| From: | michael.slyfield |
| Date: | 27 Mar 2001 at 11:11:23 |
| Subject: | VOODOO TIME - Traffic Cops |
Richard wrote
> The British bobby is bloody highly trained in all skills and very
dedicated.
> I just hate to see all that potential wasted on stopping motorists just to
> get the 'numbers up'!
Pedantic bit to follow:
You'll find that it's the Traffic Dept. who primarily do all the speeders,
document
checks etc. Traffic are a relatively small Dept. within each Force
dedicated
to enforce ..... err ..... Road Traffic Law! So, not surprisingly, that's
what they
tend to do all day.
The logic behind their existence (other than enforcing the law - coz
generally
speaking, that's what policemen are paid to do) is to try and keep a lid on
the
relentless carnage on the roads - and there's loads of it. Young bikers in
particular
seem quite keen to donate body parts whenever and wherever the opportunity
presents itself.
Unfortunately it's the aforementioned plod who gets stuck with a) shoveling
them up off the road (why is it always at meal times?) and b) going off to
break
the news to the nearest and dearest, which really is a great barrel of
laughs and
just what you need to really lift your day. After a couple of years of
doing that, it
takes a very rare individual to not slide into world of cynisism and
sarcasm - it
seems to be a natural human defence which you find, to varying degrees, in
all
of the emergency services.
Just like everyone else, a copper's job performance is subject to constant
appraisal,
only unlike practically everyone else, this is also subject to a number of
rigid legal
sanctitions. How else would you guage a traffic law enforcer's performance
if you
didn't actually look at his record of enforcing those particular laws?
Ironically, in many Forces these days, it's often the Traffic Dept. who make
the
majority of crime arrests! Well, think about it: they're always out there
in the
fastest cars and with an ecellent local knowledge of a wide geographical
area.
Mind you, that doesn't stop the rest of us refering to them as "Traffic
Nazis" and
cussing whenever they appear in the rear view. No, I'm not on Traffic,
never have
been, only ever done one speeder in more than 2 decades - not my bag man
(only ever did it coz someone made me).
As to the "highly trained" comment, well it's true that some of us are, but
most have
to bumble along with mediocre kit and half-arsed training. With moral at an
all time
low at street level and officers leaving in droves, you'll soon have to be
pretty damned
unlucky to get stopped at all - unless that is you do something to "put
yourself in play"
as we say (yes I know some are b**tards, but you find those everywhere).
And now, to get back to something more relevent: I'm actually engaged in a
rather funky
IT project at work which we hope will, ultimately, make use of the AmigaDE
in really
exotic and exciting ways, only it's still in it's infancy and not quite yet
ready for discussion
- so there!..
Mick
(not a Nazi, no sir)
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