408 cops "caught" in bus lanes in Birmingham

[Snowboy]

Rovinghawk said:

Snowboy said:

When it comes to the various importance of different cars on the roads and the jobs they do I'd be inclined to rate police cars above taxis.

Taxis transport people. So do ordinary cars. I'd be inclined to rate ordinary cars above taxis, or at least level pegging.

By an extension of your logic, every car should be allowed in the lanes provided they give priority to buses.

Hmmmmm

Only by a really fking stupid extension.

Oh, and thd rest of your comments were answered in the rest of my post that you cropped so you could find a nice single sentence to pick apart.

[jimbop1]

Terzo123 said:

A major part of an officers job is to patrol the streets when not on emergency calls, to deter and detect crime.

I know some streets are exclusively used as bus routes. Have these street to be avoided by the police incase of being fined or upsetting certain members of the public with huge chips on their shoulders?

Madness

This!!! How are they expected to patrol when certain roads are out of bounds to them?!
This is just an exuse by some busy bodies to try and put the police in a bad light.. As usual.

[Rovinghawk]

jimbop1 said:

This is just an exuse by some busy bodies to try and put the police in a bad light.. As usual.

Chief Constable Garry Forsyth said "officers not exempt must abide by the same rules as citizens".

It's a bugger when even their chief constable tries to put them in a bad light.................

[jimbop1]

Rovinghawk said:

Chief Constable Garry Forsyth said "officers not exempt must abide by the same rules as citizens".

It's a bugger when even their chief constable tries to put them in a bad light.................

It is a bugger. He should have the balls to stick up for them instead of trying to please a minority of the public!

[Terzo123]

Here's a link to a police forum from a few years back discussing this issue

http://www.police999.com/forum/index.php/topic,925...

If i got landed with one of those fines whilst doing my job, i'd be telling them where to stick it.

[bad company]

The trouble is that the system will always be abused by some. I saw a police car parked on yellow lines in London/West End. The occupants then returned from Marks & Sparks carrying their sandwiches / lunch.

[otolith]

Snowboy said:

The lanes spend most of thier lives empty, so as they are paid for by govt. oney it makes sense to let Govt. workers use them.

They aren't paid for by government, they are paid for by taxpayers.

[Rovinghawk]

jimbop1 said:

He should have the balls to stick up for them instead of trying to please a minority of the public!

There is a school of thought that the chief constable should ensure that the law is applied equally to all, without fear or favour.

[Terzo123]

Rovinghawk said:

There is a school of thought that the chief constable should ensure that the law is applied equally to all, without fear or favour.

I would appear he isn't applying the law equally.

1. He doesn't enforce bus lane legislation

2. His officers are exempt under the legislation, but they are still getting the fines anyway. (That is if the report is to be beleived)

[Rovinghawk]

Terzo123 said:

1. He doesn't enforce bus lane legislation

2. His officers are exempt under the legislation, but they are still getting the fines anyway. (That is if the report is to be beleived)

The council enforces the fines- the police are exempt under certain circumstances (necessity, basically) but not under others (lack of necessity) & the CC isn't telling fibs about necessity in order to bend the rules in favour of some.

Fair play to the chief constable for being honest.

[Terzo123]

Rovinghawk said:

The council enforces the fines- the police are exempt under certain circumstances (necessity, basically) but not under others (lack of necessity) & the CC isn't telling fibs about necessity in order to bend the rules in favour of some.

Fair play to the chief constable for being honest.

They are exempt if it is for a policing purpose.

Policing purposes do not always require blue lights (General patrol, searches, delivering citations, going to court, tracing witnesses etc etc) yet if the article is to be believed, if no blue lights are present then the officers are being fined.

At no point did i say the CC was telling fibs.

If anything it would appear to me that the CC is giving a soundbite to appease individuals such as yourself.

[Elroy Blue]

Terzo123 said:

A major part of an officers job is to patrol the streets when not on emergency calls, to deter and detect crime.

I know some streets are exclusively used as bus routes. Have these street to be avoided by the police incase of being fined or upsetting certain members of the public with huge chips on their shoulders?

Madness

^^^^^ This.

These cameras caught a lot of people out who were doing there job. When obs are put out for a stolen car, robbery suspect or wanted person, Police cars patrolled the area. Just because they weren't displaying blue lights doesn't mean they aren't doing their job. Now we have a situation where Officer's are getting fined for trying to locate criminals. Needless to say, the area doesn't get patrolled much anymore.

But I'm sure the anti-Police trolls are happy.

[Rovinghawk]

Terzo123 said:

They are exempt if it is for a policing purpose.

I would counter that they are exempt if it is for a police purpose which requires them to drive in the bus lane. This seems fair & reasonable.

Terzo123 said:

At no point did i say the CC was telling fibs.

At no point did I say you did- some have been suggested that he should make excuses for others, though.

Terzo123 said:

If anything it would appear to me that the CC is giving a soundbite to appease individuals such as yourself.

What appeasement is necessary? That the law is being applied equally? That's not appeasement, that's fairness.

"Individuals like myself" is probably some form of denigration but I can't be bothered.

[Terzo123]

Rovinghawk said:

"Individuals like myself" is probably some form of denigration but I can't be bothered.

I didn't post "Individuals like myself"

Please stop misquoting, you have a nasty habit of doing so.

[Rovinghawk]

Terzo123 said:

I didn't post "Individuals like myself"

Please stop misquoting, you have a nasty habit of doing so.

You posted "Individuals like yourself" when addressing me. Changing that to 'myself' is hardly misquoting you.

[Engineer1]

jimbop1 said:

Rovinghawk said:

Chief Constable Garry Forsyth said "officers not exempt must abide by the same rules as citizens".

It's a bugger when even their chief constable tries to put them in a bad light.................

It is a bugger. He should have the balls to stick up for them instead of trying to please a minority of the public!

A much better answer would have been that by using the bus lane they can travel round more efficiently and also pass vehicles without overtaking allowing them to check for phone usage, seatbelt usage etc. - More effcient travel means that the cops can spend more time policing rather than slogging from place to place.

[Terzo123]

Rovinghawk said:

You posted "Individuals like yourself" when addressing me. Changing that to 'myself' is hardly misquoting you.

So you changed it. It's a misquote.

Pedantry matters

Edited by Terzo123 on Tuesday 21st January 16:04

[Rovinghawk]

Terzo123 said:

Pedantry matters

More so than answering the points I made.

[Terzo123]

Rovinghawk said:

More so than answering the points I made.

You didn't make any points which merited a response.

Post some valid points and i'll happily answer them as long as you are not just trolling.

[TheBear]

I wondered how this thread got to 40 posts, then I opened it...and saw the name "Rovinghawk" several times. Makes sense now.