Do the Police take notice?

[3xpendable]

Just some observations really, but thought it might make an interesting thread.

Firstly, do the Police take interest if you catch someone say on the phone while driving on camera? I ask because i've seen so many people just arrogantly nattering away on their mobiles while driving. If that and their car reg number was caught on say a dash cam would the police do anything if that was presented to them?

I'm guessing not, and the reason why is below:

My dad is now semi-retired but ran a garage for many years. About 2 years ago one customer got banned for drink driving (and he is an alcoholic) and asked if dad could keep the car at his and use it occasionally if the owner paid the tax/insurance/bills etc. Dad obliged and used the car occasionally.

Fast forward to this summer and the guy tried re-taking his test but failed 3 times (he's an awful driver i'm told, and once the instructor refused to take him on a lesson because he was clearly drunk!). He decided he was going to drive anyway as "I wont get caught" so promptly took the car from outside the house one day and drove away alone on a provisional licence.

Now, my dad decided to report this to the police and has done twice, one of those times knowing when and where the guy was going to be driving as he only has a provisional licence and also he is nearly always drinking so is most likely to be over the limit. Both times my dad reported it they have just shrugged him off with a "Well if we see him on our travels we'll stop him" and couldnt seemed to have cared less. I'll add this is in a community with very little crime so its not like they are dealing with lots and lots of crime issues.

So whats it going to take? This guy to kill someone? How on earth do you get the police to actually apprehend someone before they do any real damage?

I don't want to start a 'pigs are scum' debate as I know they do a good job a lot of the time, I just wondered what peoples opinions on the above comments are.

[hobby]

There's not enough of them, simple as that...

[suffolkpete]

I think the police are often demoralised by the low penalties handed out to criminals after they've spent a lot of time and a lot of paperwork apprehending them. Your drunk driver probably will get caught, but the police have to catch him in the act. Round here the police keep lists of local disqualified drivers and the vehicles they have access to and they are probably tagged on the ANPR system too. Three months ago I was involved in a head-on collision on a country road and the other driver legged it from the scene. The police were prepared to put a lot of resources, including dogs and maybe even the helicopter to catch him, though in the event they simply went round to the house of the registered keeper and arrested him there. They took us home afterwards too, so on the whole I think they do a good job.

[Maaarrghk]

Yup. The Police have to be able to catch these people in the act and as roads "Policing" is now mainly carried out by cameras, it is much more difficult to catch and detain actual dangerous drivers.

Aaaah wemember when Aaaah were a lad and were a bag o' nerves just driving along with a tail light out for fear of being pulled before I could get to Halfords because there was a genuinely high chance of that happening.

A couple of years back I drove my Saab 9K for 9 months with a brake light out just to see what would happen. Nowt.

Too many cameras, not enough coppers.

[sierra3dr]

Both times my dad reported it they have just shrugged him off with a "Well if we see him on our travels we'll stop him" and couldnt seemed to have cared less.

If the Police have a care-free attitude,then there's not much you can do,which is a shame really. Other than that,I would write to the Police HQ. Quite possibly you'll reach someone in a higher position,hopefully you'll get a better result. Don't know if this was true,local to me,in heavy traffic an off duty officer asked a female driver to not use her mobile whilst driving,she replied "f*** off". He presented his warrant card..I'm sure you can imagine what happened next

[sierra3dr]

By the way Welshie,if your dad could keep the car and use it accasionally,of course he would have the keys. How did the customer get the car keys?

[3xpendable]

Interesting stories.

Sierra, I knew someone would ask that. He had a spare set of keys.

[TerryG]

There was an alcaholic labourer working on the farm last year. He would always drive home steaming. One call to the police letting them know when he would be leaving and they sat at the end of the road until he went past then nabbed him.
It must depend on how busy they are on the day you call.

[harvey]

Don't know if this was true,local to me,in heavy traffic an off duty officer asked a female driver to not use her mobile whilst driving,she replied "f*** off". He presented his warrant card..I'm sure you can imagine what happened next

Nice one.

I had a similar thing happen to me. I was picking up a car in a narrow street, and every time I got parked up in front of the casualty someone would come along right up behind me, past the one I was trying to pick up so I had little choice other than moving. Well after half a dozen goes I decided I was staying there, s*d the lot of them, they could wait. Needless to say when I told the first one in the queue I wasn't moving, he produced his warrant card. I told him how many times I'd moved already, but that if he had somewhere important to go obviously I'd move again. Once he realised, he let me get on with it, by which time there was a nice long queue behind him, with plenty of people hooting and hollering, so while I was doing what I had to do, he went along the queue flashing his warrant card telling them all politely to shut the **** up!

[Richard Moss]

If you see someone using a phone whilst driving, you could use your own phone camera to take a piccie and send it to the plods.