Police Experiences

What are your individual experiences of the way the Police have reacted
to incidents of:

Cycle Theft?
Assault?
Traffic Collision?
Other cycle-related matters?

How does this experience compare to your other encounters with the Police?

Replies in the group, or by email are welcomed. My partner and I are
preparing to write an article for publication on this matter.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...
What are your individual experiences of the way the Police have reacted
to incidents of:

Cycle Theft?
Assault?
Traffic Collision?
Other cycle-related matters?

How does this experience compare to your other encounters with the Police?

Replies in the group, or by email are welcomed. My partner and I are
preparing to write an article for publication on this matter.

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

When Vernon was knocked off his bike & injured, I rang the police. The
operator taking the call was basically not interested. I had to *stress*
that Vernon had been injured and then she said she'd get an officer to
attend. Plod took ages to get there as royalty was at Sandringham so
resources were diverted to keeping the great unwashed away :-( Plod was all
very sympathetic but said he couldn't really do much and not to expect
anything. He also said he was attending several such incidents a week, and
in the light of this, if what he said was true, I was a bit concerned at the
seeming complacency.

Other experiences with police? Not many, but not exactly impressed by the
seeming lack of positive action in chasing up anything brough to their
attention. Many years ago, a guy went for me with a hammer and it took plod
an hour to arrive whereupon plod decided to do nothing as I'd managed to
defend myself & no actually be hit. Plod said "If he'd actually hit you we'd
do something, but as he didn't we aren't interested." That was
Cambridgeshire plod :-(

I don't rely on plod & I don't have much confidence in plod.

Cheers, helen s


Cheers, helen s

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 15:31:20 GMT, Helen Deborah Vecht
wrote:

What are your individual experiences of the way the Police have reacted
to incidents of:

Cycle Theft?

Couldn't even manage to raise a crime reference number. (Fortunately,
the insurers weren't too fussy).

Assault?
Traffic Collision?
Other cycle-related matters?

Various reports of aggressive behaviour by motorists and bus drivers.
Only once did they respond to inform me that they had written to the
motorist concerned.

Long e-mail conversation with local inspector concerning one of his
chaps who complained to me that I was cycling too far from the kerb.
Concluded that this particular inspector was beyond hope, so e-mailed
head office to tell them so.

How does this experience compare to your other encounters with the Police?


Less sarcastic than normal - by virtue of their lack of interest.

Replies in the group, or by email are welcomed. My partner and I are
preparing to write an article for publication on this matter.

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
What are your individual experiences of the way the Police have reacted
to incidents of:

Cycle Theft?

Fairly positive, probably as I was under no illusions that they
were going to do anything but file the stolen bike report.

The lady who dealt with my case (I assume a "civilian" member of
staff at the central police call center) knew very little about
bikes, but had a very good crib sheet to work from in order to
get the details of the bike.

I few days later I was sent a letter confirming everything and
with lots of contact numbers for advice / further action etc.

A little after that I was called asking if I wanted counselling,
as I had been a victim of crime As it was a £100 Halfords
"mountain" bike I politely declined


--
jc

Remove the -not from email

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
What are your individual experiences of the way the Police have reacted
to incidents of:

Cycle Theft?
Assault?
Traffic Collision?
Other cycle-related matters?

How does this experience compare to your other encounters with the Police?

Replies in the group, or by email are welcomed. My partner and I are
preparing to write an article for publication on this matter.

When some dimwit decided it would be fun to lean out the passenger side
of the overtaking car and slap me across the back as I cycled along, I
took the registration number and called the police.

They popped round a couple of hours later to take a statement, having
already been round to the registered keeper's address (and found him
out). They stressed it was unlikely there'd be a prosecution as there
were no witnesses. They called back a couple of days later with an
update (the driver, when found, denied everything and had had an attack
of amnesia regarding who his passenger was at the time, but the police
had attempted to jog his memory both at his workplace and his home;
apparently neither his boss nor his wife were impressed when they were
told he was being investigated for assault. I was, though :-)

No experience of any other stuff, thankfully.

R.

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
What are your individual experiences of the way the Police have reacted
to incidents of:

Cycle Theft?
Assault?
Traffic Collision?
Other cycle-related matters?

How does this experience compare to your other encounters with the Police?

Replies in the group, or by email are welcomed. My partner and I are
preparing to write an article for publication on this matter.


My only experience was after a traffic accident (knocked off my bike)
which I reported to the Police in Hampshire. I did not expect much and
really only reported it so there would be an official contemporaneous
record should I need it. In fact I was well impressed. They
interviewed the driver, they interviewed the witness. They phoned me up
to tell me what they had done, check everything was OK and make sure I
had the driver and insurance company details. As it was the driver
hadn't answered my letters at the address she gave me and the police had
a different address (I don't know for sure whether it was a false
address I'd been given). So without them and the phone call I would
probably have been stumped to start my claim for damages. When it came
to preparation for the Court case for damages, which the Insurance
company rejected saying I had thrown myself off the bike, the police
supplied a copy of the statement made by the witness (who had not
answered any letter requesting their assistance as a witness). It was
that statement that completed the case and the insurance company backed
off and settled in full with a week to go to Court.

So without Hampshire Police it could have been very different and I am
well pleased with my experience and went back to tell them so.

Tony

Richard wrote:
No experience of any other stuff, thankfully.

Actually I lie. I came a cropper at speed on a patch of diesel on a
roundabout. Off-duty nurse in the car behind me, and the cycle paramedic
who turned up within a minute, both insisted I lay still until the
ambulance came as I'd managed to wind myself by landing partly on my
rucksack, and so I was carted off to hospital on a spinal board, sans
bike. After I was discharged I called the police (who'd attended as
well) and was told my bike was at X police station. I hobbled there,
and found it was indeed there, parked securely undercover and caged.
Nicely done. Particularly as I had a fair way to get home. :-)

R.

Mrs L has had a couple of cycling related contacts with plod.

She used to park her bike in a (dark) public place and whilst riding
one day behind her I noticed that her rear brake blocks had gone awol.

It was a cheap sh*t bike and we thought that someone had done it
maliciously, so we told plod just in case there was some arsewipe
doing a similar thing along our road. Plod just said 'Looks like
someone wanted some brake blocks, didn't they?'

We didn't concur with this piece of detective work but she did get a
follow up call from a theft councelling officer (or some such job
title) a few months later to see if she was traumatised...


The other one .. new bike nicked (she had only locked it up by the
front wheel and it had QR bolts) (but it was January, after dark,
raining hard and locked at Sainsburys, opposite the Police station and
there were security guards around and she reckoned she was no more
than 3 minutes cos she forgot something ... )

Anyway, plod took the details and we bought a new bike. And that was
that.

"Helen Deborah Vecht" wrote in message
...
What are your individual experiences of the way the Police have reacted
to incidents of:

Traffic Collision?

Hats off to Leicestershire Constabulary in my case:
I got knocked off at a roundabout, picked myself up and 'phoned Plod, within
minutes a patrol car turned up and the PC sorted things out re. witnesses,
statements etc.
He then gave me a lift home.
Some weeks later I received notification that the driver had been issued
with a directive from the police that he either attend a two day driving
improvement course or face prosecution (he chose the former apparently).

In my brothers case they were also sympathetic and efficient.

Other cycle-related matters?

Polite lip service on the one occasion I complained about a blind lady
driving ;-)

Other interactions with the police have generally been good with the very
rare, odd rotten apple.

Pete

Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
What are your individual experiences of the way the Police have reacted
to incidents of:

Cycle Theft?

When I went into Bath police station in 1994 to report a cycle theft,
they took a report and that was about it. I never heard anything
further, other than to receive a letter from Victim Support.

Assault?

A few years ago in Bath a motorist swerved around my wife and me rather
than stopping for the zebra crossing that we were on. I banged on the
roof, the car screeched to a halt and the motorist came and started
hurling abuse at me. A bystander asked if he should call the police.
As I turned to face the bystander (big mistake) and asked him to note
the registration number and call the police, the motorist thumped me.
DW and I went straight to Bath police station, where the police were
very sympathetic. In court the motorist got points and a fine for
dangerous driving and was ordered to pay me a small amount of
compensation. A satisfactory result, thanks to having plenty of witnesses.

Bristol police were very different. When I was pushed off my Coker by
someone leaning out of a car window, they refused to take a report over
the phone. I had to go into Bristol after work one evening to make a
report in person at the police station. The desk officer seemed
sympathetic, but although I was able to give her the make, colour and
registration number of the car, as well as the exact date, time and
place of the incident, I never heard anything further (except for the
standard letter from Victim Support). It didn't help that they were
unable to contact my witness.

Other cycle-related matters?

In 1997, when I was almost run off the road on my morning commute from
Crowborough (in Sussex) to Tunbridge Wells (in Kent), Tunbridge Wells
police refused to even take a report. Because the incident happened a
good 300 yards outside of Kent, they weren't interested. Crowborough
police station was only open from about 10:00-15:00 during the week, and
not at all at weekends. I managed to get in to make a report and,
although I gave them the car's registration number, they refused to even
go and talk to the driver without witnesses.

When I reported fishing line across the Bath-Bristol cyclepath last
year, the police took a report over the phone. But probably only
because I dialled 999. A few people told me that they saw a cycling
policeman in the area about an hour later. Despite reporting 3 separate
incidents, I never heard anything further (except for the letter from
Victim Support). When I went to the press, the police stated that they
were investigating. I don't believe the statement was true.

How does this experience compare to your other encounters with the Police?

I can think of 3 other experiences that I have had with the police, all
very minor.

On one occasion, I was unicycling home from the pub and a police car
started crawling along next to me. When I looked over, one of the
policemen said through the open window: "Don't worry, we're just admiring."

On another occasion, I was unicycling home from the pub and a WPC said:
"I bet you couldn't do that after a few pints." Little did she know...

On the third occasion, I was walking home from gymnastics. We used to
train in a warehouse on an industrial estate in Crowborough. A brace of
carbound policemen was patrolling the estate and seemed curious as to
what possible reason I could have to be on the industrial estate at
night. I think they also wondered why I had been looking at them funny
- it was because their headlights were incorrectly adjusted, and I
told them so.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine