Police
I have tried to let this thought go for a couple of days now, but it just will not go away ! Would you think that this person is dressed like a police officer ? Dark clothes, shiny shoes etc ? Is that against the rules ?
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As you may know, I am not sure that giving members of the public speed trap guns is a good idea. The citizens in this picture were standing in the middle of a side road, at a junction, in dense fog, playing with a speed trap device, whilst looking for people being foolish !! The swirling fog dropped the visibility to about 10 yards at various times. These people are putting themselves and others at risk by their actions. There are school children crossing the road in the last picture.
Thorpe End 18-02-2008 approx 3.30pm
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Last years pay negotiations.........
The national and local press today have run stories about why the police deserve a better deal because of the work that they do. When you join the police force you know what you are joining, if it is not what you want to do you could find something else. Thousands of people do heroic deeds every day for a fraction of the wage that police officers get so surely they need the same level of payment and conditions ( but they won't ever match even the current deal ). The police should have their pay award as agreed i.e. 2.5% but, they are not forced to do the job, if they stay they must improve.
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I am in favour of the reduction of speed limits in built up areas but I am not sure that giving speed guns to members of the public is a good idea, What if one of the operators has a grudge against someone ? What if a reported person decided to take some form of revenge action ? What if the operators are just incompetent ? Does a letter generated by a report stay on some ones file and if it does what will that do to the court process ( is it proof ? ). I want law and safety on our roads delivered by the police, not a Granny or Granddad who probably cannot even programme their video machine.
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Driving without insurance should carry a life ban and the vehicle should be crushed. People who drink and drive or use a mobile phone ( whilst driving or being in charge of a vehicle in use ) should be treated in the same way.
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We need to improve our police force and increase the number of front line officers, over the last 25 years the quality of our police force has gone down, that is not to suggest that there are no quality officers left, just that they are harder to find.
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We need to reverse the trend of recent years whereby the law seems all to often to favour the criminal. We should build more prisons if that is what is needed. We must remove people from prison who are ill and whose offence is in fact a symptom of their illness, a secure hospital with an agreed treatment process that is monitored and reviewed regularly for effectiveness is a more suitable approach, with release upon recovery.
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Charity chuggers should be held guilty of a criminal offence.