Police spotting (junction watch)

leave jesus out of it. Electoroll indeed. It's a bit like tv detector vans. Anyone ever seen one? The thing is about tv's is that 99% of people have one. So the licensing authority just has to look to see which addresses do not have a license registered. Hey presto 2 + 2.
If you give a false address, (and they don't always check) and the police have no record of that name living there or indeed that address existing, then your either an idiot who dosn't know his/her own address or lying.
utility bills, electoroll, subscription to RLJ monthly whatever, it's not hard this is the era of information. Besides as people have mentioned before if you can't see a dayglo fatman at a junction you shouldn't be jumping because you don't have the skillz in the eyez not to get killed by on coming traffic.

Glad I read this this morning :)

http://i5.pinkbike.com/photo/2240/pbpic2240302.jpg

Ok, i seemed to have provoked some strong feelings here, so i'd like to explain what i meant.

this info is from the Police authority ( it is useful to know your rights) :

*"you can be stopped and searched anywhere when an officer believes you are carrying:

drugs, weapons or stolen property

items which could be used to commit a crime

items which could be used to commit an act of terrorism.

The officer will ask you for your name, address and date of birth. You do not have to give these unless you are being arrested or reported for an offence.

Before you are searched, the officer must take all reasonable steps to ensure that you understand what law they are using and your rights."*

ok, so if one had jumped a red, then that would be an offence, and they would have the right to ask you for your details. They still wouldn't have any grounds for searching you if you politely and simply stated that you were carrying no ID at that time.

The key point is, this would be one of those times where how the situation proceeded from there would depend very much on a number of variables. How polite you are to them, how well-spoken and confident you are, and sadly, how white and middle-class and middle aged you are.

i readily accept that antagonising the Police will get you nowhere and probably arrested or at least detained. i certainly wasn't trying to suggest otherwise. it's pretty well known!

I have been arrested a few times when i was younger - possesion,assault ( a punch-up) -nothing major, and i certainly never ended up in court over these things. i have also been stopped in cars etc more times than i can remember over the years. again, not for anything serious.
However, it does mean i have my fair share of experience dealing with the police, like everyone else here.

In recent years, now i am slightly overweight and in my 30s, and wear glasses and look respectable, i have found that my dealings with the Police, when they occur, tend to go much more in my favour. I have been stopped a couple of times for minor cycling misdemeanors ( riding on pavement , jumping a red), and in those situations, i have been polite and contrite, and have always been sent on my way without it going any further. As well as politeness, a certain (under)tone of voice that hints at ' i know my rights and i won't be taking any shit if you infringe them' also seems to help. They get a bit wary about white middle class blokes in their 30s, because they never know which middle-class bloke in his 30s is a solicitor or lawyer of some kind. I'm not suggesting that this would stop them making an arrest in a serious situation, of course not, but for very minor stuff, they are much less likely to a) want the hassle, b) suspect the white middle class bloke of anything else more sinister.

and finally, as was said above - not being on the electoral role is proof of nothing more sinister than having moved recently.

So, that's what i was getting at. I'm sorry if i wound people up, i didn't mean to, i was a bit pissed. However, i stand by what i have said above, i.e: it wouldn't be hard to get off a red light ticket with the right approach.

yours ever,

nimhbus.

got stopped last night by a cop after jumping a light, he was in an unmarked van in front of the an embassy. it went like this:

cop: not very nice if you get killed is it
me: no cars where coming
cop: not nice for me if i have to tell your family is it
me: I'm an orphan, sir
cop: whats your name then
me: Oliver, sir
cop: if i didn't have to keep an eye on them (points to faulon gong woman sitting across the road) you would be in trouble.
at this point i ride off.

exactly. it's easy peasy to deal with Robbie Rozzer.

cop: not nice for me if i have to tell your family is it
me: I'm an orphan, sir
cop: whats your name then
me: Oliver, sir

:D

I nearly not knocked off by some guy driving round the roundabout by the Rotherhide tunnel who was reading a map whilst driving! The thing is he had a passenger with him, how retarded was the passenger that they could not read the map for him.

These stings are necessary every so often. It allows the police to say they are doing something about the massive problem of rebel, renegade cyclists. This helps to keep many people satisfied and hence reduces the demand from crazy people saying license / tax e.t.c bikes. Just take care and try and avoid these areas if you can.

Yeah, it's also important to lynch a whole bunch of immigrants once in awhile just to satisfy the BNP. Just make sure to stay out of the English-only neighbourhoods on those days.

:D

glad you liked it

Oh, does ':D' mean I like something? I thought it represented the tongue shoved in bottom lip spazzer face.

ive been stopped twice in the last 6 weeks first by the CID in a unmarked car and second time was by th CSO's ,CID stopped me cos i was wearing jeans riding my carbon road bike,they said there had been a lot of burglaries in the area .CSO's chased me down the road till they caught me up ,i was walking but they saw me from 200 yards looking at a bike chained to some railings with 2 d locks and padlock and chain,if you dont give them your details,they get on their radio and call the REAL POLICE then they come down and ask you the same questions and if you refuse to answer you get a free ride in a taxi with a blue light on top

How did you prove the bike was yours?

its a ribble nero corsa ,so told them where and when i bought it and how much i paid for it,i told them where ribble was based and they checked me out for any previous CID were ok the CSO's were well over the top though

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/police/powers/

the law is that when stopped by a popo, for any or no reason at all, you're obliged to give your name. If it's a stop and searchie, you have to give them NOTHING. If for a suspected offence, then you have to provide your name, address, and DOB. If you're in posession of a vehicle they can stop you at any time and do not have to give a reason. failing to stop is a criminal offence in its own right.

specials have the same powers as police. PCSO's do not (they cannot stop and search for example).

fred i read that CSO's powers are at the discretion of the local chief constable .

i... there had been a lot of burglaries in the area

every time I've been stopped, this has been the "reason" - you match the description of someone described carrying out a burglary in the area. for a stop and search, there has to be justifiable reason.

I'm not white by the way.

but it's easy to bash the police. In my experience, they will abuse every power they have in order to meet their objectives. They're trained not to question, but to stop crime. an admirable objective, by sometime occasionally questionable methods. It's the best we've got kids.

fred i read that CSO's powers are at the discretion of the local chief constable .

from memory I think that this is the case to a point, but the local chief constable cannot give the PCSO's powers beyond a certiain point, which is set out by the home office.

TBH im far too drunk to look it up ;-P

CSO's asked me how tall i was and what ethnic origin i would describe myself as ,and now they cant even reprimand schoolkids after that incident in croydon.

got chased down & pulled over in Birmingham the other day. It looks like this programme has gone national.

But to be honest theres such few cyclists here the officer was very easily passifiable, you could tell they were just following orders for a programme that didnt make to much sense here. I really doubt theyd go to the lengths of doing the search bit.

got chased down & pulled over in Birmingham the other day.

they chased you from London to Birmingham? For that effort you should at least have made "police, camera, action"

CSO's asked me how tall i was and what ethnic origin i would describe myself as

eh?

what for, were they blind?

I thought the police coppers for the rozzers were trained to give descriptions?

"well, yes chief cuntsable, the human in question was a tall person, almost a dwarf, bald with long hair, afro-carribean caucasian sort of ethnic type, probably from asia. naked and wearing light coloured dark clothing, bareheaded with a tall hat like a beret"

"well, Yes Chief Cuntsable, The Human In Question Was A Tall Person, Almost A Dwarf, Bald With Long Hair, Afro-carribean Caucasian Sort Of Ethnic Type, Probably From Asia. Naked And Wearing Light Coloured Dark Clothing, Bareheaded With A Tall Hat Like A Beret,** It Turn Out I Was Wrong When The Individual Describe His Ethnic Origin And His Height For Me, For A Moment There I Thought He Was A 5'11 Overweight Caucasian with a mullet, Lucky Eh?!"**

Etfu.

However, it’s advisable that when asked, you describe your ethnic origin. It’s important that you give this information to the officer, as this is how we monitor disproportionate stopping of ethnic minorities and encourage police accountability.

they record what they see your ethnic origin as and what you describe yourself as. If they're stopping a white person, they write IC1 in the IC box, there's a Self Defined Ethnicity (SDE) box that to fill in they have to ask you what you would describe yourself as. You then pick from a list, eg. White Irish or White British. If it was a black person they would write IC3 and there SDE might be Black African or Black Caribbean or something else.

as for asking the height, they probably just weren't any good at judging height, i dunno.