Police blast speed cameras.

[98tls]

It make me glad to have amused you so, but if you'd care to climb down from your false ivory tower you'd find that you also ride a 1000cc bike, and that you also exceed the speed limit - otherwise you'd be riding a Lifan or Hyosung 250.
I've had a major bike accident mate, but these days I'm exceptionally selective as to where I stretch the lags of the ZX10R - a quite rare occurrence.
I'm just honest about it...

Thing is for me anyway fwiw i find that after my 30 odd years of riding everynow and then i find that places i thought appropriate just about smack me in the face,over the coast going to the Woodstock rally there i am in motorcycling heaven doing my thing and everything is just awsome until i gas it out of a left hander and am faced with a camper van on my side of the road,sometimes i have wondered if with experience comes complacency but we are just to experienced to see it.Something like that anyway.

[Biggles08]

Ha ha ha you're a funny mutherfucker - oops you're my friend (shut up BBM)

Right...nite nite all

[BIGBOSSMAN]

Thing is for me anyway fwiw i find that after my 30 odd years of riding everynow and then i find that places i thought appropriate just about smack me in the face,over the coast going to the Woodstock rally there i am in motorcycling heaven doing my thing and everything is just awsome until i gas it out of a left hander and am faced with a camper van on my side of the road,sometimes i have wondered if with experience comes complacency but we are just to experienced to see it.Something like that anyway.

I never go balls out 110% on the road, and always allow enough time to react to those sorts of situations. Having a partner, kid, mortgage and 2 cats does that to you lol.
And all my wonderful friends, for whom life would be meaningless without me...

[98tls]

I never go balls out 110% on the road, and always allow enough time to react to those sorts of situations. Having a partner, kid, mortgage and 2 cats does that to you lol.
And all my wonderful friends, for whom life would be meaningless without me...

lol,and long may it continue,for all of us.

[spudchucka]

I am glad your area burglary is considered a priority , how ever having been the victim of this crime a couple of time now and been told to go into my local station and file a report, with no police attendance and in one instance I knew who the offender was but without evidence, (which I suspect could have been gleaned from a quick fingerprinting of the area) this person was never questioned thus never charged, not that had he been it would have meant the court system would have enforced any judgement against him, (not the fault of the police).

The original post and start of this discussion was the mention that in Victoria a high percentage of police believe as do the public that speed cameras are not constructive to road safety, I actually made what I feel to be reasonable suggestions but that seems to have been missed. Such is the internet.

The big boss in my area monitors burglary attendance and the standard that he expects is 100% attendance within 24 hours of a complaint being received or to have an appointment made for attendance later if it cannot be arranged inside the first 24 hours.

Other areas aren't fortunate enough to have sufficient resources to set such high standards. I've worked in several areas where the rate of burglary is astronomical and the cops just can't keep up with the volume of complaints so they prioritise jobs, often to the disappointment of complainants as to why their complaint doesn't rate as a priority. Such areas typically will also have huge traffic volumes and consequently will also have a high crash rate. Cops on traffic patrol won't usually be diverted to historic burglaries but if it is a burglars on situation Comms will use whatever units they can find to cordon them in.

Many busy stations now operate a burglary desk, where a complaint is taken over the phone and then added to the pile for enquiry cops and / or crime scene attendants to get to when they can. There is also a trial under way in this country of a single national non-emergency number that people will use to report historic offences. This trial has also involved a huge investment by police in terms of staff required to set up a call centre and to also have sufficient people on the ground to do the follow up work. The net result is that it has taken about 30% of the daily work off the GDB front line, which can only be good as it frees them up to do more proactive patrolling. The trial of this system came about as a result of the enquiry following the Asher girl going missing in west Auckland.

As for the original post, its good to be reminded what it actually was because typically these threads go way off topic. I'm no fan of speed cameras, although there is evidence to suggest that the national mean speeds have reduced significantly since they were introduced I do feel that out of all the initiatives to reduce crash trauma this is the only one that really stinks of revenue gathering. I would much rather see a human in a police car on the road side than a robot up a pole or in the back of a van.

Last comment in regards to fingerprinting, only about 24% of burglaries attended actually yield any fingerprints or other useful forensic evidence. Many complainants insist there will be fingerprints here or there, (too much CSI crap on TV), but experience tells us that if prints aren't found at the point of entry they are seldom found anywhere else inside a burglary scene.

Having said that they do occasionally show up in the most unusual places. I resolved a burglary last year where they burglar spilled sugar on the kitchen floor and for some reason took the time to sweep it up, no prints were found at the point of entry, in fact I found glove marks there but out of interest I dusted the broom that the offender used to sweep up and got his prints off the broom handle.

Its a strange and imperfect world that we live in.

[inlinefour]

All I can say is they wouldn't make money from ME!

The speed-cameras?
Mehh, never worried about them - but never received a speed-camera ticket yet so that may change.

Red-light cameras?
Go for it - just wish the penalty was higher and if you get sprung by one of them? - you deserve to contribute to the Gov't coffers imho.

But on the whole I seem them a tax on the brainless/dopey/careless drivers..

Have to agree with you here. I should have got a speeding ticket God knows, but never have. Might have something to do with carefully thinking about where I'm going to have my fun and making sure thats only where I do it, not on the ride there or back. Something that some riders just can't deal with. Adrenaline in and brains out syndrone.
Also agree with the red light camera penality and that it should be max. I've come very close to being taken out in Wellington by some moron that was definitely not doing 50kph. If you can't stop for a red light then your a retard and the only road you should be on is at the crossings for pedestrians.
End of the day though, it is a revenue gathering exercise, its just that those who are invlove often like to preform like trained seals, often on this site...

[scracha]

Yeah, cameras show way more discretion...

At least a camera can tell the difference between two different bikes. As for cops using discretion.....well I'm not a freemason so have never been shown any leniency by the boys in blue.

[JMemonic]

I would much rather see a human in a police car on the road side than a robot up a pole or in the back of a van.

The robot up a pole I don't care about its the robot in the van taking an officer away from proactive duties, while he drives that van and sits in it all day, and the fact that the powers that be claim this is having and effect on the road toll, there are numerous factors at play in the reduction of this figure, from the safety factor of modern cars to possibly better driver awareness. Heck signs saying speed camera area might have a better effect on speeding than a ticket received in the mail a month after the event.

Mind you this might all be a moot point as I see from this post

By the bye. Did noone else notice that the cops are to be resnakeficated

From the Harold repor ton the new Police Bill (the new Bill, as distinct from teh Old Bill - every one a gem, eh)

So much for amalgamation!

If managed correctly (and I say this with tongue firmly planted in cheek) this could perhaps be a reasonable solution, and allow more sworn officers into the front line, although I would hate to see a situation forming similar to what the fire service went through. Its topic for better discussion elsewhere though.

Last comment in regards to fingerprinting, only about 24% of burglaries attended actually yield any fingerprints or other useful forensic evidence. Many complainants insist there will be fingerprints here or there, (too much CSI crap on TV), but experience tells us that if prints aren't found at the point of entry they are seldom found anywhere else inside a burglary scene.

Yeah TV has a lot to answer for in that regard and thank you for clearing that up, in my case I know where the print was I could see it on the rear view mirror, in grease of all things but hey spilt milk now.

Having said that they do occasionally show up in the most unusual places. I resolved a burglary last year where they burglar spilled sugar on the kitchen floor and for some reason took the time to sweep it up, no prints were found at the point of entry, in fact I found glove marks there but out of interest I dusted the broom that the offender used to sweep up and got his prints off the broom handle.

That is why we need more experienced officers on the front line, and ones who can think, as to the crim in that case

Its a strange and imperfect world that we live in.

Thank god for that I would hate to live in a perfect world, it would be so boring.

[spudchucka]

The robot up a pole I don't care about its the robot in the van taking an officer away from proactive duties,

The camera vans are operated by non-sworn staff who have no warrant to carry out the duties of a police officer. Some of them are former sworn officers who have left the job for various reasons and have come back as non sworn employees but their presence has no impact on actual numbers of sworn cops on the street.

[Edbear]

What do you think traffic cops do? we are dedicated traffic officers who ARE real cops and not just to enforce traffic. The old days werent good as the old traffic cops werent allowed to deal with REAL crime as you put it. Have you ever had to deal with a fatal where speeding was an issue? have you ever had to inform the family of a death and see the life drain out of their eyes? How often does someone die as a result of a burglary or theft, the real crimes you speak of?? Luckily you dont have to deal with all of this, we do! its nice to sit in your warm home bitching about everything but you would soon change your tune should you have to deal with all of the mayhem that drivers and riders cause! and not just to the drivers or riders more importantly to the innocent law abiding members of society. If i have to issue a ticket to every single person in the country and it saves one life then i have done my job, others wont see it my way but i really hate dealing with these deaths, they ARE avoidable its just the standard or driving and riding in this country is crap! and its everyone elses fault but yours, especially when you get a ticket for something you know you were doing!!!

Welcome to KB, Ting Tong!

[scumdog]

The robot up a pole I don't care about its the robot in the van taking an officer away from proactive duties, while he drives that van and sits in it all day, and the fact that the powers that be claim this is having and effect on the road toll, there are numerous factors at play in the reduction of this figure, from the safety factor of modern cars to possibly better driver awareness.

Can't speak for EVERY case but a lot of the time the camera van is operated by a non-sworn worker OR an officer on light duties (i.e. after a shoulder or leg operation etc)

So they don't actually take a functioning officer off the front line stuff.

[SixPackBack]

Captain Gatso in England promotes/leads a band of citizens vehemenently opposed to the speed camera, to date over 1,000 cameras have been destroyed.

Good on him and his soldiers.

[scumdog]

Captain Gatso in England promotes/leads a band of citizens vehemenently opposed to the speed camera, to date over 1,000 cameras have been destroyed.

Good on him and his soldiers.

And an extra 3 quid has been built into each of the Gatso fines to compensate for those destroyed ones - a win-win eh??

[JMemonic]

The camera vans are operated by non-sworn staff who have no warrant to carry out the duties of a police officer. Some of them are former sworn officers who have left the job for various reasons and have come back as non sworn employees but their presence has no impact on actual numbers of sworn cops on the street.

Can't speak for EVERY case but a lot of the time the camera van is operated by a non-sworn worker OR an oficer on light duties (i.e. after a shoulder or leg operation etc)

So they don't actually take a functioning officer off the front line stuff.

Gents thanks for clearing up that misunderstanding I had, the reason I was under that perception was every time I have seen a van the operator appeared to be in Police uniform. Ok if the officer is on light duties that's is a reasonable role for them as would be attending burglary reports etc, that is what the public would like to see more of or better yet visiting schools.

Visible police presence would have far more effect, as would finding more officers to post in regions so Scumdog's area does not have to borrow officers from another area just to fill their staffing issues, yeah I know pipe dream and promised before.

Way back when the Government of the day promised us all the extra Police and promptly gave them to us by disbanding the MoT officers who's sole responsibility it was to enforce traffic, merging those who meet certain requirements into the police force, (we wont go with the statements that some of them were reject Police in the first place), and precluded a number on various restrictions in force at the time on requirements for Police we the public lost out, sure we gained a few Police, the force as a whole suddenly had extra duties and the visibility went down, hell I know I would check my speed if I saw a black and white or in those days a HQ Holden with a huge arse light bar across the top, (yes police could issue tickets for traffic as well I know I had one once), there was a visible presence.

[Biggles08]

Gents thanks for clearing up that misunderstanding I had, the reason I was under that perception was every time I have seen a van the operator appeared to be in Police uniform. Ok if the officer is on light duties that's is a reasonable role for them as would be attending burglary reports etc, that is what the public would like to see more of or better yet visiting schools.

Visible police presence would have far more effect, as would finding more officers to post in regions so Scumdog's area does not have to borrow officers from another area just to fill their staffing issues, yeah I know pipe dream and promised before.

Way back when the Government of the day promised us all the extra Police and promptly gave them to us by disbanding the MoT officers who's sole responsibility it was to enforce traffic, merging those who meet certain requirements into the police force, (we wont go with the statements that some of them were reject Police in the first place), and precluded a number on various restrictions in force at the time on requirements for Police we the public lost out, sure we gained a few Police, the force as a whole suddenly had extra duties and the visibility went down, hell I know I would check my speed if I saw a black and white or in those days a HQ Holden with a huge arse light bar across the top, (yes police could issue tickets for traffic as well I know I had one once), there was a visible presence.

Just buy yourself a radar detector and it doesn't matter what uniform or not the guy sitting in the speed camera van is wearing....the detector goes off and without fail...you check your speed...same affect isn't it?