Thursday 3rd May 2007

Police on camera

50 police officers caught speeding in Avon and Somerset last year

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More than 50 police officers were fined for speeding in the Avon and Somerset force area last year while not on an emergency call, according to a BBC news report.

In figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, police vehicles are shown to have triggered speed cameras 640 times.

In almost nine out of ten cases, the penalty was cancelled, but officers were fined in the remaining cases.

In a statement, the force put some of the speed camera activations down to members of other constabularies passing through the area.

But it said: "The high number of Notices of Intended Prosecution in Avon and Somerset Constabulary may relate to the fact we use strobe lights rather than revolving blue lights which are not always picked up by the safety cameras.

"We would stress that we are an open and accountable force and will prosecute officers when they are unable to demonstrate their actions were for a lawful policing purpose.

"If officers are prosecuted they can be put through a refresher course on the force's driver training programme."

The statement added that the vast majority of police drivers were highly skilled and operated within the law.

It also urged the figures to be put into context: officers responded to nearly 50,000 call-outs last year.

Paul Smith, founder of the Safe Speed road safety campaign said: "These figures will do nothing to reassure the public that they are being treated equally and fairly. The perception that Police officers are given considerable latitude, while members of the public receive none at all will persist.

The only solution is to afford the public the same level of discretion that the police receive."

[LordGrover]

Should we take it then that scameras ignore vehicles with blue flashing lights?

[gozomark]

"In almost nine out of ten cases, the penalty was cancelled, but officers were fined in the remaining cases"

so no points then.......

[R_U_LOCAL]

gozomark said:

"In almost nine out of ten cases, the penalty was cancelled, but officers were fined in the remaining cases"

so no points then.......

No - they'll have recieved points as well.

[eltax91]

Don't think so. I think what they are saying is that normal blue flashing lights are easy to spot on the resulting photo, so the officer does not get prosecuted. BUT, when using strobe lights, the photo does not show up the strobes easily, so therefore officer's need to prove that they were "on a shout" at the time they were speeding, else face reciminations.

[garlick]

LordGrover said:

Should we take it then that scameras ignore vehicles with blue flashing lights?

With a strobe light running I guess theres a chance that it could be 'off' at the time the pic is taken- but an old style light will always be lit. So maybe there are a few cases of police cars being flashed yet it appears the blues aren't on?

ETA: eltax91- we are saying the same thing but I was typing as you posted!

Edited by garlick on Thursday 3rd May 12:47

[MK4 Slowride]

I like the way they refered to the scamera as a "safety camera"

[john57]

MK4 Slowride said:

I like the way they refered to the scamera as a "safety camera"

But they are

[Mr Freefall]

R_U_LOCAL said:

gozomark said:

"In almost nine out of ten cases, the penalty was cancelled, but officers were fined in the remaining cases"

so no points then.......

No - they'll have recieved points as well.

So how many did yu set off last yeat then, on a shout of course?

Mr F

[festernath]

Interestingly, it appears that the BiB need the flashing lights to tell them that they were on a call, thus inferring that there is no record that they can look up.

A bit like when someone gets caught speeding, but they can't remember who the driver was...

[R_U_LOCAL]

Mr Freefall said:

R_U_LOCAL said:

gozomark said:

"In almost nine out of ten cases, the penalty was cancelled, but officers were fined in the remaining cases"

so no points then.......

No - they'll have recieved points as well.

So how many did yu set off last yeat then, on a shout of course?

Mr F

*Does rough reckoning*

Probably between 70 and 100.

[R_U_LOCAL]

Having thought about that a bit, it's possibly lower - say up to 50 times, but I'm not usually looking in my mirror when I pass cameras, and my lights are flashing as well, so it's difficult to say, but up to 50 would be a reasonable estimate.

[robwales]

garlick said:

With a strobe light running I guess theres a chance that it could be 'off' at the time the pic is taken

I thought I read somewhere that the strobes are timed so that at least one is on at any given time.

[tigger1]

R_U_LOCAL said:

Having thought about that a bit, it's possibly lower - say up to 50 times, but I'm not usually looking in my mirror when I pass cameras, and my lights are flashing as well, so it's difficult to say, but up to 50 would be a reasonable estimate.

That's not very many really. Surprisingly low in fact!

Not saying that's good or bad, just surprised it's not more than one per week.

[R_U_LOCAL]

tigger1 said:

R_U_LOCAL said:

Having thought about that a bit, it's possibly lower - say up to 50 times, but I'm not usually looking in my mirror when I pass cameras, and my lights are flashing as well, so it's difficult to say, but up to 50 would be a reasonable estimate.

That's not very many really. Surprisingly low in fact!

Not saying that's good or bad, just surprised it's not more than one per week.

Sometimes it is, and sometimes I can go for a couple of weeks without (knowingly) setting one off. Remember, not every box actually has a camera in it - cameras are moved round from box to box on a regular basis. If there's one in a box on a main road near to a Police station, then it'll naturally be activated quite often by Police vehicles. If there's one on a road on the outskirts of town, then the chances of a Police vehicle setting it off are much reduced.

[Parrot of Doom]

Interesting that the standard of police driving in these cases appears to be so low.

I'm baffled by how anybody can get caught by a fixed camera these days.

[XMG5]

Parrot of Doom said:

Interesting that the standard of police driving in these cases appears to be so low.

I'm baffled by how anybody can get caught by a fixed camera these days.

Perhaps because those BiB's who were fined thought they could ignore them because of "the excemption whilst on police duties"?

It's too late when the TrafPol Superintendant tells them otherwise.

So what has happened to the much publicised excemption in these cases??

[vladd]

john57 said:

MK4 Slowride said:

I like the way they refered to the scamera as a "safety camera"

But they are

As long as you don't crash into one.

[Peter Ward]

festernath said:

Interestingly, it appears that the BiB need the flashing lights to tell them that they were on a call, thus inferring that there is no record that they can look up.

A bit like when someone gets caught speeding, but they can't remember who the driver was...

I didn't read it like that. I thought that, if the partnership person looks at the picture and sees the lights on, he/she will decide that there should be no prosecution. It's only the ones where there's no lights on that result in a prosecution, when the BiB has then to prove they were justifiably speeding.

[sprinter885]

R_U_LOCAL said:

tigger1 said:

R_U_LOCAL said:

Having thought about that a bit, it's possibly lower - say up to 50 times, but I'm not usually looking in my mirror when I pass cameras, and my lights are flashing as well, so it's difficult to say, but up to 50 would be a reasonable estimate.

That's not very many really. Surprisingly low in fact!

Not saying that's good or bad, just surprised it's not more than one per week.

Sometimes it is, and sometimes I can go for a couple of weeks without (knowingly) setting one off. Remember, not every box actually has a camera in it - cameras are moved round from box to box on a regular basis. If there's one in a box on a main road near to a Police station, then it'll naturally be activated quite often by Police vehicles. If there's one on a road on the outskirts of town, then the chances of a Police vehicle setting it off are much reduced.

At the risk of seeming to hound you'cos of your apparent occupation- I wonder how much Police time is taken up sorting out the "on call" camera triggers from the "off call" ones ??

[mat205125]

So the use of strobe lights convieniently explains why the lights are not in the on phase when the scamera takes the pictures.

I believe them 100%. Why would a Police Officer lie?