shouldbeinbed
Rollin' along
- Location
- Manchester way
Lazy & incompetent plod as a sweeping generalisation is OTT. @CopperCyclist has recently highlighted the serious lack of bodies on the beat nowadays, something I also hear from cop pals and a Chief Officer of Greater Manchester recently highlighted that there can be a single figure number of officers in Manchester City centre on a Friday or Saturday night. Whatever they may or may not be in terms of effort & competence, it's fair to say that they can't be omnipresent and investigations have 2 versions to pick the bones out of one or both of which may not be 100% truthful. Forensics is often less of a factor in this sort of crime than acquisitive, sexual etc so no quick wins that way.
CPS generally work on the basis of what will secure a conviction (aka public money seen as wisely spent) so are more likely to err towards cut and dried cases and be open to negotiation downwards by the defence in return for a lesser guilty plea & guaranteed result. One mans incompetent and feeble is another mans pragmatic approach to a mountain of crimes.
As for the tariffs laid down in law by parliament, available to the judges to pass sentence on - it's the old adage, if you want the best chance of getting away (lightly) with killing someone, use a car as your weapon.
We're a very small very minority species in a huge pond of diminishing resources and we can't shout as loud as all the burglary victims etc, nor does running down a cycle have the same emotional resonance as a rape or child crime, nor the profile of a phone hacking scandal, nor the financial imperative of stopping & recovering assets re a multi million pound+ fraud and the list can go on. All before you factor in the I'm a driver too and Jeremy Clarkson/Emma Way/the dopey girl last week pro-car (& less prevalent anti bike) mentality that pervades society to a large degree.
& no I'm not saying any of the above should just be accepted or is right in a moral & just society sense but it's where we still are now in reality. Austerity, political will, law enforcement & judicial & societal attitudes to the importance of cycling and our victim status when on the wrong end of dangerously negligent or deliberately criminal activity will all have to change before we get a fair shake of the stick.
CPS generally work on the basis of what will secure a conviction (aka public money seen as wisely spent) so are more likely to err towards cut and dried cases and be open to negotiation downwards by the defence in return for a lesser guilty plea & guaranteed result. One mans incompetent and feeble is another mans pragmatic approach to a mountain of crimes.
As for the tariffs laid down in law by parliament, available to the judges to pass sentence on - it's the old adage, if you want the best chance of getting away (lightly) with killing someone, use a car as your weapon.
We're a very small very minority species in a huge pond of diminishing resources and we can't shout as loud as all the burglary victims etc, nor does running down a cycle have the same emotional resonance as a rape or child crime, nor the profile of a phone hacking scandal, nor the financial imperative of stopping & recovering assets re a multi million pound+ fraud and the list can go on. All before you factor in the I'm a driver too and Jeremy Clarkson/Emma Way/the dopey girl last week pro-car (& less prevalent anti bike) mentality that pervades society to a large degree.
& no I'm not saying any of the above should just be accepted or is right in a moral & just society sense but it's where we still are now in reality. Austerity, political will, law enforcement & judicial & societal attitudes to the importance of cycling and our victim status when on the wrong end of dangerously negligent or deliberately criminal activity will all have to change before we get a fair shake of the stick.
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