peak road, I decided to turn left and head to helensville. Cop followed me still. I think he realised I was toying with him when we got to the outskirts of helensville as he disappeared from my tail - but he must have followed me for a good 20km, without me putting a foot wrong, or pulling me over. Harrassment no doubt.

Yup harassment-no question.

[SixPackBack]

Only had 4 issues in Rodney.

1) A ticket for 93 whilst towing a boat trailer - Everything else on the car and trailer was fine and I gave no attitude.
2) A spurrious dangerous charge resulting from a single complaint from a member of the public whom I overtook on a bridge. I'm so evil.
3) A certain orificer trying desperately and dangerously to catch someone through twisties on the ATNR. Put it this way, his brakes were smoking, not just hot and smelling. A few more km and he would have had none. He could have flicked on the disco lights, but instead tailgated the other bikes with his lights on full until he passed them (through twisties) to try and catch the front bike.
4) A bunch of tossers setting up a road block especially for the ATNR. We are such bad boys that they needed to set up a special op just for us. At least they got some of us drug runing murdering arseholes put away for good.

Only 4 issues?..........one involves dangerous driving, the other police harassment.

[Patrick]

Good thing Chris Amon, Scott Dixon and countless others didn't know that......

Scummy beat me to it... took the words right out of me mouth.... Plus one Scummy.

Pity the copper did not keep his racing to the track? It never ceases to amaze me that no matter how damning the evidence against a dodgy copper

A mid week local firestarter paper is not "evidence."

our very own KB officers never have the balls to speak out.

Two sides of the story and all....

Is that through a twisted sense of solidarity or fear of repercussions from fellow copper-or even worse the boss.

Nope. Just know what it is like in the real world..... not the perceived world of some who are narrow minded (present company excluded SPB)

This thread is not about the appropriation of primary blame-that is well established. The 18 year old crashed the car.

Cause, reason, fact......

The thread is not about secondary blame-that is also well established. Without the maverick copper the kid would be still alive

Got me confused here. Even with the opening line in this post..... and the last line just above. I thought it was "clearly" blaming the cop..... who wasn't failing to stop, who was not fleeing the Police, who was not pissed, who was not breaking god knows what else laws of the land........

The thread is about poor police practices within Hazzard County.

Aaaahhhh... Gotcha. But many of the posts have been from people saying all is good, never had a problem. Me included, up that way. Even the ginga doesn't know I ride, so would be an easy target, IF, and it is a HUGE IF...... I was attracting attention to myself. But I wasn't....

The news article epitomises attitudes motorcyclists like myself face, attitudes that have brought the ATNR to its knees long after participants behaved themselves and created an atmosphere of deep mistrust.

This is the same rides where wheelies, huge speeds and overall dick riding was the primary attractant in the first place? And they kept on coming, again.... and again..... and again......?

.... at least have the balls to stick up for your fellow motorcyclist who are being unlawfully targeted.

Unlawfully targetted? Regular ticketing and the usual bleating following about said ticketing seems to tell another story. But I digress....

.... their attitude in threatening to add more charges if I ever politely contest the current charge is quite disturbing.

agreed.

There was the night last year (summer I think, around october?) that they had a total of 8+ police officers form a roadblock/checkpoint at the end of peak road. they had an unmarked 'sweeper' vehicle riding in our ride in the same direction, basically anyone who passed him etc..

And NONE of these passing bikes noticed the disco lights in the dash/rear parcel shelf, the extra aerials, the snake skin, the radar antenna or the readout display????

...... Harrassment no doubt.

Yup harassment-no question.

Paranoia perhaps?

Rocket science and not attracting attention to oneself is difficult to some....

[Patrick]

....Without the maverick copper the kid would be still alive

Hmmm... Maybe. And maybe he would have slammed into a family on an outing, wiping them all off the face of the earth. And it became known that the Police tried to stop him earlier, but "gave up" because it was too hard. The headlines would be quite nice viewing, I guess ...

[scumdog]

Fuck that I like it here.

If its paranoia then it affects a few people.

It seems to be only those that live north of Cook Strait (or further) that have this paranoia.

Must be cos of the warmer climate..

[peasea]

Good thing Chris Amon, Scott Dixon and countless others didn't know that......

Quite right. Ban low performance drivers, not high performance cars.

Same goes for bikes and riders; in fact, especially so.

[peasea]

It seems to be only those that live north of Cook Strait (or further) that have this paranoia.

Must be cos of the warmer climate..

I'd disagree, if only for the fun of it.

[peasea]

always [/I]know better.

C'mon now, you're just funning us with that one, right?

[NinjaNanna]

If you're being targeted stop wearing that distinctive jacket of yours and get a new license plate, would fix the problem in a jiffy, you'd be just another gixer after that.

Yes, I know not the point!

[SixPackBack]

...........................Paranoia perhaps?

Rocket science and not attracting attention to oneself is difficult to some.................

Why is it so difficult for you to accept an issue exists?...........Would you take the thread seriously if I was a copper?

[Mrs Busa Pete]

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.

I read this and the first person i thought of was ginga as he gets a bit between his teeth and won't let it go. Who would agree with me on that one. I was going to put a poll up but you know me couldn't be assed.

[Grahameeboy]

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.

There are 2 issues here.

I think that police pursuits are riddled with obvious issues. Watched the UK Cop TV on Sky and after 4 miles the cops gave up the pursuit because it was too dangerous and just tried to find him which they did later.

Yes the cop may have been guilty of not following protocol, however, back to the old argument that if Jamie had not done a runner in the first place he would still be alive i.e. stopped when required to do so by the cop...he took a chance...17 year old in a Subaru overtaking cars...at some point he must have realised that he could have an accident etc etc...

My view is that the cop was not responsible for Jamie's death...he did a bad job but like I said we hold our own destiny in our own hands and we make choices that affect our own lives.

You are close to this Sixbelly and I understand how you feel, however, who allowed Jamie to drive a fast car? Responsibility goes all ways here...

And sorry but the Father thinking about a private prosecution...why? If the cop had stopped would Jamie have stopped...who knows...maybe he feels guilty himself..let go

[SixPackBack]

I read this and the first person i thought of was ginga as he gets a bit between his teeth and won't let it go. Who would agree with me on that one. I was going to put a poll up but you know me couldn't be assed.

............And has been caught on more than one occasion threatening, lying and behaving outside of the law.

Standard practice in Hazzard.

I notice that a couple of posts in this thread mention individuals who have been busted and have no issue, they are guilty, they got caught and they take the medicine-no problem!

The issue is when coppers break the law they swore to uphold just to secure a minor traffic conviction, and that shit happens far to regularly in Hazzard.

[SixPackBack]

If you're being targeted stop wearing that distinctive jacket of yours and get a new license plate, would fix the problem in a jiffy, you'd be just another gixer after that.

Yes, I know not the point!

The thread is not about me.

You bring up an interesting point though, and that is police targeting.

We know it happens, our on-site police have confirmed it on more than one occasion.

But what is targeting?

• Who decides who or what to target?
• How fair is the process?
• How transparent is the process?
• Is it even legal?
• How much abuse from the police does the targeting system encounter?

The police put themselves on a pedestal with this one; no question!
If change was to be truly effective a swing back to 'community policing' where actions are transparent on all sides, and an old fashioned 'polite word' kept all parties on side. Rather than the present system that breeds nothing but utter contempt and revulsion for police practice.

[Grahameeboy]

............And has been caught on more than one occasion threatening, lying and behaving outside of the law.

Standard practice in Hazzard.

I notice that a couple of posts in this thread mention individuals who have been busted and have no issue, they are guilty, they got caught and they take the medicine-no problem!

The issue is when coppers break the law they swore to uphold just to secure a minor traffic conviction, and that shit happens far to regularly in Hazzard.

I agree...every day I see some awful stuff on the roads..blatant red light jumping etc..yesterday for eg, in Devonport, was going along road...o/c car turns right into a drive...he is then hidden by a parked van...he then reverses straight across the road...so he had no view...into my path...I don't normally do this but I stopped across his car..he rants..drives around me and goes the way I was going so I follow and go along side as he stopps...turns out he was going to ferry and forgot something etc..just took his number and told him I would report....

So I agree that over empathsis on speed is frustrating when NZ stats show speed is not main factor..