I vowed never to watch one of these camera in the police car type programmes again, but once you start they are strangely addictive.
I saw half of a programme last night based on the West Yorkshire cops.
I will say that the police must be some horrendous aftermaths of accidents, and have to deal with dreadful low-life, and are sometimes at risk of serious injury, or death, and they get decently paid in return.
Now I have said that part, these shows (because that is what they are) do tend to show up some very dubious judgement on the part of the police at times.
EG. on last night's show the cops were following a suspected stolen transit van inside which they believed was a stolen road roller, and they were right in their assumptions. They followed this van, which was riding low at the back and weaving around a bit , due to the over loading.
They were considering trying to do a hard stop ( a crash basically) on the motorway, then thank goodness thought better of it.
I would have thought it would be best to follow it to see where it was going and to whom, but they decided to stop it on the slip road off the A1 as it slowed for a junction. So the police driver, in an unmarked 3 Series undertook the van, then pulled in front of it and jumped on the anchors. A full emergency stop. You could see the BM squirming under the braking.
Not surprisingly the van couldn't stop, so it hit the BM. One damaged police car off the road. The cops then jumped out, and said they were arresting the driver for (as well as driving a stolen vehicle) for dangerous driving, because he hadn't stopped! The only dangerous driving so far was the policeman's!
It turned out that the guy in the van was also a drug addict, and had no license or insurance but he could not be connected to the theft of the van or the roller, so he got a mild sentence. Perhaps they should have followed him to his destination after all?
The whole programme seemed to a fair amount of reckless driving by the police, followed by performances designed for the cameras when they made the arrest, (and showing great restraint it has to be said)and then pathetic sentences revealed at the end of the show.
That's why I won't watch another one.
Until the next time!
I saw half of a programme last night based on the West Yorkshire cops.
I will say that the police must be some horrendous aftermaths of accidents, and have to deal with dreadful low-life, and are sometimes at risk of serious injury, or death, and they get decently paid in return.
Now I have said that part, these shows (because that is what they are) do tend to show up some very dubious judgement on the part of the police at times.
EG. on last night's show the cops were following a suspected stolen transit van inside which they believed was a stolen road roller, and they were right in their assumptions. They followed this van, which was riding low at the back and weaving around a bit , due to the over loading.
They were considering trying to do a hard stop ( a crash basically) on the motorway, then thank goodness thought better of it.
I would have thought it would be best to follow it to see where it was going and to whom, but they decided to stop it on the slip road off the A1 as it slowed for a junction. So the police driver, in an unmarked 3 Series undertook the van, then pulled in front of it and jumped on the anchors. A full emergency stop. You could see the BM squirming under the braking.
Not surprisingly the van couldn't stop, so it hit the BM. One damaged police car off the road. The cops then jumped out, and said they were arresting the driver for (as well as driving a stolen vehicle) for dangerous driving, because he hadn't stopped! The only dangerous driving so far was the policeman's!
It turned out that the guy in the van was also a drug addict, and had no license or insurance but he could not be connected to the theft of the van or the roller, so he got a mild sentence. Perhaps they should have followed him to his destination after all?
The whole programme seemed to a fair amount of reckless driving by the police, followed by performances designed for the cameras when they made the arrest, (and showing great restraint it has to be said)and then pathetic sentences revealed at the end of the show.
That's why I won't watch another one.
Until the next time!
