The sorry state of (some) policing.

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

Define being ok. Are you saying you will be let off, or that you just wont make things worse?

Not sure about WA but NSW and QLD highway patrol wont let you off a ticket just because you were nice to them.

Don't ever expect to be let off if you've done the wrong thing.
Just don't get argumentative, it will make things worse.

They are humans, yes there are bad ones out there. Suck it up.
If they are out of bounds take it up with the station sergeant afterwards.

Trust me, sergeants don't want bad coppers working under them.
They don't want more paperwork.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

got pulled over late last night myself actually by road patrol, I had just passed a road train and a pair of utes in an overtaking lane, pulled back in at 135 KM's per hour.

just as we left the overtaking lane, setting back and resetting cruise control at 110 we seen a feller was pulled up on the opposite side of the highway by police, lights flashing and the officer chatting to him, I thought no more about it.

about 5 km's up the road I see a set of flashing lights fly around the semi and come up behind me at a rapid rate of knots, I said to the wife oh well they got me, not much i can do, 135 k's is well over so its fair, had to happen one day.

however the officer pulled me up and come alongside and said "do you know why I pulled you over", I said "I wouldn't have a clue but I'm sure you are going to tell me".

he said "do you know what speed you are supposed to be doing when passing an emergency vehicle stopped on the side of the road with lights flashing", I said 25 km's per hour but you were on the opposite side of the highway.

"doesn't matter" he says and rattles on a bit more then he says "exceeding the speed limit by more than 50km's (or there about) was an immediate 12 month loss of license and a $1,000 fine".

"bit rough" says I "when he's a good 40 feet away booking another bloke"......he then says "stay there until I pull away, I'm going after the bloke that was passing you when you passed me".

there was no other bloke, only me out on our own, he's out chasing phantoms, then there were nothing but flashing lights heading way into the distance that we could see for miles, his behaviour was far worse and far more dangerous than mine.

I have never had an infringement and find it difficult to believe that for this one thing I could be fined so heavily and lose my license for such a long time with a perfectly clean record.

spoke to a couple of other officers and apparently it is a law rarely enforced on the highway and is not liked amongst the patrols.

So he headed way into the distance chasing a phantom car, and he told you to wait for him? So I gather he never came back and you are posting this from the side of the road still waiting for mr plod to return.

[M&Ms]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the HWP are the biggest hoons out there. Give them base model 4 or 6 cylinder cars instead of what they have now, and half the force will resign overnight.

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

got pulled over late last night myself actually by road patrol, I had just passed a road train and a pair of utes in an overtaking lane, pulled back in at 135 KM's per hour.

just as we left the overtaking lane, setting back and resetting cruise control at 110 we seen a feller was pulled up on the opposite side of the highway by police, lights flashing and the officer chatting to him, I thought no more about it.

about 5 km's up the road I see a set of flashing lights fly around the semi and come up behind me at a rapid rate of knots, I said to the wife oh well they got me, not much i can do, 135 k's is well over so its fair, had to happen one day.

however the officer pulled me up and come alongside and said "do you know why I pulled you over", I said "I wouldn't have a clue but I'm sure you are going to tell me".

he said "do you know what speed you are supposed to be doing when passing an emergency vehicle stopped on the side of the road with lights flashing", I said 25 km's per hour but you were on the opposite side of the highway.

"doesn't matter" he says and rattles on a bit more then he says "exceeding the speed limit by more than 50km's (or there about) was an immediate 12 month loss of license and a $1,000 fine".

"bit rough" says I "when he's a good 40 feet away booking another bloke"......he then says "stay there until I pull away, I'm going after the bloke that was passing you when you passed me".

there was no other bloke, only me out on our own, he's out chasing phantoms, then there were nothing but flashing lights heading way into the distance that we could see for miles, his behaviour was far worse and far more dangerous than mine.

I have never had an infringement and find it difficult to believe that for this one thing I could be fined so heavily and lose my license for such a long time with a perfectly clean record.

spoke to a couple of other officers and apparently it is a law rarely enforced on the highway and is not liked amongst the patrols.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

So he headed way into the distance chasing a phantom car, and he told you to wait for him? So I gather he never came back and you are posting this from the side of the road still waiting for mr plod to return.

nah! he said "stay there until I pull away"..... left me not knowing if I had lost my license or if I was to be summoned at a later date or what the hell was going on.

I don't like running officers down, I work with them on an ongoing manner in emergency services, the largest majority are top blokes doing a rat**** job, but this one was a bit strange.

the problem, as I see it, is that he pulled me over, didn't stop the triple road train nor the two dual cab utes that were sitting on around 90 KPH that also passed by him that I had just passed.......then he himself put every other road user at risk with his high speed antics in chasing a ghost.

the road we were on is long, straight and relatively flat, anyone familiar with the stretch between snowtown and crystal brook knows the road, so we could see this bloke chasing this "shadow", weaving in and out of traffic with lights flashing for many miles at excessive speed.

there was never any vehicle overtaking me at that stage, if there was he would have been at the speed of light because we were running at 135 plus to get past the truck and dual cabs.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by M&Ms

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the HWP are the biggest hoons out there. Give them base model 4 or 6 cylinder cars instead of what they have now, and half the force will resign overnight.

yeah!....dunno but there was definitely something different about this one....wouldnt look me in the eye, kept pacing, strange....watching too many yankee movies my wife said!

I've had weights and measures boys as well as road patrol pull me over in my trucking days that were outright cowboys but nothing like this one.

[Beastie]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

yeah!....dunno but there was definitely something different about this one....wouldnt look me in the eye, kept pacing, strange....watching too many yankee movies my wife said!

I've had weights and measures boys as well as road patrol pull me over in my trucking days that were outright cowboys but nothing like this one.

Dave, I read your post and actually thought that 'ol mate saying "I'm off to chase the other guy" was his was of "letting you off"...particularly if his mic was recording?

I could be wrong...

[poppa smurf]

one minute he's reading the riot act, on the spot 12 month loss of license, umpteen thousand dollar fine then he's talking about he wants the other bloke????????

I'm still confused as all hell about it.......first offence and they come down this hard.....really!!!

far as I'm, concerned he can spend the rest of his days chasing phantoms.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

yeah!....dunno but there was definitely something different about this one....wouldnt look me in the eye, kept pacing, strange....watching too many yankee movies my wife said!

I've had weights and measures boys as well as road patrol pull me over in my trucking days that were outright cowboys but nothing like this one.

Wow, guess some cops are on the gear too. Probably an ex-houso who decided joining the force and getting paid to have power trips in powerful cars down the highway beats being living on the dole.

[blackf6]

The Police giving offenders a mouthful is nothing new. So much legal obligations, and litigation that can occur now days. Sometimes it is just easier for the Police to warn people, and still feel like they are achieving their desired outcome.

[Mercury Bullet]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

one minute he's reading the riot act, on the spot 12 month loss of license, umpteen thousand dollar fine then he's talking about he wants the other bloke????????

I'm still confused as all hell about it.......first offence and they come down this hard.....really!!!

far as I'm, concerned he can spend the rest of his days chasing phantoms.

Does sound weird I'll give you that.

I once had a copper tell me it's a $50 fine for any trailer tyre that's over 4 years old. I'd never heard of the law.

Anyway friend is a station sergeant and he said yep it's a law, but it's also ridiculous and should never be brought up. Said he'd have a word with the bloke to make sure he wouldn't do it again.

If it's worrying you give them a ring and ask for some clarity. Once a fine is issued it's pretty much impossible to have it un-done if you know what I mean.
Personally I think it was a strange way of giving you a warning.

[poppa smurf]

we have a training session tonight, the attending officer for the session is a senior sergeant, I'll ask him about it "off the record" but I think I have received a weird warning.

never heard of the older tyre thing but not surprised, plenty of laws out there that I'm sure I'm not aware of, can't see too many officers getting down on their hands and knees to read the date stamp on a tyre.

[STINKY NINJA]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

Define being ok. Are you saying you will be let off, or that you just wont make things worse?

Not sure about WA but NSW and QLD highway patrol wont let you off a ticket just because you were nice to them.

I guess im saying both of those things which would also be common sense wouldn't it?
Don't be a clown when you get pulled over and things most likely wont get worse for you or you may get let off.
Im not speculating,this is from my personal experience living in perth,wa.

[jstanovic]

I've never had a bad cop pull me over, always nice and friendly.

I was in my 4x4 a few years ago, it was 11pm and I just arrived at Lancelin Beach and drove onto the start of the sand dunes.I was on my way to meet some mates camping. I let my tyres down, cracked open a JimBeam can and took off spinning my wheels in the sand. 10 seconds later blue and reds flashing behind me - they pulled me over in the dunes!!!! They asked my if I had anything to drink and I told them about my can I just cracked. They did a breatho and I was over the limit due to alcohol on my breath. We had a good chat while we waited 10 minutes for my breath to clear and he did another breatho - all clear. He said "don't drive so fast and don't finish that can until you get to camp" and he took off! I thought I was gone for sure but I reckon if I was an ******** to him he would have done things differently.

[joolz]

Originally Posted by M&Ms

I have the utmost respect for police officers. Having said that, I do not consider the highway patrol as being police officers, but just a bunch of lowly, ego driven, hoon maniacs in uniform funded by the state.

Then they make a tv series about them to boost their ego's even more!