Police Day Out
At the last Burnin’ B’mth I was standing at the top of the arena when a call came over the walkie talkies saying the Police were here and wanted to see me. At first I thought I was going to be arrested for hiring and driving a Vauxhall Vectra, and was busy looking for the nearest exit! After realizing that I had better stay as opposed to legging it I went over and found him. The guy introduced himself as PC Shaun Cronin, and after a quick chat about how the event was going we got onto general ‘Police’ chat, he then invited me to come down to the Ferndown HQ to ask some questions, get some honest answers and have a look round. I accepted as I thought it would be a great opportunity to get some fact and figures as opposed to the Chinese whispers and rumors that we all hear day to day.
Anyway, Nick (Intercorsa), Martyn, Matt H and me (Nath V) made arrangements to go and see them one Sunday. After a McDonalds Breakfast and a trip to Halfords where the doors were open but there was no staff about I had to remind Martyn that stealing neon washer jets was WRONG! Anyway we arrived at Ferndown Police headquarters at 11am. We parked in the visitors bit only to be directed into the secure Police compound by Mr. Cronin, it’s a trap we all thought, there’s going to be 50 Police offers on the other side of the gate and were going to have an MOT and get busted!!! A cunning plan if you think about it!
Luckily once through the gates it appeared that we were wrong, but the day wasn’t over! We parked up in an empty bit of the car park got out the cars and started chatting to PC Shaun Cronin. Turned out Mr. Cronin was a keen car enthusiast too and used to modify cars when he was younger, he also showed a keen interest in our cars. Then some other traffic officers started to bring some of the cars out for us to have a look round and take some photos. They brought out a brand new Mondeo ST220 which had been specially shrink wrapped in white vinyl by Ford, this was as they didn’t make them in white. They also bought out a Silver unmarked Skoda Octavia RS, (very nice), a marked Skoda and a BMW 5 Series. We had a quick look round and were shown the amount of stuff that has to be in the boot of all Traffic cars. This included, a body bag, some cones, blue lights that apparently get nicked a lot and are £93.12 to buy, a Stinger, lots of signs and spades etc!
After a quick look round and a chat about all things blue lighted it was inside for the Questions Bit, hopefully you saw the bit in the forum about asking your questions, I know Baz did! Anyway I took these questions and some of my own and asked as many of them as I could, and here they are the answers from PC Shaun Cronin.
Started off on a lighthearted note by asking:
Can you get arrested if you knock a Policeman’s hat off?
And the answer is YES if the officer involved feels its assault!!
Do you have a quota of offences?
The only Target we have is a 2% increase in breathtests and a 30% reduction in fatal accidents by 2010. Also Bournemouth has to reduce the number of fatals by 7% this year from last year. Just so you all know there was 52 Fatals in 2002 and 37 in 2001.
Are the Police allowed to speed when not on duty or without the blue lights on?
Police are only exempt from prosecution from speeding if they are on Police business. So if a Policeman gets a call at 3am saying there’s an emergency and is needed ASAP he can speed in his civilian car to the station. If a Policeman is just driving around without the lights on and not on the way to a Job then he must abide by the rules of the road. And they do punish them if caught.
Why are Panda cars called Panda Cars?
Basically, during the 60’s and 70’s the Police used to buy say 2 Minis, one in Blue and one in white. They would then change the doors and bonnets over so you would have a multicoloured mini that looked a little bit like a Panda, hence Panda Cars! So now you know!
Why if we are on say the Overcliffe or Hinton Rd and are not causing any trouble a Police officer will turn up and ask us if we can move. (If its not a cruise)
The answers in the wording, ‘can you move’. Basically they cant move you on if you are not breaking any laws. If a Police officer does ask you to move and you are not committing any offences, you refuse and the situation becomes heated please ask for him to call for his Sergeant to explain why you are being moved.
What’s the Policy on Neons?
The regulations for lights on cars only cover the standard lights on a car. This covers the height off the ground and brightness etc. So basically Neons are legal as long as you follow these simple rules. The bulbs / tubes must not be visible and you are not allowed to display a red light at the front of the car or a white light at the back. I expect a law will be passed soon to make them illegal though.
Who decides where the Gatso cameras are placed? And what happens if a speed camera is obstructed by tree branches and similar
The local council decides the location of Gatsos, we have nothing to do with the placement, they are also responsible for choosing speed limits etc, we The Police just enforce the limits. So if there are any that are obstructed please give the council a ring and tell them.
Do motorists have to be warned of a possible speed trap ahead, be it mobile cameras, VASCAR or fixed cameras?
The cameras operated by the camera safety programme which are the mobile cameras that you see by the side of the road with a white van nearby don’t have to be visible. They do have to inform the Police and the public where they will be. (You can find the locations in the forum NT). Police performing laser traps and vascar do not have to give any warning.
What is the error allowances on speed recording devices?
Vascar is 100% accurate as it works on mathematics, time / distance. They have to check the calibration every day between a fixed distance. For example on the Wessex Way there are 2 markers that are exactly 1 mile apart. Between this distance the system counts how many revolutions of the wheel and then the system is calibrated. If it’s a Laser or Radar gun then you will find the calibration sticker on the gun detailing when its next due for calibration.
What do you dislike most / enjoy most about your job?
I dislike attending fatal crashes and having to do the ‘Death Knock’ informing relatives.
I do enjoy my job and get a lot of job satisfaction as I enjoy riding bikes and driving cars.
Most people feel victimized because we are modified car enthusiast. How would you react to that statement
I personally don’t go out and target anyone or any kind of person. If someone draws attention to themselves for whatever reason they will get noticed by us. We also have to respond to complaints from residents and members of the public. PC Dave Jones then showed us the Police Database! The words overcliffe and ‘Boy racers’ were entered (This is the term most people use to descried us when phoning the control room) and there were 78 complaints last year just for that particular wording, not taking into account the rest of B’mth. So nearly every time we receive a complaint we have to attend which is why you see so much of us.
What do fines go towards?
Fines from fixed penalties go to the governments central funds. Around £20 from a fine from a Gatso goes towards the upkeep of existing cameras and new cameras. The rest goes to the government central fund again.
What’s the most interesting Police chase you were involved in?
It was one that was on Police Camera Action, you may have seen it?. A Panda car had come up behind a brand new Kia Pride, the driver sped off and a chase started. Traffic got involved and after a long chase he turned down a dead end, I went to door block him where you pull up next to the drivers door to stop it being opened. He had other plans, pulled up the handbrake, spun round and I smashed into the back of him making a right mess! Wasn’t exactly how it was meant to happen but it stopped it.
What’s your ideal Police car?
An Evo would be my 1st choice for a Police car, definitely!
Who decides what cars you drive?
Luckily I do, basically we have a preferred choice of suppliers which we have to choose from. The cars that we buy are special specs. The cars usually have up-rated suspension and engine modifications. I would like to be able to go out and buy an Evo as a Police car but all cars that we buy have to be previously checked so that we can be sure that one of the radios isn’t going to set off an air-bag for example. This is a lengthy process so we normally stick to the preferred suppliers. I have recently been in contact with Honda about some Accord 2.4 VTEC estates and Civic Type Rs so who knows we may have some of them soon.
After question time it was back out into the yard to be shown the undercover Police Video bike. They only had one of these bikes on display and you’ll find a picture with the number plates in the gallery. This bike had all the Vascar stuff and we were given a demo of how its calibrated everyday, and where the cameras are etc.
After that it was out with the dummy stinger. Now the real ones cost £273 to buy, but unfortunately we weren’t unable to buy any (I did ask). And it was slightly too big and spiky to hide in my pocket!!! We were shown the 2 ways to deploy them and after that was over we were asked if we wanted to go for a spin in a couple of squad cars, tough question!!
Then came decision time, what to choose to go in! Nick and Martyn chose a silver undercover BMW 530d, and Matt and Me chose the marked Ford Mondeo ST220, but we agreed to swap halfway though!
We went to the Ashley Heath roundabout and parked up, we were then shown how to use the laser guns and all took it in turn to pick off some speeders. Not to be prosecuted though, just for fun! The fastest we got was a Boxster that Martyn clocked at 88mph!!!! I got the record of 14 in a row though, it was just like silent scope in the arcades! Then it was off back to the station, luckily not under arrest! On the way back Matt and me were in the BMW just chilling, about to have a demo on the old Vascar when an Audi Coupe gunned it in front of us, we gave chase and Vascar’d him at 96.7mph! After a quick flash of the blues just to warn him that he had been seen we turned into the station. Should have seen the guys face in the Audi, he looked scared! I expect he rushed home to change his trousers!
And that was our day over, luckily our cars were still there and hadn’t been impounded and we were free to go. We all had a really good day and it was interesting to see the other side of the Police. Luckily we had been in the company of 2 of the soundest Police officers we had ever met. PC Shaun Cronin and PC Dave Jones, so many thanks to them for their time and giving us this opportunity. If only all Police officers treated us in this way we would all be ok. Thinking about it though, the main grief we get is from the normal Police officers, not traffic. But unfortunately we seem to get the majority of tickets off traffic, but I suppose if you don’t break the law you don’t get a ticket?!?
Happy Cruising guys, and be on the look out for a Silver BMW 5 series, its flaming quick for a dirty diesel…..
Nath nath@westover.org.uk
