Do you have to sit in the police car?

[Rich1973]

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

[Jamescrs]

No you don’t have to unless you are under arrest however:

1- there’s a big risk to standing around on a hard shoulder which the Police are trying to minimise.

2- being cooperative and sitting in the Police car is more likely to see you getting words of advice and areas of a ticket.

Anecdotally I have been in the position of being pulled on a motorway for speeding, I sat in the back of the police car and had a reasonable conversation about the car which was modified and once the insurance was checked I was on my way again with no further action being taken. I suspect had I been difficult I would have got points.

[edthefed]

Rich1973 said:

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

No you do not have to --- its a request.

Ive been retired 15 years now but in a 30 year career, i stopped 10000s of vehicles and dont remember anybody refusing to sit in my car

[xx99xx]

Rich1973 said:

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

That's a fail on the attitude test straight away.

[Bigends]

xx99xx said:

Rich1973 said:

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

That's a fail on the attitude test straight away.

Really - why would that be. If the stopped driver would rather remain behind the safety of the armco barrier than in the back of the Police car why should that prejudice they way theyre dealt with?

[Derek Smith]

Rich1973 said:

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

Seriously? You're scared you might be beaten, tazered or what?

If you do get in the back, you could ask the officer if he can let you know where to get a life.

[RATATTAK]

On TV the police are usually dealing with scrotes; if you're not a scrote then do as requested.

[paul_c123]

Rich1973 said:

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

I would have thought the likelihood of being tazed or similar, is dependent on how much you cooperate with the police (amongst other criteria, for example if you refused to keep your hands in sight, or told them you had a gun, etc). They're not bothered about tazing someone in full view of the public and they're pretty aware of having a body cam on.

If you're going to have "a conversation" with the police, it makes sense to sit in the car if its safer, or even if its just easier due to less background/traffic noise.

[Sir Bagalot]

Being asked to sit in the back seat isn't enforceable unless under arrest. It is however part of the attitude test and you don't really want to fail thet

[xx99xx]

Bigends said:

Really - why would that be. If the stopped driver would rather remain behind the safety of the armco barrier than in the back of the Police car why should that prejudice they way theyre dealt with?

Because there's no logical reason why anyone wouldn't just sit in a police car if stopped for something. Unless of course that person has beef with the police or authority in general. Or they're an 'auditor'.

There are countless posts just on this website alone, of people who've been stopped for something but cooperated and were civil and then 'got off' with words of advice. Be a dick and then be unsurprised if the police use their legitimate powers of enforcement.

Yes, it's discretionary, but why can't some people just swallow some pride and resist the urge to argue when faced with a figure of authority?!

[bigmowley]

I have been asked to sit in the back more times than I care to remember it’s 100% the start of the attitude test. It’s never occurred to me to refuse! I’ve even had to watch the odd video
Never been done though

[vaud]

I’ve only been asked once. They were super polite, reasonable, etc and it was way warmer and safer than the freezing rain and fast road that I was on…

[shtu]

Rich1973 said:

police...
truth be told don't particularly trust them.

Then don't be surprised if they don't particularly trust you in return.

That will affect how you are treated, how much weight is put on your statements of how sorry you are, how much of a lesson you've learned, and so on.

[borcy]

I remember seeing such an incident on tv, the bloke absolutely refused to even get out of his car. He just dropped his window a small amount and the police had to deal with him that way.

[LosingGrip]

edthefed said:

No you do not have to --- its a request.

Ive been retired 15 years now but in a 30 year career, i stopped 10000s of vehicles and dont remember anybody refusing to sit in my car

Happens more often these days. I stopped 100s a week. Around ten percent would refuse. Doesn't bother me and also not part of the attitude test. Most of the time it was because it was easier for me to do what I needed to.

[2020vision]

Rich1973 said:

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

Yes
If you are happy to stand out in the cold and rain while the officer asks you a series of questions, help yourself.
Hopefully it will take a veeeerrrrryyyyyyyy long time and you get very wet and cold.

[vaud]

2020vision said:

Yes
If you are happy to stand out in the cold and rain while the officer asks you a series of questions, help yourself.
Hopefully it will take a veeeerrrrryyyyyyyy long time and you get very wet and cold.

Quite. Either way you on on bodycam these days. No risk in sitting in a nice warm car. if you are going to be arrested then it matters not a jot (legally) to the police where you stand/sit, but in most cases everyone will be happier in a car.

[Bigends]

2020vision said:

Rich1973 said:

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

Yes
If you are happy to stand out in the cold and rain while the officer asks you a series of questions, help yourself.
Hopefully it will take a veeeerrrrryyyyyyyy long time and you get very wet and cold.

Wont the officer be getting equally wet and cold whilst taking their time?

[kestral]

Rich1973 said:

Watching motorway cops, police interceptors etc, whenever anyone is pulled, they are always 'invited' to take a seat in the back of the police car.

Considering the news items of police tazering a 92 year old dementia patient etc, if I ever find myself in the position of being pulled I would far rather stand outside where passing witnesses can see me. I've seen how the police are in various programs and truth be told dont particularly trust them.

My question is - can you refuse to sit in the back of the police car?

Don't sit in the back of a police car unless arrested.The reason the police want you in the back of the car is most of the time the child locks are on and once you are in you cannot get out. Many people are actually placed under a false imprisonment when the police ask them to get into the car and child locks are on.

If you do get in establish that the child locks are not on and or leave the door ajar.

Don't get into the back of a police car on the hard shoulder, for some reason police officers think lorries don't run into them. Stand the other side of the barrier at least.

[Courser]

xx99xx said:

That's a fail on the attitude test straight away.

The very fact that there is some sort of “attitude test” is disgusting and explains a lot of what is wrong with policing.