Police Resources

Beware!!! This could be rolled out nationwide.

On the Welsh news tonight there was an item about the police having the power to stop motorists and make them read a licence plate at a distance of 20 metres. If you fail they can revoke your licence on the spot!!!
On the news item there where four police cars and as they usually travel in pairs I would assume that was eight officers!!!

Now this might be a very laudable idea, we should be able to see that far of course, but surely this should come second to getting the crime rate down to a 100% detection target

Haydn

Hmm,

This sounds suspiciously like the "have`nt you anything better to do" comment directed at police officers after they have stopped a motorist for exceeding the speed limit and of course the stock answer was always, "Well no sir, actually as a traffic officer it happens I do not "!

The only alternative of course would have had to be that every warranted officer be deployed in the detection of crime and that there be no one to enforce laws relating to motor vehicles and the driving of same. The result of such a policy ? Absolute carnage on the roads !

I for one am quite happy to see any number of police vehicles on the road, either singularly or in pairs, as I know that is probably a safer environment to be driving in than one with an absence of police presence.

I regularly make the journey from North Yorks to South Wales a distance of some 220 miles. A few years ago I could tell you exactly where you were likely to find the the most numerous presence of traffic cars at any given time of day.

These days ? Over the last seven journeys taken over this route the total number of traffic cars seen ? None !

The reason for this? Budget cut backs for Police funding, there are today less than half, yes that`s right, less than half the number of traffic patrols than there were 5yrs ago. In their place, cameras. These of course do not react to numpties who tail gate you,undertake you etc.

So it does`nt take a lot of imagination to envisage the scenario of no traffic officers (they would all be off chasing REAL criminals) and the resulting mayhem. I`m afraid the day it is announced the complete withdrawal of all traffic cars is the day I place my order for an armoured Hum Vee !!

One last foot note so to speak re "revoking" your licence. Police cannot and never have been able to revoke your licence "on the spot".

What they can do and have always been able to do is to prevent a motorist continuing to drive any further if he cannot pass the generally accepted "norm" for the accepted distance of 20mtrs (used to be yards back in the day !) for a motorist being able to see (number plate).

Should they not be able to do this, the vehicle stays where it is until such time as a driver for can pass what after all is such a basic test of vision is able to be provided. Anyone who cannot pass such a simple test, well I would`nt want to meet him coming the other way down a country lane !!

Following a recent tragic accident in Colchester where a very elderly man ran down and killed a teenager, I thought that they were changing the law in this respect. The background was that he had been stopped 3 days before after demolishing a tesco petrol pump and the police failed him on eyesight but were unable to confiscate his license. They wrote to the DVLA but the man refused to hand over his license and selfishly insisted on carrying on driving until the letter from the DVLA arrived, with tragic consequences. It was all widely reported at the time. Not entirely sure what the change was, but I think that the procedure has been speeded up in the interim so that it all happens a bit quicker

I agree with all of the comments posted, of course.

The point I was making is the number of officers used for this operation at a time when officers are very thin on the ground elsewhere.

"H"

Oooooh! I'm loving this one!

Discussing the gentle balance between "Police State" and "Anarchy" is always something to get any group going.

However, at the moment, I do believe that we are tilting dangerously close to "Police State" and that some of the powers being gifted to the Police in the names "Safety" and "Security" are way over the top!

I have always maintained that in terms of Policing it is very much the case of "Give a man a truncheon and he needs the help of the general public whereas if you give a man a gun he can tell the general public he doesn't need them."

I know which society I would sooner live in!

Best regards,

drifter wrote: One last foot note so to speak re "revoking" your licence. Police cannot and never have been able to revoke your licence "on the spot".

What they can do and have always been able to do is to prevent a motorist continuing to drive any further if he cannot pass the generally accepted "norm" for the accepted distance of 20mtrs (used to be yards back in the day !) for a motorist being able to see (number plate).

Should they not be able to do this, the vehicle stays where it is until such time as a driver for can pass what after all is such a basic test of vision is able to be provided. Anyone who cannot pass such a simple test, well I would`nt want to meet him coming the other way down a country lane !!

The following is the report posted on the Wales On-line web site, and whilst I said "on the spot" licences would be revoked the "within hours" allows me a bit of leeway

Drivers will have their licences revoked if they fail on-the-spot eye tests in a new police initiative.

In a series of day-long exercises – the first of their kind in South Wales – roads policing officers will be stopping motorists who could lose their licence with almost immediate effect.

Drivers will be invited to read the registration plate of a vehicle parked 20 metres away in a test which simulates the acceptable “legal standard for visual acuity” set by the DVLA.

Those who fail the test could have their driving licence revoked within hours, but officers will mainly be looking to give motorists advice to drive away with.

The police service and the DVLA have worked together to digitise the driving licence revocation process, drastically speeding it up.

Police officers now use handheld devices to report offending drivers, and a quick email response from the DVLA means a licence can be revoked on the same day somebody is caught.

And I still submit that eight officers on this type of offence is a bit much!!

"H"

Thanks - that is exactly what they said would happen after the Colchester accident - a rapid system of getting the DVLA to revoke licences (re-issued subject to medical etc) if found to be necessary. Couldn't find the relevant report but it said the same