Old bill in doing their job shocker

riding towards london bridge on my girlfriends new bike, wheeling my ride along next to me. Policeman (city police) waves me over to have a chat. He was really nice an polite, wondering how come I was riding two bikes. I explained that we'd just built it (thanks for the help Fatpants) for my girl and was taking it home. Took my name and details etc said he was satisfied that we were legit. I told him how much I appreciated being stopped as it showed they were doing summat about bike theft. He said that bike theft is a top priority especially in the summer months.

Quite impressed really, dunno what they would've done if we'd just hoofed it tho.

I got stopped by the police a couple weeks back because I was riding the bike I got for my sister with the Bob Jackson on my back (literally), he stopped me because it does look like I just nick the Bob Jackson!

let hope this is not just the only police officier just standing there checking for stolen bike.

riding towards london bridge on my girlfriends new bike, wheeling my ride along next to me. Policeman (city police) waves me over to have a chat. He was really nice an polite, wondering how come I was riding two bikes. I explained that we'd just built it (thanks for the help Fatpants) for my girl and was taking it home. Took my name and details etc said he was satisfied that we were legit. I told him how much I appreciated being stopped as it showed they were doing summat about bike theft. He said that bike theft is a top priority especially in the summer months.

Quite impressed really, dunno what they would've done if we'd just hoofed it tho.

"Damned by faint praise" indeed.
What a mean-spirited post...

What a mean-spirited post...

What, you mean yours Platini?

That's not being nice and polite. That's looking for a quick detection an a tick in a box.

nope, that's following procedure, stop and account. still possible to be nice and polite at the same time

"Two in the ...."

I was working on my bike while it was locked up outside my house late wednesday night, and it did look like I was stripping it for parts! One copper wandered straight past, the next two stopped and asked if it was my bike. That was it. No name check, nothing. I s'pose they have villain radar, and I obviously didn't appear on that. I must look posh or sumfink innit.

No, stop and account is stopping someone and asking them what they are doing.

Taking names and (by "details" I'm guessing) addresses is looking someone up in the PND to see if they have any previous, any outstanding, or are wanted for anything.

In other words, fishing for a quick detection.
checking pnc is procedure

Don't want to put a downer on what seems to be a tear jerking post but occasionally thieves lie through their arse and both edscoble and magpie's stories don't fill me with confidence.

Police officer - "Is that your severed head in that carrier bag sir?"
Me - "Yes officer, It's a spare I got for my girlfriend"
Police office - "Fair enough, have a good day sir"
Me - "Thank you Officer"

I was working on my bike while it was locked up outside my house late wednesday night, and it did look like I was stripping it for parts! One copper wandered straight past, the next two stopped and asked if it was my bike. That was it. No name check, nothing. I s'pose they have villain radar, and I obviously didn't appear on that. I must look posh or sumfink innit.

Maybe it was because you didn't run when three police walked past.

No, stop and account is stopping someone and asking them what they are doing.

Taking names and (by "details" I'm guessing) addresses is looking someone up in the PND to see if they have any previous, any outstanding, or are wanted for anything.

In other words, fishing for a quick detection.

Maybe he was fishing, but what would you prefer he does? Someone riding two bikes could quite resonably look like he's nicked one, certainly more likely than someone riding just the one.

He was polite, he had a go at something which looks reasonably suspicious, he did his job. If he gets a bit of credit at work, or hits one of his performance targets or whatever, then that sounds alright to me.

Maybe it was because you didn't run when three police walked past.

true dat. maybe thieves would get away with more if they grew a pair and blagged it. Actually, that's a worrying thought.

Don't want to put a downer on what seems to be a tear jerking post but occasionally thieves lie through their arse and both edscoble and magpie's stories don't fill me with confidence.

Police officer - "Is that your severed head in that carrier bag sir?"
Me - "Yes officer, It's a spare I got for my girlfriend"
Police office - "Fair enough, have a good day sir"
Me - "Thank you Officer"

ffs, everyone moans when they do nothing and now moan when they do something, in your opinion what should the officer have done?

Shocking news - police are humans too! So they look for things which are suspicious - people who don't seem to fit doing stuff which doesn't seem to suit them. If they stop you and ask you about something and you seem plausible, they're going to let you go. There are lots of things to pick up on - accent, what you're wearing, body language, your reaction to being stopped/checked out (common criminal response is flight, in case the cops have worked out what's going on).

I don't see how checking someone's details to see if they've got a criminal record as long as your arm is 'fishing for a quick detection'. If you come back clean they've every reason to believe your story, if you have a number of convictions for handling stolen goods they've got every reason to ask to see the receipt. That's just good old fashioned police work - something I think most of us on here would like to see more of when it comes to bike thefts.

Have not given one of these for a while:

+1

You're conflating two issues. I was careful enough to refer to only one.

I have no problem with stop and account (or stop and search, where there is reasonable cause). It's an extremely valuable and effective tool in policing.

Possibly I was - it's just that when people say that Police are 'fishing' it tends to be in a negative way, and carries an implication of lazy police work with little or no cause (and usually in the context of them trying to hit various targets) - which doesn't appear to be the case in this instance.

Questioning the appropriateness of state interference is not moaning. So stop moaning.
lol

ffs, everyone moans when they do nothing and now moan when they do something, in your opinion what should the officer have done?

Frame numbers of all bikes involved? Frame makes? Detailed description? I get the impression that if in both cases the bikes were stolen, there is no way of the Police knowing.

Questioning the appropriateness of state interference is not moaning. So stop moaning.
lol, but what would you have done if you thought it looked suspicious?

'is this your bike, sir?'

'why, yes it is, officer'

'oh, fair enough then, on your way'

it's hard to see how the bike thieves are going to get away with it in the face of this kind of zero tolerance crackdown

Frame numbers of all bikes involved? Frame makes? Detailed description? I get the impression that if in both cases the bikes were stolen, there is no way of the Police knowing.
good point, but did you know that most owners of stolen bikes don't even know the make or model of their bike.

it's hard to see how the bike thieves are going to get away with it in the face of this kind of zero tolerance crackdown

My gripe is with the idea that the police have a right to know who you are, not that the police can act on their suspicions.

points out how difficult it can be sometimes to make decisions, on one hand it's an infringement if you ask too many questions regarding identity, and on the othher you're slack if you don't. it still does'nt answer the question as to what you would have done if you saw a person riding down the rd, say brick lane (or anywhere else) with 2 bikes.

City Police are bored fuckless.. and you were a little out of the ordinary with your two bikes..

Why do I need to answer your question though.

I saw a fella on Jamaica Road last week cycling with two bikes.

I shouted "do a skid".
this is the internet mate, don't need to do anything, i was only asking for your opinion