Thanks To Police Patrol:

[SV650rules]

That is always the problem when you privatise / outsource stuff - only have to look at the way our prisons are now run (or not) by G4S, Serco and the like - getting a worse service and taxpayers money lining shareholders pockets.

[Red Herring]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I dunno how the scamera partnerships manage to get staff, what must they say when someone asks them in the pub? Rather admit to working for the tax man.

I was offered a "promotion" opportunity a fair few years back which basically involved running our Force Speed Camera partnership. I initially declined on the basis that I was a "conscientious objector" but realised I was pushing against a firmly shut door. Instead I reversed my approach and approached the individual I was going to succeed with waves of enthusiasm about how I was going to transform the department, make huge savings with staff reductions and divert what resources that were left into alternative projects. A week before I was due to start I suddenly got reassigned to something completely new........

Wasn't all bad news though, the hole they tried to bury me in turned out to be the perfect opportunity ever to catch villains and I had the best ten years of my career!

Oh, and to answer your original question many of them are retired officers needing to prop up their pension so that they can pay two sets of alimony and a new mortgage.....

[madcockney]

Originally Posted by Red Herring

<snip>

Oh, and to answer your original question many of them are retired officers needing to prop up their pension so that they can pay two sets of alimony and a new mortgage.....

[Bibio]

what gives a police officer the right to speed?

yes there are some good cops out there but they are few and far between these days.

i have had traffic cop car pull up next to me doing 90 on a bypass and gesture to slow down then they burgred off at a very rapid pace without their blues and twos on.

[Red Herring]

Is that a serious question?
Nobody has the "right" to speed. There are exemptions from speed limits under certain circumstances so are you asking what those are? Incidentally there is no requirement that blues and twos be used, they are simply additional equipment fitted to the vehicle that can be used when appropriate.

[SV650rules]

Most police on the motorway routinely travel at less than 70, I assume this is so that they can clock overtaking traffic with their ANPR gear, if they traveled at 70 they would only ever get the plate directly in front.

I have seen coppers speeding on their way back to station, I used to work shifts and had to pass main Telford station on my way home, I had police with no blues or siren driving near the station go past me at 60+ in a 40 limit, and hardly slacken speed on the 30 limit on roundabouts = I assumed they were also heading back at end of shift. I also had a job in a small town overlooking main road, a couple of times a week on same days and roughly same time a car full of flat-cap police with a driver used to come through with lights and siren on - what was that all about if not abusing their power to get through traffic quicker to some meeting or other. As I said previously being a front line copper is not an easy job, but their superiors do not seem to set them a good example.

[Red Herring]

In my brief spell as a Traffic Sgt probably 50% of the calls I took from the public were to complain about the speeds of patrol cars. If they drive at 70mph nobody can overtake so you have a mobile traffic jam (seriously, people actually complained about police cars doing the limit...!) if they were driving at 80+ without blue lights they were clearly "speeding", not trying to make ground on a suspect vehicle ahead without giving themselves away, and if they were driving a 56 in front of a lorry they were being "sneaky" and nearly caused an accident when the caller had to brake sharply to avoid going past at 90... (I kid you not!)

Police cars regularly exceed the speed limit for a variety of reasons, and yes, some of the time it's just because they can! Bearing in mind that in this day and age pretty much every marked car is fitted with a little black box that records everything you might need to know the abuse is considerably less prevalent than when I was a young officer (we used to consider it unofficial practice, which principals aside was actually quite a valid point) so lets not jump to conclusions.

The car rushing back to the station may have a violent prisoner on board, or may be responding to a call for assistance at the station? Regularly goes past on blues and twos you say? Have you considered it might be a training car and they run regular courses, so the session of blue light responding always falls at 3pm Tuesdays and Thursdays?

Keep an open mind, you're pretty quick to slag off the police if they don't.......