Good old-fashioned proactive policing

qwerty · 3 Aug 2008 at 23:17

There are two coppers in a road near my house stopping every car that goes past and asking "Are you sober?". The conversation generally goes "Yes" "Good enough for me! Have a safe journey."

I think this is a good idea. They have breathalysers so they stop people who look a bit suspect (i.e. they stopped one car in which the passengers were all drinking and breathalysed the driver). It's a lot more useful than them sitting there with a speed gun, and if any more serious crime comes on the radio they can just get in the car and go to it.

Two thumbs up for the police from me

fini · 3 Aug 2008 at 23:20

Stopping every single car? Isn't that causing some sort of traffic-jam?

Darryn · 3 Aug 2008 at 23:20

Sounds good to me... where abouts are you? my local police never seem to be seen unless they are sat in laybys next to national speed limit signs, waiting for child-killers to get on the throttle a 1/4 second too early.

qwerty · 3 Aug 2008 at 23:24

fini said:
Stopping every single car? Isn't that causing some sort of traffic-jam?

Well the conversation is so brief that they barely stop them at all, unless they suspect they're a bit tipsy. It's also a fairly quiet residential area at 11pm so traffic flow isn't huge.

Darryn said:
Sounds good to me... where abouts are you? my local police never seem to be seen unless they are sat in laybys next to national speed limit signs, waiting for child-killers to get on the throttle a 1/4 second too early.

I'm in Kensington (London) so I guess the police budget is fairly large. I would guess that these surplus police would normally be positioned in a speeding hotspot with speed guns so it's great that they're targeting a more serious crime that can have far greater consequences than going 3 or 4 mph over the speed limit.

El Gringo · 3 Aug 2008 at 23:39

Hahaa, kensington, whereabouts? I'm in Fulham, but Ken is where I love

The police presence in London is generally impressive, and certainly in the several times I've had to deal with them they have always been tremendously helpful. Thumbs up to hear that they are making themselves seen.

Skeeter · 3 Aug 2008 at 23:44

I saw 2 police cars while driving home today. I didnt even know we had that many round these parts!

The Police presence in my village used to be a single small 4WD thing, that would come from a nearby town, drive through 4 Villages, up and allong the public road along the edge of Sailsbury plane and back down into the town, twice, maybe 3 times a day. Now we dont even get that.

TheVoice · 4 Aug 2008 at 00:09

qwerty said:
I would guess that these surplus police would normally be positioned in a speeding hotspot with speed guns so it's great that they're targeting a more serious crime that can have far greater consequences than going 3 or 4 mph over the speed limit.

There's no such thing as 'surplus police' these days. I highly doubt they'd have had very many using speedguns though, especially in London.

Howard · 4 Aug 2008 at 08:13

Saw police hassling chavs and later bundling them into the back of police vans yesterday. Can't say fairer than that (Y)

Griffo · 4 Aug 2008 at 13:20

howardcanning said:
Saw police hassling chavs and later bundling them into the back of police vans yesterday. Can't say fairer than that (Y)

So long as they are never seen or heard from again and a rumour goes round that they were murdered by the police, yet no proof is ever found. Should help to keep the rest in line, eh. Hhm, this reminds me of someone.

Siliconslave · 4 Aug 2008 at 13:53

refreshing to hear about

i guess winding down the window and effectively smelling the drivers breath would be enough to decide if a breath test is worth while...

Jaaay · 4 Aug 2008 at 14:36

They do that some saturdays/fridays on Hagley Road coming out of the city centre/broad street, it does a bit of hassle.

They normally have 4 odd coppers asking the drivers and then motorbikes and high speed patrol cars on the side roads ready for anyone who tries to make a getaway

Glaucus · 4 Aug 2008 at 14:40

Been stopped at several before. They usually happen at pub closing times, when the roads aren't busy anyway. Then they have a few asking you questions. Usually Have you had any thing to drink and where have you been/going. It only takes a few seconds. I expect they are just trying to smell anything.

Just wish we had patrol cars, to stop people tail gating and driving like idiots on the motorway, at least one bmw x5 driver now has a brown stain and will probably ware theire seat belt now.

Also need cops in citys to fine cyclists for going through red lights and on pavements.

-westy- · 4 Aug 2008 at 14:53

I've been pulled over a few times coming out of work (pub) after closing.

They see my car leaving, steamed up windows, about 30mins after the pub closes - fair enough, if I was a copper I'd pull me over too. I've told a few of my regulars about it, it's certainly made them think

qwerty · 4 Aug 2008 at 15:07

AcidHell2 said:
Also need cops in citys to fine cyclists for going through red lights and on pavements.

Another brownie point to Kensington! I got pulled over by an unmarked police car for failing to stop at a zebra crossing and jumping a red light. They gave me a stern talking to.

The result was that I no longer cycle in London

If you had to stop at every red light, it would take a very long time to get anywhere, and it would be very tiring having to stop and start every 100 metres.

Glaucus · 4 Aug 2008 at 15:14

qwerty said:
The result was that I no longer cycle in London If you had to stop at every red light, it would take a very long time to get anywhere, and it would be very tiring having to stop and start every 100 metres.

It gets boring stopping at lights in a car but there's a reason for lights. Just because your own a bike doesn't mean you can ignore them. Does my head in.

fini · 4 Aug 2008 at 15:16

qwerty said:
If you had to stop at every red light, it would take a very long time to get anywhere, and it would be very tiring having to stop and start every 100 metres.

UN BELIEV ABLE

Scania · 4 Aug 2008 at 15:43

qwerty said:
The result was that I no longer cycle in London If you had to stop at every red light, it would take a very long time to get anywhere, and it would be very tiring having to stop and start every 100 metres.

I'll look out for you under the wheels of my truck, after I've passed on Green, shall I ? - You Muppet!

-westy- said:
I've told a few of my regulars about it, it's certainly made them think

As you hand them their 5th pint?

Vanilla · 4 Aug 2008 at 16:06

That's not pro active or old fashioned.

It's distruptive and effectively a road block, not something you would have seen years ago.

qwerty · 4 Aug 2008 at 17:48

AcidHell2 said:
It gets boring stopping at lights in a car but there's a reason for lights. Just because your own a bike doesn't mean you can ignore them. Does my head in.

Jesus, I don't jump red lights wearing a blindfold!

I'm talking about pedestrian crossing lights that go red even though no-one is crossing, or lights that go red for 2 minutes to let one car out of a little side road!

A few weeks ago some MP proposed the idea that bicycles should not have to obey red lights but proceed when safe with caution. I believe they trialled it somewhere and the bicycle accident rate didn't go up at all.

qwerty · 4 Aug 2008 at 17:51

Vanilla said:
That's not pro active or old fashioned.

Do you know what pro-active means? It means stopping drink drivers before they cause an accident, rather than turning up to an accident, breathalysing the driver and saying "Oh yeah, he's 5 times the limit...that's probably why he crashed".

It's distruptive and effectively a road block, not something you would have seen years ago.

As I said previously it wasn't disruptive at all. Your use of the term 'road block' implies the police were being aggressive. They were all very friendly, and if nothing else it meant they were visible to the tax payers paying their wages.

Also, I bet no-one got mugged/stabbed/burgled on that street while they were out there!