What, as a londonbiker, would you like to see more/less of in respect of police action/inaction etc (and why)? I’m not traffic police, but I am on occasions ‘mobile’ and as… a) a cop and b) a biker: I’m sincerely interested.
edited to replace ‘RPG’ with ‘traffic police’.
Interaction with the public on a human to human level. It must be sh1t being plod at times. There should be a “Hug-a-Copper-Day”.
If that includes the two derby coppers I saw I’m game. Two extremely attractive girls, doing the rounds in Derby.
Grop-a-copper-day I think.
using your time wisely.
More pressure from the police on councils to improve parking for motorcycles. I tend to find the police split in two, great coppers who have common sense and who do there job but aren’t complete nobbers. And coppers who just seem to hate it and take it out on you. I have had 2 dealing with the police where they have been so unhelpful i was shocked. I can only presume the dont treat each case individually and cos you have to deal with so much **** it clouds there judgment of everyone!!
For individual coppers it is difficult to suggest anything.
Policy wise I would like to see a shift on the inaction taken against driving offences in London. Recently, for some unfathomable reason, a decision was made to move many driving offences out of the hands of the police and into the hands of Local councils.
Problem is of course that Local councils are only interested in enforcing the rules which will turn them a profit. Which is why we have hundreds of parking attendants, but where are all the patrol officers checking for every other driving offence? We have none in my borough.
If it isn’t picked up on CCTV then it just isn’t policed any more.
Personally I would like to see a zero tolerance policy towards general bad driving, dangerous driving and erratic driving as I think that if the police were to take action against the people committing those crimes they would also be finding people breaking other laws.
Now zero tolerance doesn’t require a specific response, it would only require the police to take action and stop the driver and then decide on what action to take themselves.
Of course, I would also be scrapping speed cameras and using the money to hire more Police so that we aren’t bogging the police down with petty driving offences, but again that is a policy issue.
Is the question directed to LB police members? A subject of “From a cop’s point of view” indicates to me you are seeking their opinions rather those of non-police LB.
Not that I have any views on this myself, just thought I would clarify.
A little action when we report things would be nice.
(Chris was knocked off a bike on 3 June, causing injury and damage, the driver gave false details. We reported this that night and so far the police have done zip)
It is funny though Jetstream that people get different things when they report crimes.
I have reported two crimes this year and on both occasions the police have been attentive and dealt with the crimes in a systematic way. I have been given crimes numbers, police officers names, and I have received several telephone calls from the police keeping me up to date with the progress of the investigation.
I must admit to being reasonably impressed with the procedure. Perhaps it is different for traffic incidents?
pmsl. Good idea, however I’m not groping any copper, only the pretty ones 
+1
On a daily basis, I see dangerous driving from cars/vans/busses as well motorbikes/2-wheelers, and I beat most people don’t even realise.
On top of that, I would like to see a zero tolerance against dangerous vehicles, those being badly maintained as well as people not “care”. For example, people driving with their mirrors still folded in. It really annoys me as it takes 5 seconds to stop by the side of the road and put them right. If they haven’t, it must be that they have NO rear observation, and shouldn’t be allowed to drive.
Recently I saw a van reverse at their depot (home delivery people) and the reverse lights weren’t on. I told the driver politely, who couldn’t care less and continued his “job”.
I’d like to see something / anything done to reduce bike theft. The levels in London are insane, and the arrest / conviction rates that were being bandied about a while ago are a joke.
I’d also like to never ever ever again hear these words from an officer “Yes, that vehicle is known to the police”. I understand the problems you have convicting and even getting enough evidence to make an arrest worthwhile, but man… that hurts to hear, especially as we’re in one of the most monitored cities in the world.
From a biking perspective I haven’t had any interaction with the police, but I would second Kaos in saying I’d prefer to see more police about and less cameras. Police can at least assess a situation and see if you were doing anything dangerous.
From a non-biking perspective, the only interaction I’ve had with the police in when I got jumped by two guys whilst I was on the phone. The response was excellent. We watched the CCTV footage from the shop next to where it happened (although I later found out they aren’t supposed to let victims see it!), another car nearby stopped some suspects and then we drove by them so I could see if it was them (it wasn’t). They also contacted me later to say they had apprehended the right people, who had confessed when stopped by the police. I had to go down to the station too for something, if memory serves I had to give a statement or further details or something like that…never did get my phone back though.
As regards traffic policing in London I’d say more profiling and more active identification and monitoring of suspect vehicles. Gang members for example seem to prefer certain models of car. The police are in a better position to know this but they could start by having a crackdown in a particular area, say on a Friday night, concentrating on pulling over particular models of car and checking registration, insurance etc.
Not sure about that. It’d mean I couldn’t ride my superduke anywhere near a jewelery store in London without getting stopped.
Quite right you hooligan! ;)I guess I mean putting known criminals together with the type of cars they drive… As to your example if the police were suspicious then I would expect them to just check your number plate from the patrol car to see if the bike was stolen. Jewellery theives don’t usually use their own bikes as far as I know.
In terms of action, as mentioned above, I’d like to see more of a crack down on dangerous driving in London. I think the police in general are so busy policing other crime (or responding to accidents!) with limited resources that traffic policing is not a high priority but it would be good for the driving public to be reminded once in a while who is in charge and that there are road rules that have to be obeyed…
It might sound crazy for a motorcyclist to be suggesting the above but I see so much total disregard for road rules on my daily commute that I can only assume the general assumption is “Why bother? Chances of getting caught are zip!”…
<the above in context please, riding in London in comparison to some cities is a breeze in a very orderly park!)
Need some roving teams, setting up in known accident hotspots, working the rush hour etc visibly dealing out some financial pain to those who think its perfectly fine to straddle intersections, talk on mobile phone whilst eating a burger and doing a three point turn, irratic lane changes and dangerous u-turns etc… motorcyclists who blast off at the lights narrowly missing pedestrians etc should be chased down too. And cyclists and pedestrians need the odd slap on the wrist too… no one should be immune - hand out those fines…
For a while recently there were some radar guns being used on London bridge…that’s great-it’s a stupid place to speed, especially during rush hour and I defy anyone to argue that point… more of that please Mr. Copper! - visible flashing lights when you pull someone over.
I love to give a bit of throttle on the twisties if I go for a spin on a sunday and of course I interpret road rules like everyone does but I’m also happy to know I ride within a system designed for all of our safety and I’d not argue getting done if I’m knowingly bending da rules… innit.
Sorry, it wasn’t the clearest of sentences! Was wondering about non-police opinions really, but either could be interesting.
It is interesting that people agree about the traffic stuff. I honestly thought I was alone in thinking that the police should take more action against bad drivers.
I am also with JonoBass…pretty sure I have driven badly at times, but had I got pulled up on it, I would like to think I would take it on the chin for messing up.
Police are required to keep victims of crime updated, and within quite strict time limits and ongoing enquiries can be supervised to the point of micro-managing sometimes (in my experience), so it’s definitely poor when people say they don’t get a good response in such circumstances, but there seems plenty of feedback from some that would suggest that it does happen.
