Do the Police not care?
- Thread starter downfader
- Start date
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Simba
Specialized Allez 24 Rider
- Location
- Tottington - Lancashire
Where is the video?
I don't see where the blame lands on the police. They took advice from the CPS who decided that nothing should be done about it. There is nothing the police can do after that. It really winds me up when people use the police as a blanket excuse for lack of prosecution. The police have nothing to do with prosecution nor the decision to prosecute someone. They simply collate evidence and act upon it, a lot of the time on the advice of the CPS as they are the ones who then have to stand up in court and deal with it. A lot of people need to realise the CPS are totally separate from the police.
The whole thing about the police not caring is utter rubbish, besides the amount of police officers and staff who cycle to work every day especially in London is probably in the thousands so again people can assume they are not doing anything as they all hate cyclists. Don't get me wrong, people have bad experiences with the police and that is another issue, but the amount of times I see people bitch about the police and how ineffective and then cry out for their help soon after is quite frustrating.
The fact of the matter is for everything to be dealt with as it should there needs to be more police officers and less bureaucracy, both of which now will never happen with cut backs. To put it another way, the normal cop have to deal with on a daily basis; burglary, robbery, theft, assaults, racial violence, domestic violence, people collapsed in their homes and a lot more. Then there are the extremes like GBH, murder, suicides, sexual assaults, bomb threats and fatal road accidents. It doesn't matter if there are specific squads to deal with specific crimes, the regular cop on the street has to be the one to initially deal with it. I think a lot of people either forget or don't realise the extent of the polices duties.
This isn't to dismiss the previous statements made by other members but more to shed light on the fact that the blame doesn't and shouldn't land solely on the police. There are so many contributing factors that if I or anyone went into every one this thread would be 50 pages long.
The whole thing about the police not caring is utter rubbish, besides the amount of police officers and staff who cycle to work every day especially in London is probably in the thousands so again people can assume they are not doing anything as they all hate cyclists. Don't get me wrong, people have bad experiences with the police and that is another issue, but the amount of times I see people bitch about the police and how ineffective and then cry out for their help soon after is quite frustrating.
The fact of the matter is for everything to be dealt with as it should there needs to be more police officers and less bureaucracy, both of which now will never happen with cut backs. To put it another way, the normal cop have to deal with on a daily basis; burglary, robbery, theft, assaults, racial violence, domestic violence, people collapsed in their homes and a lot more. Then there are the extremes like GBH, murder, suicides, sexual assaults, bomb threats and fatal road accidents. It doesn't matter if there are specific squads to deal with specific crimes, the regular cop on the street has to be the one to initially deal with it. I think a lot of people either forget or don't realise the extent of the polices duties.
This isn't to dismiss the previous statements made by other members but more to shed light on the fact that the blame doesn't and shouldn't land solely on the police. There are so many contributing factors that if I or anyone went into every one this thread would be 50 pages long.
MartinC
Über Member
- Location
- Cheltenham
Peter10, I think you may have missed the point.
Instead of collecting and collating the evidence the Police asked the CPS if it the case was worth it.
The CPS said they weren't taking it on 'cos there wasn't enough evidence - not surprising as it hadn't been collected.
So there's reasonable grounds for complaining that the Police haven't done their job.
Instead of collecting and collating the evidence the Police asked the CPS if it the case was worth it.
The CPS said they weren't taking it on 'cos there wasn't enough evidence - not surprising as it hadn't been collected.
So there's reasonable grounds for complaining that the Police haven't done their job.
As Easy As Riding A Bike
Well-Known Member
The Metropolitan Police have reopened the investigation.
http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-incident-on-4th-november.html
http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2010/12/update-on-incident-on-4th-november.html
OP
OP
downfader
extimus uero philosophus
- Location
- 'ampsheeeer
Mate at work saw this, havent got time to watch it but heres the link:
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/road-rage-on-cyclecam86302/
http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/road-rage-on-cyclecam86302/
a nice little report.
His letter:
Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Home Secretary
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Dear Mrs May,
Treatment of offences affecting cyclists
I am a keen cyclist and secretary of a cycling club, Thames Velo, which is based in your constituency. In the last couple of months I have had two interactions with the police after I reported circumstances in which I had been, in the first case, threatened and, in the second case, actually assaulted by a motorist.
I write, not to detail my individual cases (though I would be very happy to furnish details if you wish) but because my experiences chime with those of a large number of cyclists who find that the commission of criminal offences which endanger or intimidate them are not taken sufficiently seriously by the prosecuting authorities, the first stage of which obviously is the police.
Relevant Home Office guidance has been issued to Chief Constables in the past. Specifically, in relation to cautions, Home Office Circular 30/2005 addressed to Chief Constables and copied to Crown Prosecutors refers to a gravity factors matrix and also requires that the victim’s views about the offence and the nature and extent of harm are taken into account.
My understanding is that the gravity factors matrix does include the vulnerability of the victim as a specific aggravating feature.
My experience in the case of the assault on me was that existing Home Office Guidance was not complied with before a simple caution was administered. In the case of the threat I have had to battle against a total lack of enthusiasm on the part of the police and the CPS to take my complaint seriously.
When cases get to Court there are sentencing guidelines which indicate that harm to a vulnerable road user is an aggravating feature but there is a problem in that too few cases where cyclists are harmed or threatened are taken to Court.
On a practical level could I ask your department please to consider issuing clear guidance to Chief Constables and to Crown Prosecutors that the endangering of vulnerable road users is a specific aggravating feature in the commission of a criminal offence?
At the moment the Government correctly encourages more active lifestyles. An increase in the level of cycling is obviously of direct interest to both the Department of Health and Department of Transport and relieves public expenditure from both those departments. Unfortunately there are a small minority of motorists who resist with aggression what they see as an invasion into ‘their’ road space and justify their malevolence towards cyclists with misunderstandings about ‘road tax’, safe cycling techniques, use of cycle paths, condemnation of all cyclists as ‘lawless’, and other misconceptions. Mass cycling will never become a reality while so many people are afraid of cycling on the roads because of inconsiderate, and even hostile, motor traffic.
May I suggest to you that it is a completely false economy, and wholly unjustified, to ‘go soft’ on motorists whose conduct tips over into criminality that endangers or threatens those using a form of transport that the Government is seeking to encourage?
I am not suggesting that a ‘soft’ policy has been directed from the top; rather it has emerged from the bottom and now needs to be tackled from the top.
I would be very happy to meet with you or your officials in your constituency or in Westminster (perhaps with representatives of relevant cycling organisations) to explain further the concerns which I know are now shared by a very large section of the cycling community.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Porter"
Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Home Secretary
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Dear Mrs May,
Treatment of offences affecting cyclists
I am a keen cyclist and secretary of a cycling club, Thames Velo, which is based in your constituency. In the last couple of months I have had two interactions with the police after I reported circumstances in which I had been, in the first case, threatened and, in the second case, actually assaulted by a motorist.
I write, not to detail my individual cases (though I would be very happy to furnish details if you wish) but because my experiences chime with those of a large number of cyclists who find that the commission of criminal offences which endanger or intimidate them are not taken sufficiently seriously by the prosecuting authorities, the first stage of which obviously is the police.
Relevant Home Office guidance has been issued to Chief Constables in the past. Specifically, in relation to cautions, Home Office Circular 30/2005 addressed to Chief Constables and copied to Crown Prosecutors refers to a gravity factors matrix and also requires that the victim’s views about the offence and the nature and extent of harm are taken into account.
My understanding is that the gravity factors matrix does include the vulnerability of the victim as a specific aggravating feature.
My experience in the case of the assault on me was that existing Home Office Guidance was not complied with before a simple caution was administered. In the case of the threat I have had to battle against a total lack of enthusiasm on the part of the police and the CPS to take my complaint seriously.
When cases get to Court there are sentencing guidelines which indicate that harm to a vulnerable road user is an aggravating feature but there is a problem in that too few cases where cyclists are harmed or threatened are taken to Court.
On a practical level could I ask your department please to consider issuing clear guidance to Chief Constables and to Crown Prosecutors that the endangering of vulnerable road users is a specific aggravating feature in the commission of a criminal offence?
At the moment the Government correctly encourages more active lifestyles. An increase in the level of cycling is obviously of direct interest to both the Department of Health and Department of Transport and relieves public expenditure from both those departments. Unfortunately there are a small minority of motorists who resist with aggression what they see as an invasion into ‘their’ road space and justify their malevolence towards cyclists with misunderstandings about ‘road tax’, safe cycling techniques, use of cycle paths, condemnation of all cyclists as ‘lawless’, and other misconceptions. Mass cycling will never become a reality while so many people are afraid of cycling on the roads because of inconsiderate, and even hostile, motor traffic.
May I suggest to you that it is a completely false economy, and wholly unjustified, to ‘go soft’ on motorists whose conduct tips over into criminality that endangers or threatens those using a form of transport that the Government is seeking to encourage?
I am not suggesting that a ‘soft’ policy has been directed from the top; rather it has emerged from the bottom and now needs to be tackled from the top.
I would be very happy to meet with you or your officials in your constituency or in Westminster (perhaps with representatives of relevant cycling organisations) to explain further the concerns which I know are now shared by a very large section of the cycling community.
Yours sincerely,
Martin Porter"
