Old bill in doing their job shocker

why did he have no reason to believe it wasn't stolen?

the copper comes up, says 'is that your bike?' you say 'yes', he says 'can i have you name and address', you say....

Am I under arrest? No?. Then I'm going to continue on my bike ride and choose not to give details. Thanks.
p.s I am not a solicitor as you might have guessed.They are obviously in league with the police and always stop unless they've just run you over. Possibly.

i'm in a really bad mood cos i'm at work on a saturday again.
I do understand what your saying, sometimes you need to remain anonymous for reasons of your own safety or something, but being as helpfull as possible has always been the best idea in my book. I can see sometimes you may not want to give your name and address, but for the most part it just makes you look shady.

there is a thing called instinct and judgement, it normally comes with years of experience.

Indeed so when someone lies about themselves - by saying they are a solicitor on their way to court for example, its the sort of thing which will give them reasonable suspicion to investigate further.

I've still seen nothing other than conspiracy theories as to why you wouldn't want to give your details if asked.

Oh no, forget the lying solicitors thing. I'm innocent I tell you. I did not steal the bike(s). The real point is that we are so fortunate that we have a system which allows us the right to go about our lives without having to give up our names on demand. It might seem like a small issue but the law is there to allow/ensure these freedoms. The police force carry pout these laws of ensuring rights, they are not just to catch thieves etc

Sometimes the police are helpful, sometimes they are pretty stupid:

Helpful example:
My mate got knocked down quite badly on his bike last week, police were on the scene within minutes, were dealing with the guy that hit him straight away, had determined what happened and charging the guy there and then, as they realized the severity of the situation (my friend was very lucky to not get killed by oncoming traffic).

Unhelpful example:
3 times within the space of 2 months last year I got pulled over because I matched the description of a wanted gang member in the area apparently, the first time I was helpful because I respect they are doing their job etc.
When it got to the second time I actually said "Are you serious, I had this a few weeks ago, and got asked exactly the same questions and told exactly the same thing".
When it got to the third time I really lost my patience and said something along the lines of "are you taking the piss, this is the 3rd bloody time in 2 months, do you guys not communicate with each other or something?!". This time instead of being held for 10 minutes or so worth of questions, after a minute or two once they checked the plate against my name, I actually got an apology and then went on my way, annoying much!

Good illustration of overlapping priorities. Police are there to catch criminals and to ensure our rights. Probably.

did you expect them to amend their description of the gang menber to include "not james though, he's ok"? If you look like him, you look like him!

this is also a good example for giving your name to the police so they can check who you are, without being carted down to the popo station.

Sometimes the police are helpful, sometimes they are pretty stupid:
Unhelpful example:
3 times within the space of 2 months last year I got pulled over because I matched the description of a wanted gang member in the area apparently, the first time I was helpful because I respect they are doing their job etc.
When it got to the second time I actually said "Are you serious, I had this a few weeks ago, and got asked exactly the same questions and told exactly the same thing".
When it got to the third time I really lost my patience and said something along the lines of "are you taking the piss, this is the 3rd bloody time in 2 months, do you guys not communicate with each other or something?!". This time instead of being held for 10 minutes or so worth of questions, after a minute or two once they checked the plate against my name, I actually got an apology and then went on my way, annoying much!

unfortunately james, that's not a good example of being 'unhelpful', if it was the same officer on three occasions then i would understand, their priority is to stop anyone looking like the suspect not 'remember it's not crazyjames'. ie: if your car plates are cloned and you report it, it is possible you will be stopped to verify your details for obvious reasons.

I know they were doing their job, and its good they were trying to get some dangerous gang member off of the streets etc, but jeez 3 times in the same car, the same person!
Surely they keep a log of these things.

like i said you were not the priority, they will stop anyone looking like the suspect as many times as they have to. i used to get stopped many, many times for no reason at all, they weren't even looking for a gang member. i remember being stopped just outside my front door with the key in my hand...
1st question was: 'where do you live?'
my answer: 'here'

I know they were doing their job, and its good they were trying to get some dangerous gang member off of the streets etc, but jeez 3 times in the same car, the same person!
Surely they keep a log of these things.

yes they do, then they check your name and address against it, wait......

:)

yes they do, then they check your name and address against it, wait......

Yeah it was only on the 3rd occassion they actually let me on my way without asking a whole heap of questions, after checking my name and address etc.
Not saying what they did was wrong, I know they were just doing their job, and i'm glad they were trying to take a dangerous person off of the street (he was wanted for a very violent assault with a weapon apparently), but really what are the odds of getting pulled over 3 times in such a short space of time for the exact same thing lol.
To be fair they were pretty polite and professional each time, although the first time I did feel a bit on edge because one of them had their hand on their baton holster the whole time the other one was talking to me.......then again having short hair, whilst also not shaving for a few days, and wearing a baggy all black house of pain ironwear tracksuit probably didn't help my case.

In complete contrast to these guys, a couple of years back I was hanging around with a mate on my bmx riding a spot, and some police riding around in a big van pulled up and some woman got out, started asking us what we were doing etc etc, so we explained we were just riding the spot like doing tricks and what not, my mate mikey busted out a 360 hop to illustrate the point ;)
They thought we were up to no good so they started asking for our details, they thought we were lying so they asked us a few random questions, asked about our bikes, (fairly detailed questions about them actually), plus other stuff like where we were from, eventually leading to what what we both did for work.
Mikey in his usual lively way piped up and jokingly said, i'm a teacher and he's works in an outdoor adventurer shop, needless to say the copper clearly thought he was taking the piss or just getting lippy, and angrily told us to wait there whilst another copper jumped out and she checked our details very thoroughly, including who we were employed by lol?!
The look on her face when the person on the radio was like "yep thats correct" was priceless, we got a "night lads" from the coppers and then they left us to it hehe :)

but for the most part it just makes you look shady.

only because there is some atmosphere in this country where those with extra power are to be trusted.

only because there is some atmosphere in this country where those with extra power are to be trusted.

no you miss the point entirely.
you look shady because you are not being open and honest.
people will mistrust you because of this. including the police.

And you are meant to trust the police. If you feel you can't thats fine. But its also fine to trust them. only a small minority are corrupt.

i am open and honest to people i know and like. i am not open to people i dont know, especially when they keep pestering me for personal details to which they have no right to. then i'm a cunt. if cop is feeling unreasonable or in need of a power fix they will arrest you for fuck all but then look very silly when they get in shit for unlawful arrest and you get a bundle of cash.*

*this may take 12+ months and require you escalate things to the crown court.

i am open and honest to people i know and like. i am not open to people i dont know, especially when they keep pestering me for personal details to which they have no right to. then i'm a cunt. if cop is feeling unreasonable or in need of a power fix they will arrest you for fuck all but then look very silly when they get in shit for unlawful arrest and you get a bundle of cash.*

*this may take 12+ months and require you escalate things to the crown court.

ok you sound like your being a bit of a nob again so i'm out.

?

it was a joke, funny because its true. i guess you've never experienced the malicious end of the CPS?

I thought it was nicking bikes and giving smart or no answers to the police when stopped that was going down a dangerous path.

Not at all, if you have stolen anything then giving no answers is a good move.

those who steal bikes and get into trouble know what they are doing. those who give out their details when doing nothing wrong are silly.

+1

Any information, all information will be used against you - always.

There is no personal malice on the part of the police, they do not go out of the way to cause problems, it is only that this is the way their operational procedure is designed.

Anything - absolutely anything - you say will likely be use against you - this is not a controversial view, any lawyer will tell you to shut your mouth if approached by a police officer - even if you are 'innocent'.

Kids, never speak to an officer, if they ask you for your details, politely decline.

so no one's yet come up with a reason to say to a policeman "actually, i'll keep my name and address to myself.." apart from . . . .

This, in itself, is flawed thinking.

The onus is not always on the objector to state why it something happen - and more commonly on the proponent of the idea to defend his position.

You might as easily state - "no one's yet come up with a reason to say to a Imam "actually, i'll keep my name and address to myself..".

Or "no one's yet come up with a reason to say to a milkman "actually, i'll keep my name and address to myself..".

It's a silly position to take, it assumes all things are valid unless proven otherwise.

Yeah, but we're not in court now, I'm simply asking for a feasable example of a reason for which you may not want to give your details.

Because anything you say to a police officer that can be used against you will be used against you, - absolutely anything - and anything that may protect you against the force of the law will be - by definition of law - always be ignored (as hearsay).

Always.

Now for some reason I'm getting Sylvester Stallone's voice "FUCK THE POLICE"