Ive not even read the article yet but i had to post it... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...addling-police-officer-road-punching-him.html
Thing is...ive gotta say, in my life ive come across some right fucking assholes in police uniforms (not many and only a few) and thats pretty well what i felt like doing at the time...
Thing about demos are you rarely see the perp resist. There was an ex-League player senetebced the other week. Took 6 officers (iirc) 40 min to subdue him. They tasered him loads too, in one case he grabbed the pins from his chest, said ‘your turn’ and pulled the officer in by the gun to use it on him.
The thread is disappointing. If the cop was doing the beating up there would be 23 pages of indignation about how bad the cops are. Cop gets the shit kicked out of him and people talk Benny Hill and some wonder why the moral in plod is low.
Precisely because the moral in plod is low. If they had more moral then we mightn't hate them so much and their morale might be better.
We do hate them? I suspect most do not and those who shout the loudest tend to be the cantankerous when stopped/challenged, then moan where are the cops when they personally need them. Those type of people have issues with the police and are ever unlikely to appreciate them.
I cannot stand coppers generally, there are exceptions as not everyone is defined by their place of employment but there's a definite "type". My own interactions with the Police have been respectful and deferential, but when I have needed them they've been overly bureaucratic, unhelpful, and in some cases downright rude. At a local level Policing is ineffective and managed to their performance targets rather than for service of the community, and the amount of corruption, negligence and incompetence that's reported at a national level makes me generally distrustful of them. Personally I'm rather fearful of interacting with the Police as an institution, and try to keep it to a minimum. I don't doubt that it's a frustrating job and many of the things that I'm criticising them for I'm sure are frustrations that members of the Police themselves would dearly love to resolve. I like the idea of the Police, but the reality is not the cheery friendly bobby giving young scamps a clip around the ear. Policing in a way where judgement and discretion can be used has been eroded by an overly litigious society, so now we get Policing by committee and by rulebook. So yes, I do hate them... it's a reflection of hating society I suppose.
However useless the police "service" has become, no officer deserves to get a beating for doing his duty and stopping a vehicle is being driven/ridden illegally. He'll get a couple of years for that and rightly so. Assaulting a police officer is a serious offence. A few years ago I was a prosecution witness after a horrendous crash caused by a group of boy racers racing each other in Imprezas and Mitsubishi Evos on a busy ring road. They were overtaking one another against oncoming traffic. The overtaking Evo narrowly missed me and struck a police car behind me head-on at about 80 mph. The impact sounded like a bomb going off. The patrol car ended up destroyed and on its side at the bottom of a steep embankment near open water. The occupant was an entirely innocent WPC in her thirties who had just finished her shift and was returning to the station. She received life changing injuries. The scene was not a pretty sight. So many people I spoke to about the incident when I went for a stiffener down the pub afterwards joked that "at least they got the copper". Maybe there was a time when I would joined in the guffaws and said something similarly crass, but never again. I stopped and assisted at the scene and I saw the state of the women in that car. She didn't deserve what happened her and her uniform and choice of occupation was irrelevant.
That footage speaks for itself - the Police don't set out to get beaten up when they report for their shift, and hope to go home safely , as we all do. Whatever happened, the copper was taking a beating, and I'd put money on the scumbag doing the beating having a fair amount of "history". I hope he gets to go where he belongs for a year or so. Fuckin disgraceful.
No-one deserves to take a beating in the course of their job. Irespective of their job. (boxers and fighters exc)
Away from the keyboard and opinions I agree, because I'm not a complete monster. As you rightly say, that was bad luck and the fact it was a WPC in a Police car is neither here nor there, bad situation. As motorists we're easy prey and as motorcyclists we're often making progress and impeded from doing so by the fuzz. Occupational hazard as we choose to break the law, nobody twists the throttle for us. I actually can't complain if I'm caught at 120mph as that's my own fault... however when breaches of the law or crimes are reported and ignored, when officers act as if they are the law and are belligerent and inconsistent. When clearly targets are more important than right or wrong... you lose faith in their institution. So it's not that I'm happy to see the office, a fellow human, getting a kicking. It's the symbolism of the oppressive institution getting a little back that cheered the soul. I'm sure if I knew the miscreant then I'd be disgusted by his (presume it's a bloke) behaviour, and if I knew the officer then I'd be shocked. But I don't... so it's abstract, and I felt OK to joke about it. You've made me think twice. I still think that the Police as an institution are contemptible but you're right to rein it in and call to attention that underneath that stupid hat, and stupid costume, is a person. Sorry. (and if you want to imagine Benny Hill music playing as you read this, all the better)
@Fire3500 very big of you to make that admission (tip my hat in your general direction)....but on the whole i do tend to agree with you...!
thing is..... ive gotta say, in my life ive come across some right fucking assholes (people who for the majority of their existance pretending to be upstanding members of the community) whilst wearing a police uniform, and thats pretty well what i felt like doing at the time... however self restraint, the ability to communicate and keeping within the law saw the situation go other ways! No tax no insurance...which really should read a total disregard for others..
I would like to know why the biker got pulled over and to hear the his explanation, The police have targets to meet and thats it in a nut shell, mobile phones while driving one week and speeding the next, burglary and car thief are on the back burner as no money to gain from those crimes, Maybe switch the dash cam off next time
