One rule for them…

A cursory glance through the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary’s Freedom of Information Act Disclosure notices will show that the police are not averse to breaking the very laws they are paid to enforce. These notices will also show that even when a police officer breaks the law, how very likely it is that s/he will get away with it in the end. They may be suspended on full pay for 12 months, but in all probability if they don’t resign, they will be reinstated as a Crown officer of the law.

What is surprising is that the adult public often behaves as though police officers today are the same kind of police officers they thought they knew as a child and this is especially true when it comes to the established press. There are no laughing policemen any more or any ‘PC Friend’ and the only thing police officers today have got in common with police officers of the past is that they still have the law on their side.

The article below is an example of this. The CPW team are not saying that all police officers break the law (indeed we know there are some good police officers still out there e.g. Chief Constable Richard Brunstom of the North Wales Police), but that police officers do break the law intentionally and this is a fact and should never come as a surprise. Today public should be as suspicious of police officers as they are of the public.

Source: www.thisiscornwall.co.uk
Link

In the article, Sgt Murray, leader of the neighbourhood policing team in Newquay, said that:

“...all officers have been briefed that the parking laws apply to them as well as the public and they should not be parking on double yellow lines except in emergency operational situations.”

The article goes on to say:

“After searching through incidents logged for that day, however, Sgt Murray said he could find no definitive reason for the patrol vehicle to be on the double yellow lines.”

The CPW suspicion is that there was no ‘emergency operational situation’ and the car was simply parked there, because it was convenient for the officers at the time.

DID THE POLICE BREAK OWN LAW?

16 April 2008

A SHARP-eyed member of the public has caught the thin blue line parked up on two yellow lines.

Bob Dutton, 66, was on his way to Chester Road market when he spotted the police car parked on St Anne's Road and snapped this picture. The street has been one area targeted by police in a crackdown on illegal parking which has seen hundreds of tickets handed out to motorists.

It is unlikely this patrol car would have been caught up in the parking blitz, however, as it sat for 10 minutes on the double yellows, apparently breaking the rules.


Mr Dutton said: "The police are always out in St Anne's Road ticketing cars, so I couldn't believe it when I saw the patrol car there right on the double yellow lines.

"I had my camera with me, so I took a picture before I went in to Chester Road market, but it was still there unattended 10 minutes later. There weren't any sirens blaring and it was very quiet, so it didn't look like there was anything going on.

"If anyone else was parked there they could get a ticket."

The picture was taken at about 12.30pm on Friday, April 4, and the yellow lines are in force all year round.

Sgt Bob Murray, leader of the neighbourhood policing team in Newquay, said the car was from the town's police station but he did not know why it had been parked there. Police cars are allowed to park on double yellow lines and anywhere else when they are on emergency call-outs or police operations.

After searching through incidents logged for that day, however, Sgt Murray said he could find no definitive reason for the patrol vehicle to be on the double yellow lines.

Sgt Murray said: "It's hard to comment on this without knowing exactly why it was there - it could have been for any number of operational reasons. However, all officers have been briefed that the parking laws apply to them as well as the public and they should not be parking on double yellow lines except in emergency operational situations."

Newquay mayor Pat Lambshead, said:"Unless a police car is on an emergency call it just shouldn't be parked in that way," he said. "To be parking for no apparent reason could set a bad example for everyone else. I suggest the police look into this. There's probably a reasonable explanation."