Vocal Voices

Are the police exempt from abiding by the country's laws?

I accept that there are instances when they have to break a law when carrying out their duties, for example it would
be necessary to exceed the legal speed limits when law-breakers they are pursuing also do so.

I am referring to recent examples when they perverted the course of justice by failing to produce evidence which
would have cleared a man accused of rape. There is also the case of cyclists riding on the footpath. There is a law
in place that states that this is a punishable offence, yet the police have stated that cyclists can ride on footpaths.
What right have they to blatantly go against laws passed by parliament. Surely the police chief who made this statement
should be removed from office, if not prosecuted and thrown into prison. I have seen old people nearly knocked down by
cyclists on the footpath outside our Lodge. What would be the position if serious injury occurs ?

I would also be happier if I could see more policemen on duty in the streets, instead of them playing about on Twitter.
The only time one sees any substantial police presence is on the TV at football matches.

Aggers, I mentioned the rape cases on the News board. There are now over 20 of them under review.

When it comes to 'fitting up' criminals it has always been suspected that the police have stretched the rules in order to convict. When it came to people like the Krays or the Great Train Robbers the public tended to turn a blind eye, but that was then and now is now.

As for cyclists.... There appears to be a bit of a legal quagmire regarding definitions and the conflict between national ruels and local by-laws. We apparently do not have pavements any more than we have sidewalks - we have footways or walkways - and these can be modified at local level.

Unfortunately I think that is it going to take more than a few KOSI (Killed or Seriously Injured) incidents before it is really taken seriously.

AliasAggers wrote:I would also be happier if I could see more policemen on duty in the streets, instead of them playing about on Twitter.

So would my son. He told me that Aberdeen, a city of 200,000 people, has only 6 yes that was SIX, police on the beat on the street during the normal working week evenings.

The rest are in cars, minibusses or in the office filling out the reams of paperwork needed for the job. Of his 10 hour shift, he averages 2 hours filling in paperwork on a computer. As my son can touch type and has a HNC in computing, this is no burden. There are police officers who can't type and find a computer a personal hell of torture.

If you look at Police budgets, you will find that final salary pensions consume a VERY large proportion of it. Which is why they have removed them. However the final salary pension removal has driven officers out of the force.

If we look at the process of the law, then an instance of one case I was being told about explains some of the lack of police on the beat.

Officers were called in to a burning car, off road and in a valley. When the police arrived, they found the car burned out, it matched a stolen car description. However they also found footprints in the snow. They followed the footprints to a house. At the house they looked in the garage window and found several items matching the model of the car which had been stolen and burned.

The police applied for a warrant, entered the garage and proved, from VIN number on the car and serial numbers of the components in the garage, that the parts were from the burned out car and that there was a case to arrest the owners.

This case came to court. The defenents pled not guilty, the trail was shifted 3 times forcing the officers to attend court all 3 times, losing 3 days of work. Then when it did come to trial it had to follow the full course of justice, tying up the officers for the full length of the trial.

And we wonder why there are fewer police on the streets!

Suff wrote:

AliasAggers wrote:I would also be happier if I could see more policemen on duty in the streets, instead of them playing about on Twitter.

So would my son. He told me that Aberdeen, a city of 200,000 people, has only 6 yes that was SIX, police on the beat on the street during the normal working week evenings.

The rest are in cars, minibusses or in the office filling out the reams of paperwork needed for the job. Of his 10 hour shift, he averages 2 hours filling in paperwork on a computer. As my son can touch type and has a HNC in computing, this is no burden. There are police officers who can't type and find a computer a personal hell of torture.

If you look at Police budgets, you will find that final salary pensions consume a VERY large proportion of it. Which is why they have removed them. However the final salary pension removal has driven officers out of the force.

All very true Suff.