Sorry, got to post this...

[rowdy]

Also, and I know you are probably going to try and deny or defend this next statement, but a 20-24 year old is more likely to be pulled over than a 60-65 year old, so it stands to reason that more 20-24 year olds will be caught.
If a patrol car is behind a ****ed 20 year old in a Citroen Saxo and a pnc check is carried out, chances are he'll get pulled over. If a ****ed 60 year old in a Volvo is followed and a pnc carried out, unless he is all over the road, he won't be.

I am nearly forty. I ride bikes, and drive fast cars. I have not been randomly pulled over for 20 years.
When I was a youngun, riding a moped, I probably got pulled over once a month, if it was averaged out.
When I had my first car and second cars I didn't get pulled so often, but I would still get pulled, just for spot check.
Like I say, from the 20 or so years since, I have never been pulled for a spot check.

[Red Herring]

I wouldn't ever try and deny the truth, and what is there to defend? I mean, statistically 20-24 year olds are more likely to be drink driving aren't they....

[rowdy]

Yeh, if you want to validate the reason for pulling over 20-24 year olds and not 60-65 year olds

Joking aside, yes there is a valid reason for pulling over people in this age group, more likely to be up to no good than the 60-65 year olds, but it stands to reason the more people in that age group that are pulled over the more the percentage is going to swing against them.

[Red Herring]

The reality is that officers on patrol are thinking of a whole lot of things in addition to drink driving, and the facts are that young men in older cars are more likely to tick certain boxes.
If it helps any when conducting "drink drive" road checks pretty much everything gets pulled over and the driver spoken to sufficiently to establish if they have been drinking, and with more and more ANPR in use a lot of the routine stops are now based on intelligence linked to the vehicle rather than what the driver looks like.

Of course if you are a 22 year old male and you've just bought a Saxo off the local drug dealer it's probably best not to have a drink tonight.....

I'm a bit puzzled here. I would accept that a 20 year old would tick more boxes, but by pulling them over based on age, is that not the same as "profiling" which I believe is not policy?
(No criticism intended, merely trying to understand)

[Red Herring]

I'm sure you're right. Fortunately most good coppers don't let a little thing like policy get in the way of doing their job properly.

It must have been a lot easier when policy was to slam people up against their car and shout "You slaaag!" at them. You knew where you stood then.

[Red Herring]

Not really. It was a whole lot easier when the object of the exercise was to maintain law and order rather than to meet whatever target just happens to be in favour at the moment. I think we've gone far enough off topic with this now.

[rowdy]

Originally Posted by Red Herring

The reality is that officers on patrol are thinking of a whole lot of things in addition to drink driving, and the facts are that young men in older cars are more likely to tick certain boxes.
If it helps any when conducting "drink drive" road checks pretty much everything gets pulled over and the driver spoken to sufficiently to establish if they have been drinking, and with more and more ANPR in use a lot of the routine stops are now based on intelligence linked to the vehicle rather than what the driver looks like.

Of course if you are a 22 year old male and you've just bought a Saxo off the local drug dealer it's probably best not to have a drink tonight.....

This is what I was implying when I said there is a valid reason for pulling over that age group.

I am aware of the fact that when drink drive checks take place pretty much every car is stopped, where I used to live the police carried out one right outside my house, all the youngsters that were stopped got back in their cars and left, it was an older gentleman in a new range rover that was taken away in the back of the police car.

Not judging in any way, out of hand across the board judgement follows, but we live in the country, at the edge of a town. There is a fantastic speed track around the local roads where the youngsters do have races, not officially of course, I have to make a sweeping judgement here and say that I have never in the last 25 years seen a Volvo in the ditch, but I have seen an awful lot of souped up hot hatches. My Volvo can do the roads a quite a speed when I am coming home (totally sober) in the middle of the night. I don't race the bike along said route because I usually ride the bike during the day when there are too many cars.