Q for John Robson

Author
Discussion

reAnimate

Original Poster:

418 posts

283 months

Wednesday 5th June 2002
quotequote all
Hi John.

Apologies in advance for spelling and long windedness, it's late!

I appreciate your straight and views, and I wondered what you thought about some of the clamp-downs on cars.

My (eventual!) point is that while over the years I have been handed out points for speeding I was pulled over a while back in my Elise by a "clamp down" that was going on in the area - i.e. the Police had decided to monitor every car along a section of the A4 and pull any car over if there was something dodgy about it. In my case, my front number plate had been ripped off by a particularly vicious speed-hump a few days before (and any Elise driver will tell you that we treat speed humps with the utmost respect ...) so I was pulled over.

I was breaking the law, but what got my goat was that the officer explained to me why he had pulled me over, I explained what had happened to the plate to which he replied along the lines of "OK - well, I'm not sure if this is an endorsable offence, I'll have to look it up" which he duly did and found out that actually it wasn't.

My problem is that the officer was basically seeing if he could "do" me, and didn't even seem to consider the background - it just didn't seem to matter - he only wanted to see if he could give me points and a fine.

Where is the fairness in that? Can't officers make a judgement of their own?

I drove away thinking "well ... thanks - CHUM!"

... I let him sit in the car and everything ..!

>>> Edited by reAnimate on Wednesday 5th June 23:31

mel

10,168 posts

276 months

Thursday 6th June 2002
quotequote all
In fairness and I can't remember which way round it is, there are two main offences to do with number plates, one having nothing at all, and two having an incorrect or deliberatly altered number plate i.e false. The problem is one is very serious and the other is suprisingly very minor my guess is that matey was checking which way round it was to. I had it explained to me on the hard shoulder years ago when i had a bike plate snap off on me leaving me miles from home with no number plate at all. I got myself a marker pen and wrote the number on the small ali bracket left behind in the vain hope of saving my neck on the trip home and because of that got a let off.

(Actually thats a complete lie, it did get snapped off, I did write it in with marker but carried on for 3 weeks before eventually getting the pull and spinning that yarn on the hardshoulder, still I did it that well even I believed it)

john robson

370 posts

278 months

Friday 7th June 2002
quotequote all
The problem you up against in your particular situation is simple, If the officer was out on enforcement he would be out there with the intention of handing out tickets. I am sure that the majority of the people who received tickets on that day would be much happier getting verbal advice rather than a ticket but that would not cut much ice with his supervision. To be honest whilst I do not disbelieve your account re your no plate I have dealt with many similar incidents, ie my proper no plate dropped off so I had to put this one on, I usually keep it for shows (it was about 8" long and you needed a magnifying glass to read it) or "I've got the new plates in the boot I will put them on when I get home" in response to getting pulled for a set of mis-represented plates. Whilst I do listen to the reasons people give everyone seems to have an excuse and sometimes discretion has to go out the window, if it didn't I would not hand out any tickets, if that were the case I would end up back on the town centre with a big hat on my head.

In reply to your point mel there are several offences regarding No plates. As you correctly point out No plate is a minor offence £30 FPN an altered ie wrong numbers/letter is fraud use of a plate this is a criminal offence ie you can get a criminal conviction as opposed to just a fine, the other offences relate to mis-spacing and mis-representing characters, which are again £30 FPN's. I did once deal with one who had altered a plate to read
A C*!T (derogatory name for part of the female anatomy)he got arrested under sec 5 of the public order act (causing alarm harrasment or distress).,

>> Edited by john robson on Friday 7th June 23:53

Tabs

951 posts

273 months

Saturday 8th June 2002
quotequote all
Taken from todays Northampton Chronicle and Echo;
A policeman who admitted altering the registration plate on his motor bike but denied doing it to avoid detection by speed cameras has won his appeal against conviction.
Colin Cummings,42, was fined £250 and ordered to pay £263 costs by Corby magistrates after being found guilty of fraudulent use of the registration plate between September1 and October 7,2000.
But at Northampton Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Julian Hall, who sat with two magistrates, said the court was not sure beyond doubt that Mr Cummings was acting fraudulently.
He told the appeal hearing: 'It is a close call but there is doubt about the matter on the facts.'
Pc Cummings, of East Hunsbury, Northampton, used to be a tempory sergeant at Wellingborough, before moving to Campbell Square and then Wotton Hall. He joined the force 12 years ago after a career in marketing.
When questioned about the alterations, the officer said it had been done as a joke when stripping the bike which he regarded as his pride and joy.
There was no intention to defraud or deceive and ,in hindsight,he wished he had not done it.
Cummings told the court he had altered the plate in December 1999 but had only ridden the bike twice some months later.
He had tried to remove the alterations with a screwdriver but realised he would have to use a solvent instead. He said he forgot about the altered plate because of professional and personal pressures.
Judge Hall, awarded him costs, the amount of which were not dislosed in court.

cazzo

14,803 posts

268 months

Saturday 8th June 2002
quotequote all
"A policeman who admitted altering the registration plate on his motor bike but denied doing it to avoid detection by speed cameras has won his appeal against conviction."

Good to see he didn't get any special treatment then


>> Edited by cazzo on Saturday 8th June 20:40

outlaw

1,893 posts

267 months

Sunday 9th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Taken from todays Northampton Chronicle and Echo;
A policeman who admitted altering the registration plate on his motor bike but denied doing it to avoid detection by speed cameras has won his appeal against conviction.
Colin Cummings,42, was fined £250 and ordered to pay £263 costs by Corby magistrates after being found guilty of fraudulent use of the registration plate between September1 and October 7,2000.
But at Northampton Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Julian Hall, who sat with two magistrates, said the court was not sure beyond doubt that Mr Cummings was acting fraudulently.
He told the appeal hearing: 'It is a close call but there is doubt about the matter on the facts.'
Pc Cummings, of East Hunsbury, Northampton, used to be a tempory sergeant at Wellingborough, before moving to Campbell Square and then Wotton Hall. He joined the force 12 years ago after a career in marketing.
When questioned about the alterations, the officer said it had been done as a joke when stripping the bike which he regarded as his pride and joy.
There was no intention to defraud or deceive and ,in hindsight,he wished he had not done it.
Cummings told the court he had altered the plate in December 1999 but had only ridden the bike twice some months later.
He had tried to remove the alterations with a screwdriver but realised he would have to use a solvent instead. He said he forgot about the altered plate because of professional and personal pressures.
Judge Hall, awarded him costs, the amount of which were not dislosed in court.



pull the other one its got bells on

tvradict

3,829 posts

275 months

Sunday 9th June 2002
quotequote all
One thing that gets my goat, is the police who go out looking for Convictions/FPN's etc in areas where they can't get them!!

My old MK2 Astra, (still owned by me) sits behind my house in a car park, it's an area of tarmac and garages at the end of the backgardens, and I have had to tell the police to GTF (politely!) 3 times in the last two months, the Tax has expired, no insurance, it has a flat tyre and no alternator, as well as a missing front Number Plate! The car has been SORNed and the place it sits is classed as Off The Road!
Technically the numgber plate is not missing, just not where it should be on the bumper, after it got torn off by a bunch of vadalising Scrotes, I shoved it on the dash infront of the Drivers seat!

And they have been after my first car, another MK2 Astra, sitting on a farm road outside my uncles house, privately owned by the farm, on farmland, they have issued 6 tickets against the car, 3 for no tax, 2 for 2 bald tyres, and 1 for a damaged rear plate after my uncle backed a tractor into it!

Have Plod got nothing better to do?!

There was a stabbing in the next town last night, there was an attempted car jacking a couple of weeks ago, the company my mum works for keep fixing a factory that is constatntly being vandalised by scrotes!
I was out helping the roofer fix the roof and stick up some metal bars at the factory a month ago, we had some unwanted attention from 2 scrotes so we phoned the police, they came to the site 20 minutes later, stopped at the end of the road, waved and ****ed off! Where's the police work in that?!?!

JR, I'm not getting at you, but the attitude of my local force really gets on my man-breasts sometimes!!!

ZZR600

15,605 posts

269 months

Sunday 9th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

One thing that gets my goat, is the police who go out looking for Convictions/FPN's etc in areas where they can't get them!!

My old MK2 Astra, (still owned by me) sits behind my house in a car park, it's an area of tarmac and garages at the end of the backgardens, and I have had to tell the police to GTF (politely!) 3 times in the last two months, the Tax has expired, no insurance, it has a flat tyre and no alternator, as well as a missing front Number Plate! The car has been SORNed and the place it sits is classed as Off The Road!
Technically the numgber plate is not missing, just not where it should be on the bumper, after it got torn off by a bunch of vadalising Scrotes, I shoved it on the dash infront of the Drivers seat!

And they have been after my first car, another MK2 Astra, sitting on a farm road outside my uncles house, privately owned by the farm, on farmland, they have issued 6 tickets against the car, 3 for no tax, 2 for 2 bald tyres, and 1 for a damaged rear plate after my uncle backed a tractor into it!

Have Plod got nothing better to do?!

There was a stabbing in the next town last night, there was an attempted car jacking a couple of weeks ago, the company my mum works for keep fixing a factory that is constatntly being vandalised by scrotes!
I was out helping the roofer fix the roof and stick up some metal bars at the factory a month ago, we had some unwanted attention from 2 scrotes so we phoned the police, they came to the site 20 minutes later, stopped at the end of the road, waved and ****ed off! Where's the police work in that?!?!

JR, I'm not getting at you, but the attitude of my local force really gets on my man-breasts sometimes!!!



So it's YOU thats dumping all these astras everywhere

madcop

6,649 posts

264 months

Sunday 9th June 2002
quotequote all
I understand the feelings of people who read this sort of press about Police officers that do things to avoid prosecution and I agree with those feelings. The guy in this case was a fool to say the least. However as in all the posts I read about how people try to, and indeed work the system to get away with things. Just because he is a Police Officer (stupid one) does not make him any less human than any of the rest of us.

Dont lose sight of the fact that he was actually prosecuted and convicted at magistrates court of the offence so no favours were shown at that point.

It was only because he appealed to a higher authority (probably because he was in danger of losing his job at a discipline hearing) that the Judge made a ruling on the facts that he was presented with. Probably with the advice from a Barrister.

If its any consolation to you (and it probably isnt) I know that he will be thought of from now on by his colleagues as a complete T**ser. Which was obviously the opinion of the Cop that booked him for it in the first place.

With regard to the point about Police exhuberance with traffic offences. Again dont lose sight of the fact that if they didnt enforce this side of the law, the roads would soon become infested with millions of unroadworthy, uninsured dangerous wrecks as unlike the people of PH, many who own vehicles do not have the same pride and interest in them.

Running a car is expensive to say the least.
Running a car without the worry of prosecution for not doing it correctly means that people who do not care would put everyone else at risk.
There are many of them out there. Many more than those that are responsible.

outlaw

1,893 posts

267 months

Sunday 9th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

I understand the feelings of people who read this sort of press about Police officers that do things to avoid prosecution and I agree with those feelings. The guy in this case was a fool to say the least. However as in all the posts I read about how people try to, and indeed work the system to get away with things. Just because he is a Police Officer (stupid one) does not make him any less human than any of the rest of us.

Dont lose sight of the fact that he was actually prosecuted and convicted at magistrates court of the offence so no favours were shown at that point.

It was only because he appealed to a higher authority (probably because he was in danger of losing his job at a discipline hearing) that the Judge made a ruling on the facts that he was presented with. Probably with the advice from a Barrister.

If its any consolation to you (and it probably isnt) I know that he will be thought of from now on by his colleagues as a complete T**ser. Which was obviously the opinion of the Cop that booked him for it in the first place.

With regard to the point about Police exhuberance with traffic offences. Again dont lose sight of the fact that if they didnt enforce this side of the law, the roads would soon become infested with millions of unroadworthy, uninsured dangerous wrecks as unlike the people of PH, many who own vehicles do not have the same pride and interest in them.

Running a car is expensive to say the least.
Running a car without the worry of prosecution for not doing it correctly means that people who do not care would put everyone else at risk.
There are many of them out there. Many more than those that are responsible.





and then let off

If he had not been a police officer, he would not have won the appeal.


>> Edited by outlaw on Sunday 9th June 22:10

smeagol

1,947 posts

285 months

Sunday 9th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

With regard to the point about Police exhuberance with traffic offences. Again dont lose sight of the fact that if they didnt enforce this side of the law, the roads would soon become infested with millions of unroadworthy, uninsured dangerous wrecks as unlike the people of PH, many who own vehicles do not have the same pride and interest in them.


Whilst I agree with you that police should check these things, one part that annoys me is how inefficient the police are in this kind of matter. This is not a dig at any police officers here, but surely checking should only be done once. There are computers being used by police officers and I believe now that all reports are entered into it, but no end of times have I heard of people getting multiple reports for the same "offense". I have personaly been stopped three times walking home one late night when I was a scruffy student. I had no problem with the first stop, second stop annoying, third stop pain in the @rse. The police should have checked on the radio, it would have taken 2 minutes rather than the 20minutes each time (by my calculations that is a wasted hour).

Same with the comments mentioned above the chap has leagally registered it using a SORN, why not before wasting our and police time isn't it checked? after all that was the point of SORN.

madcop

6,649 posts

264 months

Monday 10th June 2002
quotequote all



There are computers being used by police officers and I believe now that all reports are entered into it, but no end of times have I heard of people getting multiple reports for the same "offense".



Yes you are right that the Police do use computers. However I would be interested to know where your belief that all reports are entered onto it. This is just untrue. Most traffic process reports are dealt with by pen and paper and do not get entered onto computer until CPS become involved.

I take it you refer to multiple reports as multiple summons. I cannot comment on that as I do not work in that area and have never received one (or multiples of) so cannot offer a reason why. One thing I can assure you of though is no one that I have worked with, would want to write the same report out more than once. So the likelyhood of multiple summons for the same offence from the officers point of view is most unlikely.
Probably down to a computer error if they are being issued on a multiple basis but I have to point out that it is a computer and many of you who work in that field will no doubt have the same frustrations.
It is not just Police computers that are sometimes uncontrolable.



I have personaly been stopped three times walking home one late night when I was a scruffy student. I had no problem with the first stop, second stop annoying, third stop pain in the @rse. The police should have checked on the radio, it would have taken 2 minutes rather than the 20minutes each time (by my calculations that is a wasted hour).




If you are referring to this as the same journey home then you have in fact been treated wrongly. If you were searched then you should have been given a copy of the search record that you could have shown to the second and third officers who would then have wished you Gods speed (but not over the limit )
If you were offered the form but refused it then that was unfortunate and the second and third stops were in order.
If you weren't offered the form or told you could have access to a copy within 1 year at the local nick then they were wrong and you could have a justified complaint. It was a wasted hour in your opinion but what if you had been Billy Burglar or a scroat after your pride and joy. The police dont know you or your intentions without asking you, unless of course you have come to notice before. Would you be happy with the Police to not hassle these types and just allow them the freedom of the city?
YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT!!





Same with the comments mentioned above the chap has leagally registered it using a SORN, why not before wasting our and police time isn't it checked? after all that was the point of SORN.



You obviously dont understand how these checks work. I will explain.

The SORN is completed by the owner and sent off to DVLA.
When a vehicle is subsequently checked by Police on the PNC it will state if the vehicle is currently taxed, not taxed or subject of SORN.
Having established that it is subject of SORN, the officer then has to ascertain whether the vehicle is in fact on a publicly maintained highway or part of such.
Unfortunately the PNC does not give any advice as to the land registry of who owns what part of the particular area the vehicle is parked or driven on.
There lies the problem. This is then down to good old fashioned Police work. Asking people questions.
Many dont like that. Tough S**t!!!
How else do you find out who owns the land at the side or behind garage blocks or at the side of property adjacent to public roads?

I used to have the opinion that 'If I have to pay my V.E.L. then so will every body else'
( or explain to Mags why they decide not to)

You may consider that it is a waste of Police time. Like much of what we do it is. But a lot of the crap we have to deal with is actually CRAP and if people were more honest and kinder to each other generally, we could concentrate on more serious things.
I cannot believe that some of the jobs I attend that I am actually dealing with what on first sight appears to be an adult!!!


>> Edited by madcop on Monday 10th June 01:55

smeagol

1,947 posts

285 months

Tuesday 11th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Yes you are right that the Police do use computers. However I would be interested to know where your belief that all reports are entered onto it. This is just untrue. Most traffic process reports are dealt with by pen and paper and do not get entered onto computer until CPS become involved.


The person that told me they record things on PC answers 999 and radio calls from the police. Her job involves entering these onto a computer and handling emergancy calls. I believe they are recorded because they are used to trace a criminal and use it as evidence. Obviously traffic reports may not get radioed in so therefore "slip the net".

quote:

If you are referring to this as the same journey home then you have in fact been treated wrongly. If you were searched then you should have been given a copy of the search record that you could have shown to the second and third officers who would then have wished you Gods speed (but not over the limit )


I'm a quick walker but not that quick I was walking so do they also have to give you a form or is it a different rule? (don't forget this happenned quite a long time ago so the rules may have changed)
quote:

It was a wasted hour in your opinion but what if you had been Billy Burglar or a scroat after your pride and joy. The police dont know you or your intentions without asking you, unless of course you have come to notice before. Would you be happy with the Police to not hassle these types and just allow them the freedom of the city? YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT!!


Whilst I agree that they should have stopped and asked, the point was that I didn't have any problem the FIRST time but seeing it happen twice again the same evening seemed to me to be overkill. The funny part I was 1 metre from my front door on the third stop (I had my key in my hand) PC "Okay where are you going", me pointing at my door "there, and you're the third" after quick search through bag checking SU id card etc. the PC said "Proves we're doing our job ehh?" (I was so close to saying "what hasseling students")

It would have taken 2 minutes to radio in after the first search to say who I was and where I was going, but there you go.

Thanks for explaining the SORN bit, most interesting. I agree that a lot of your job is crap and feel for you esp. the excessive paperwork, hard graft to catch some scrote for a magistarte to say "you are a naughty boy, please don't do it again"

I do believe in technology helping out the Police but as all things in the public sector it probably takes an age, is poorly thought through, and causes more grief than the paper system. It just surprises me that it isn't that computerised yet.

>> Edited by smeagol on Tuesday 11th June 00:24

john robson

370 posts

278 months

Tuesday 11th June 2002
quotequote all
Just while we are on the subject of who get done for what and what/who we should be doing. here's an interesting court result,a conditional discharge for No licence, no MOT, No tax and wait for it NO INSURANCE. Just in case you are wondering to you and me that = getting of scot free, oh and by the way no fine. Too good to be true, not really the offender just happens to be an Iranian asylum seeker. Well it pissed me off, not least because I ended up in a persuit with him through red lights etc. a .few weeks later. Anyway when he did get caught and stopped this time he got potted for dangerous driving, no insurance,tax, mot + a few others, should be interesting to see what happens this time. The good news though was that it takes about 3 hrs to deal with that job then about 4hrs+ to do the paperwork. This is because we end up waiting for interpreters / solicitors etc so whilst we are doing that we can't persecute the rest of the motoring public. Good ol British justice eh. Who said that I wonder, must have been a solicitor or barister just after pay day. Or to quote one solicitor "There's no money in crime but there's plenty in criminals"

madcop

6,649 posts

264 months

Tuesday 11th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

[The person that told me they record things on PC answers 999 and radio calls from the police. Her job involves entering these onto a computer and handling emergancy calls. I believe they are recorded because they are used to trace a criminal and use it as evidence. Obviously traffic reports may not get radioed in so therefore "slip the net".
quote:


How it works is that when a call comes through the control system, it is logged with a unique refernce number which are numerical ( e.g. URN 1245/11/06/02)
this would relate specifically to that call and it is allocated the number numerically as it come in to the system. The later on in the day, the higher the number gets.

It cannot be used as evidence but is disclosable within the court. The tapes of the phone and radio conversations however can and are used as evidence in court as well as at discipline hearings.

URN is only allocated to calls that come in from the public that require actions or for emergency calls from police Officers
e.g. Cop tries to stop a car and it makes off, Pursuit ensues therefore radio dispatcher creates an emergency URN and starts dispatching units accordingly.

Stuff like stop checks of people late at night or any time, do not get URN status unless something goes wrong. i.e. Officer gets assaulted or person makes off.
Other than that the national stop check form DPS1 that should be filled out and offered to the person if they were searched or they should be told that they can get a copy within 1 year at the local nick.
THIS HAS BEEN LAW SINCE 1984.

If nothing untoward occurs with a stop check search then no computer reference is made until the Local Intelligence operator picks the form up the following day ( or three days if over the weekend)

But this is not on the Command and Control system.






I'm a quick walker but not that quick I was walking so do they also have to give you a form or is it a different rule? (don't forget this happenned quite a long time ago so the rules may have changed)
quote:


See above re explanation



ehh?" (I was so close to saying "what hasseling students")
quote:


Any person wondering around in the early hours is game on for a turnover.
Problem is a lot of people so checked, happen to be students because thats what they do.(wander around aimlessly usually in some state of intoxication)

I didn't go to university so I cannot really comment but I thought the idea was to go and study to learn and gain knowledge to support the rest of your working life.
Its only hearsay but I understand that this is not the case


quote:

I do believe in technology helping out the Police but as all things in the public sector it probably takes an age, is poorly thought through, and causes more grief than the paper system. It just surprises me that it isn't that computerised yet.
quote:


There are many different computer systems within the Police service. The Command and control system only caters for the stuff that is happening NOW and needs actioning either immediately with priority or can be dealt with routinely or deferred ( this is the call grading response system)
To constantly call up other officers and see if they have just checked said Student type would just clog up the radio system with unecessary jargon and if someone needed to get in with an urgent call they may have to wait.

However I did go to college and was stopped in the same manner a couple of times in the Winchester area
so I do understand how you feel.
I now understand why it happens
Hope this explains it.

madcop

6,649 posts

264 months

Tuesday 11th June 2002
quotequote all
Oh and smeagol, the chances of being stopped three times in one foot journey by different officers these days are highly unlikely as there aren't usually that many on duty.

Those that are, are usually changing more film in the safety cameras to generate more revenue or working on the best way to get early retirement on an index linked sick pension.

>> Edited by madcop on Tuesday 11th June 14:59

>> Edited by madcop on Tuesday 11th June 15:00

smeagol

1,947 posts

285 months

Wednesday 12th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Oh and smeagol, the chances of being stopped three times in one foot journey by different officers these days are highly unlikely as there aren't usually that many on duty.

Those that are, are usually changing more film in the safety cameras to generate more revenue or working on the best way to get early retirement on an index linked sick pension.


thanks for the info madcop.

>> Edited by smeagol on Wednesday 12th June 12:05

JohnL

1,763 posts

266 months

Wednesday 12th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Just while we are on the subject of who get done for what and what/who we should be doing. here's an interesting court result,a conditional discharge for No licence, no MOT, No tax and wait for it NO INSURANCE. Just in case you are wondering to you and me that = getting of scot free, oh and by the way no fine. Too good to be true, not really the offender just happens to be an Iranian asylum seeker ...


OK so they couldn't fine him as he would have no money, and jail may have been considered extreme (arguable though).

But surely, if someone is prepared to flout our laws to that extent then he shouldn't be entitled to asylum here? Result = instant deportation. Of course, he'd have claimed that he'd be returning to his death, which is always grounds for asylum.

Incidentally what's the difference between a conditional and unconditional discharge? Presumably when you nicked him later he'd broken the conditions? Does that then lead to a stronger penalty? What was the sentence the second time around?

john robson

370 posts

278 months

Wednesday 12th June 2002
quotequote all
The good news for asylum seekers is that if you come from Iran or Iraq is that our goverment considers them to be a hostile regime they won't deport them back there so basically they are here for quite a while. In fact my colleague locked one up yesterday from Iraq he has only been here 18mths but has managed to father a child so now he gets to stay in a nice council house whilst the thick tart that had his child panders to his every need, his chance of beeing sent back is quite slim, there are many more like him and guess what the good ol tax payer is footing the bill yet again,

cazzo

14,803 posts

268 months

Wednesday 12th June 2002
quotequote all
quote:

The good news for asylum seekers is that if you come from Iran or Iraq is that our goverment considers them to be a hostile regime they won't deport them back there so basically they are here for quite a while. In fact my colleague locked one up yesterday from Iraq he has only been here 18mths but has managed to father a child so now he gets to stay in a nice council house whilst the thick tart that had his child panders to his every need, his chance of beeing sent back is quite slim, there are many more like him and guess what the good ol tax payer is footing the bill yet again,