Police and sirens

G-MAN2004 · 29 Sep 2009 at 22:12

I always see this happen on TV and on those crime programmes. The police driving to a burglary or to catch someone doing something they shouldn't, but they don't end up finding them due to fleeing after hearing the sirens in the background.

Surely it'd be better to drive near the place without sirens, and then catch them by surprise? :confused:

The Halk · 29 Sep 2009 at 22:13

I've always wondered why on repeats of the Bill they don't send the police to the crime scene early, surely one of them must have seen it the first time round?

Soviet · 29 Sep 2009 at 22:13

Can't speak for TV but in my force we always turn off blue lights and sirens when approaching the location/road where we believe there are 'suspects on'.

batsy · 29 Sep 2009 at 22:19

I think the sirens etc are to clear/warn the traffic while the police are on route to an incident.

Our neighbour was away on holiday last week and his house alarm went off.The police arrived without sirens and parked in an unmarked car a couple of doors down.

I was quite impressed with the service tbh

Edit.Was a false alarm and thankfully he wasn't burgled.

Shotgun_ned · 29 Sep 2009 at 22:20

That may well be ok if it's a rural or industrial area or late at night, but if they don't use sirens in a built up area they run the risk of cars pulling out on them/people crossing the road without seeing them whilst they're at high speed.

G-MAN2004 · 29 Sep 2009 at 22:22

Shotgun_ned said:
That may well be ok if it's a rural or industrial area or late at night, but if they don't use sirens in a built up area they run the risk of cars pulling out on them/people crossing the road without seeing them whilst they're at high speed.

I'm aware of that, but it's quite odd seeing them turn sirens on in the countryside!

meghatronic · 29 Sep 2009 at 22:59

Well in Korea and Japan, the lights constantly flash in police cars. So go figure.

G-MAN2004 · 29 Sep 2009 at 23:04

meghatronic said:
Well in Korea and Japan, the lights constantly flash in police cars. So go figure.

What do you mean by that? They can't turn them off? :confused:

meghatronic · 29 Sep 2009 at 23:06

G-MAN2004 said:
What do you mean by that? They can't turn them off?

They don't turn them off. No noise, but they constantly flash, like the Ghostbusters one. It's quite funny when you're being followed by one.

batsy · 29 Sep 2009 at 23:07

meghatronic said:
Well in Korea and Japan, the lights constantly flash in police cars. So go figure.

The police that turned up at my neighbours were in a skoda octavia :confused:

Dup · 29 Sep 2009 at 23:36

I live on a main road very close to a police station. When they are pulling out of junctions and passing what they percieve as an area where someone may not see them, they hit the siren for a brief moment. Sometimes they leave the lights on, sometimes not. TV shows as a whole don't get this correct when it concerns the UK force at least.

I find the sound of a diesel Astra getting ragged within an inch of its pathetic life far more interesting to the ear than a Police siren and some flashing lights. Maybe 3 years of moving from the country to my own terraced shed has finally desenitised my brain to th sound of sirens. Will never get over a diesel engine I don't think

mame · 30 Sep 2009 at 00:28

batsy said:
The police that turned up at my neighbours were in a skoda octavia

ok ?

StevenRaith · 30 Sep 2009 at 00:33

Nowt wrong with octavias - roomy, solidly built, safe, predictable handling, and the vRSs can shift a bit with near 200hp.

I have noticed that down here around London/Home Counties you hear the sirens a lot more than I used to up near John O Groats, probably as a function of the higher chance of pedestrians being about late at night - up north, they'd just zoom past the villiage with the lights on, no sirens, as there were no pubs for people to be pouring out of, etc.

V4NT0M · 30 Sep 2009 at 00:58

batsy said:
The police that turned up at my neighbours were in a skoda octavia

?

Either way, they have to get there fast, they can't get there very fast without lights and sirens.

Nexus · 30 Sep 2009 at 01:03

Hmm...

The Police aren't stupid, I've seen plenty of crime docu-soaps on Freeview channels where they have turned up to burglaries and even explained they aren't putting the sirens on, incase they are still there.

loltim · 30 Sep 2009 at 01:32

Meridian · 30 Sep 2009 at 06:34

G-MAN2004 said:
I always see this happen on TV and on those crime programmes.

You base your views on what you see on TV? As many have said here, whether the lights and sirens get used depends on many factors, not least: time of day.

M

jas72 · 30 Sep 2009 at 09:05

The turn the sirens on because they can't be bothered with 4 hours paperwork for a couple of 14 year olds that will just get a slap on the wrist they'd rather the kids just stopped what they were doing and legged it. The end result is the same.

Admiral Huddy · 30 Sep 2009 at 09:12

I find it quite hypercritical that a police car starts chasing a suspect vehicle who then starts racing away and horrendous speeds. The only reason there are doing these silly speeds is because their in pursuit. Surely best to back off, radio down and use a more stealthy approach which would be far more effective and safer. After all, a stolen car car is pretty unimportant compared to someone being mowed down as a result of a chase.

stoofa · 30 Sep 2009 at 10:09

batsy said:
The police that turned up at my neighbours were in a skoda octavia

Quite often you see police Octavia's.
The standard vehicles in both hatchback and estate do their jobs.
The vRS's do their job on the motorways and in high speed pursuits.