Pulled over for "giving a bad impression"

[Mr_annie_vxr]

Rusty Arches said:

Hope you got his number, make a complaint.

Yes do just that. Then the officer in future will think that discretion is pointless and will just enforce the rules every single time.

The OP committed one offence he has admitted and was given words of advice.

The OP admits he was considerably above the limit not long before the police vehicle appeared. Who knows if there had been reports of bad driving or similar involving a BMW.

I know an officer who now shows no discretion to people just because when he had displayed a large chunk of it he got a formal complaint. At that point he decided that if he was going to get complaints no matter what why bother showing discretion?

Most officers display more discretion than enforcement.

[The real Apache]

Fair enough.....if he was pulled for that, but the officer said he's pulled him for giving a bad impression and for driving a powerful car.

[y2blade]

The real Apache said:

Fair enough.....if he was pulled for that, but the officer said he's pulled him for giving a bad impression and for driving a powerful car.

we only have one side of this story

"pinch of salt" anyone?

[Scraggles]

came across a queue of cars in lane 2 doing 60-65 mph tops, marked car in lane 1, overtook the lot around 70 mph and dropped to lane 1, only then did the doddery old girl at the front decide it was time to speed up

[The real Apache]

y2blade said:

The real Apache said:

Fair enough.....if he was pulled for that, but the officer said he's pulled him for giving a bad impression and for driving a powerful car.

we only have one side of this story

"pinch of salt" anyone?

yeah, but if you don't believe the poster there's no point in even commenting is there

[Vipers]

y2blade said:

The real Apache said:

Fair enough.....if he was pulled for that, but the officer said he's pulled him for giving a bad impression and for driving a powerful car.

we only have one side of this story

"pinch of salt" anyone?

Well having been there, accused by TWO policemen of driving down a one way street the wrong way, WHICH I HADN'T, but when I asked for their numbers to make a complaint, they backed down, I take the original post as stated.

Could be wrong mind, but as I said, been there done it before.

Generally I respect the police and the job they do, in all walks of life there is always a bad apple, if that is the word. I met two of the buggers.

I would like the police to do something more meaningfull like pulling them with defective front lights, you know, the ones stuck on full beam, and those who insist on using fog lights when it aint foggy.

Anyway guys and girls, its a lovely weekend, car cleaned, waxed etc, garden done, so enjoy the remainder of the weekend.

I am off to see Iron Man 2 tonight.

[y2blade]

enjoy the film

[Tonberry]

Mr_annie_vxr said:

and the for the record I think you will find that actually very few of the posters you think are police officers actually are.

Edited by Mr_annie_vxr on Friday 7th May 18:54

Pray, do tell.

[Mad Dave]

Vipers said:

y2blade said:

The real Apache said:

Fair enough.....if he was pulled for that, but the officer said he's pulled him for giving a bad impression and for driving a powerful car.

we only have one side of this story

"pinch of salt" anyone?

Well having been there, accused by TWO policemen of driving down a one way street the wrong way, WHICH I HADN'T, but when I asked for their numbers to make a complaint, they backed down, I take the original post as stated.

Could be wrong mind, but as I said, been there done it before.

Generally I respect the police and the job they do, in all walks of life there is always a bad apple, if that is the word. I met two of the buggers.

I would like the police to do something more meaningfull like pulling them with defective front lights, you know, the ones stuck on full beam, and those who insist on using fog lights when it aint foggy.

Anyway guys and girls, its a lovely weekend, car cleaned, waxed etc, garden done, so enjoy the remainder of the weekend.

I am off to see Iron Man 2 tonight.

And there are others who would say that pulling people with defective lights is a waste of time and police should be 'out catching burglars'. Others would say they should be doing nothing but nicking rapists, and others may say that dealing with misspaced plates should be a priority. The bottom line is that police cannot win, and most people seem to feel that police should be dealing with everything apart from them!

[Rusty Arches]

Mr_annie_vxr said:

Rusty Arches said:

Hope you got his number, make a complaint.

Yes do just that. Then the officer in future will think that discretion is pointless and will just enforce the rules every single time.

The OP committed one offence he has admitted and was given words of advice.

The OP admits he was considerably above the limit not long before the police vehicle appeared. Who knows if there had been reports of bad driving or similar involving a BMW.

I know an officer who now shows no discretion to people just because when he had displayed a large chunk of it he got a formal complaint. At that point he decided that if he was going to get complaints no matter what why bother showing discretion?

Most officers display more discretion than enforcement.

The officer is not a time traveller. A complaint should be made.

[wagon and horses]

It's pull like the OP's that are the reason some people have a bad impression of the BiB. tbh it does sound like he was bored, saw a nice car (what was it?) and wanted a quick peek, or like someone mentioned before - just simply jealous

[Mad Dave]

Yeah, who does he think he is eh, enforcing the law like that! Anyone would think it was his job!



I think it's about time to quit this forum.

[wagon and horses]

Mad Dave said:

Yeah, who does he think he is eh, enforcing the law like that! Anyone would think it was his job!



I think it's about time to quit this forum.

Sad to lose you

ETA: A copper with an attitude like that is the reason why so few people have respect for them these days, which I honestly think is a shame.

Edited by wagon and horses on Saturday 8th May 16:04

[The real Apache]

Mad Dave said:

Yeah, who does he think he is eh, enforcing the law like that! Anyone would think it was his job!



I think it's about time to quit this forum.

Enforcing what law? he pulled him for, in his own words, "creating a bad impression" and "driving a powerful car"

It reminds me of that Two Ronnies sketch where an over zealous cop pulled someone for 'having an offensive wife'

Edited by The real Apache on Saturday 8th May 16:02

[Mad Dave]

The illegal plates.

[anonymous-user]

I'm surprised by this, I have passed many police cars while I was travelling at up to about 80mph (on the clock)and they have never gone after me.
I'm guessing the number plate was partially responsible.

[cornishgirl]

Mr_annie_vxr said:

M5 Mark said:

Mr_annie_vxr said:

havoc said:

Waste of time. Regardless of the technicality of your 'offence', or the 'appearance' of it to another road user, 72 on an M-way should in no way be an issue unless there are severe meteo conditions or unless the average speed is <50mph (i.e. your overtake is way too quick vs the vehicles you're passing). The copper should have known all of that and left alone!

I'd suggest he was either bored or had too big an impression of himself.

Or the OP had been gaining on the officer at a greater speed but only passed at 70 odd,

The OP was also committing another offence that made him stand out.

For the two offences he got a pull and polite chat.

The OP has not stated what speed the officer said he was doing.

Patrol speeds are anything between 60-90 mph.


The officer is polite and explains why he stopped the OP and applied discretion, yet still gets vilified.

He may as well have just stuck the OP on for his number plate and called the OP a rude name and been obnoxious as he would have got just as much stick.

I've had similar with ambler gamblers who have gone through when they shouldn't have but not by large margins. I've stopped them and had a quick chat more for the impression it gives to the public who were there, i.e I am not ignoring it.

Does that make me think I'm God ?

He joined the M3 as I was coming to the junction, so there was no coming up behind him at a much higher speed. I did state the marked car must have been doing around 5mph less than me so was clearly under the limit.

I've stated several times I did not think the officer was out of order, I was simply curious about the reasoning behind this. It was not my intention to create an "US vs THEM" thread but it appears there is a clear line of thought here between the posters who are obviosuly coppers and those who are not. I think that is a shame. It's a shame the BiB here clearly think black and white and jump to defend their colleague. I see less of a PH spirit in this section, from BiB and public then any other forum section. I think the whole thing is a shame. Mr_annie_vxR you are ofcourse right, 71mph IS an offence, but I really think your black and white view of this is exactly what gives the police a bad name. Not the officer stopping me, he couldn't have been nicer about it and had a lot less attitude than you are giving me. My whole point is what was the thinking behind it. Mr_annie_vxR is simply giving me a negative impression that I didn't have before this thread! If your attitude is actually the thinking behind why I was stopped then I find myself drawing the conclusion that maybe some police are narrow minded.

Once again apologies my intention was not to have a go at the police or create a division between public and police.

Right.

Since you have decided to highlight myself.

What attitude am I giving you exactly?

My comments where nothing more than observations to explain what the officers reasoning was as to why you got pulled. I thought that was why you came on here? Otherwise why did you post? I then answered other peoples posts, yet you are now claim I'm "giving you attitude"


From asking people why he pulled you over you have then decided to attack me based on my observations of his thought process and declare that I give a bad impression of the police due to my black and white views of the law.

Since we are clearly in the bounds of drawing conclusions. I conclude you were doing a damn site more than 70 before he pulled you, no doubt slowing down as he came down the slip road. No-one drives at 70-71 on the motorway. You then overtook him and had a misplaced number plate. You attracted his attention.

Me, I've let people off with warnings at 130. I would never give a ticket for less than 90, indeed probably not for less than a 100.

You've created a division about officers jumping to defend their colleague and the for the record I think you will find that actually very few of the posters you think are police officers actually are. No-one has defended him other than to explain the possible reasons for the pull in the first place. Since when did his actions (of letting you off two offences by your own admission) and him being nothing but polite require defending?

You clearly have no interest in the thought process (which has been explained) as when its mentioned you start accusing people of having an 'attitude' when they are offering their thoughts about what happened.

I wouldn't have even pulled you over.

Edited by Mr_annie_vxr on Friday 7th May 18:54

Please tell us you work for Devon & Cornwall Police!

[Bill]

Rusty Arches said:

A complaint should be made.

And what exactly would you make the complaint about?

"Good morning Duty Sergeant, I'd like to complain that I was pulled over while exceeding the limit and with an iffy number plate."

"Righto, did you feel the enforcement was excessive?"

"Ah, well he didn't actually do any enforcing, he just had a quick chat."

"Well, sir, I shall refer this to the Police Complaints Commision immediately."

Pillock.

[M5 Mark]

Actually the point of the post from my own persepctive to understand the thiking behind the tug.

Having listened to the posts here I agree, he obviously had nothing better to do and was being proactive. Thats what we all want to see from the police. He could have given me a ticket for the plate but didn't was very civil and polite and even commented how it was quite a bit different and nicer inside than his own marked car.

Listening to the responses here I must say I don't really object to being pulled over now. Yes it might have been a bit picky, but picky would have been giving me a ticket. Yes he said it gave a bad impression being in a powerful car, (E60 M5 he was in a 530d I assume) and no doubt wouldn;t have happened in a ford mondeo.

All being said and done I can understand what has been posted here by those that are coppers and think what the hell it was proactive, he was hardly going to be out solving a crime if hadnt wasted 2 mins of his time on me, and I think we can all agree he probably didn;t have a lot on.

Having been pulled over in the past for serious speeding offences by some right tossers, I could only hope every copper that stopped me was this nice!

THanks all for sharing points of view.

[Vipers]

y2blade said:

enjoy the film

Fantastic.