Community Police

essex-commuter

Quite a few Community Officers on bikes around where I live. Nearing home last night I saw two in from of me...one was riding no hands and was on the wrong side of the road! I was just short of reaching them by the time I got to my house, I was so flabergasted though I couldn't think of anything to shout out.

Thought of plenty now though.

suzyb

I've seen several police officers (not community ones) riding along pavements. They cut off the road just before the pedestrian underpass to follow that instead of the longer road route. Then they proceed to cycle up through the pedestrian precinct that has no cycling signs.

Clever Pun

I saw one crash into another real comedy slow style they both went down, I've not laughed so hard in ages

il_principe

Secretly I'd love to instigate a bike v bike chase with these community nodders. The London ones ride mountain bikes that look as heavy as cement. It would be an amusing, if rather one sided competition.

fenboy369

Il Principe wrote:

Secretly I'd love to instigate a bike v bike chase with these community nodders. The London ones ride mountain bikes that look as heavy as cement. It would be an amusing, if rather one sided competition.

I had the Cambridge ones come after me once. For going past them too quickly. They sped up a little and they tried to keep up for about half a mile. But the Police Cars they radioed didnt do too well in the evening rush hour traffic either! Hahaha.... latters coppers!!

il_principe

fenboy369 wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Secretly I'd love to instigate a bike v bike chase with these community nodders. The London ones ride mountain bikes that look as heavy as cement. It would be an amusing, if rather one sided competition.

I had the Cambridge ones come after me once. For going past them too quickly. They sped up a little and they tried to keep up for about half a mile. But the Police Cars they radioed didnt do too well in the evening rush hour traffic either! Hahaha.... latters coppers!!

Perfect!

davmaggs

I think you'd need to be carrying a ladder or some such item for the ideal comedy effect.

simonaspinall

I passed some last night - They were riding what looked like loaded donkeys with no lights!

Walking must be faster - There's no way they'd catch any criminals, cars or bikes.

I let them turn off before I passed them - Would've been bad for police moral. I can't understand why they don't have a basic touring bike rather than a MTB...it's not as if they're going to be doing some crazy stunts down steps etc.

essex-commuter

simonaspinall wrote:

I passed some last night - They were riding what looked like loaded donkeys with no lights!

Walking must be faster - There's no way they'd catch any criminals, cars or bikes.

I let them turn off before I passed them - Would've been bad for police moral. I can't understand why they don't have a basic touring bike rather than a MTB...it's not as if they're going to be doing some crazy stunts down steps etc.

The ones round my way all have rear racks fitted, and they are all at about 45 degrees...don't think much of their servicing department. Sorry, but they just look like overloaded muppets.

mapleflot

essex-commuter wrote:

Quite a few Community Officers on bikes around where I live. Nearing home last night I saw two in from of me...one was riding no hands and was on the wrong side of the road! .

+1 usually when I see these here they are on the wrong side of the road. Must be in their training manual.

iain_j

Saw one a couple of weeks ago, in the dark, with one of those sh!tty little lights that was less visible than his dark clothing. I had a mind to report him to the.... oh

beverick

Il Principe wrote:

Secretly I'd love to instigate a bike v bike chase with these community nodders. The London ones ride mountain bikes that look as heavy as cement. It would be an amusing, if rather one sided competition.

With my luck I'd engage with the an olympic champion plod cyclist......

Bob

Mike Healey

simonaspinall wrote:

I passed some last night - They were riding what looked like loaded donkeys with no lights!

Walking must be faster - There's no way they'd catch any criminals, cars or bikes.

I let them turn off before I passed them - Would've been bad for police moral. I can't understand why they don't have a basic touring bike rather than a MTB...it's not as if they're going to be doing some crazy stunts down steps etc.

When I trained about 20 of the local PCSOs, part of the course was to ride steps and off pile (small) of pallets accessed by narrow plank(s). Several of the local scallies had a nasty shock when they tried to get away using their local knowledge shortcuts.

If they do the official IPMBA course for police and paramedics all that sort of stuff is regarded as necessary for effective police cycling.

I hope you now understand why a touring bike isn't really suitable.

cjcp

fenboy369 wrote:

Il Principe wrote:

Secretly I'd love to instigate a bike v bike chase with these community nodders. The London ones ride mountain bikes that look as heavy as cement. It would be an amusing, if rather one sided competition.

I had the Cambridge ones come after me once. For going past them too quickly. They sped up a little and they tried to keep up for about half a mile. But the Police Cars they radioed didnt do too well in the evening rush hour traffic either! Hahaha.... latters coppers!!

Did you have a couple of Pandas after you as well? Would have been great if they'd called for air support, too.

redvee

Have always wanted to get in a chase with plod on bikes just for the comedy effect, in the meantime look at them in action in Brizzle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ_7sNn6zSg

cjcp

Community police have scooters, too. Now *that* has the potential to take SCR to the next level :P

redvee

cjcp wrote:

Community police have scooters, too.

I know coppers are getting younger but this is ridiculous

deptfordmarmoset

I like seeing them around here.

....

Just me then.

realALBERTAN

It's great for sneaking up on crackheads& dealers and busting them in the middle of a transaction...

DonDaddyD

I have wanted to race one of the bike mounted coppers for a while. ever find yourself provoking them buy passing a tad closer than normal (but not so close as to be unsafe or be a danger to them and you) just to see if their game?

I will say this, the ambulance varient are useful in London i.e. West End in heavy traffic.

Kieran_Burns

DonDaddyD wrote:

I have wanted to race one of the bike mounted coppers for a while. ever find yourself provoking them buy passing a tad closer than normal (but not so close as to be unsafe or be a danger to them and you) just to see if their game?

I will say this, the ambulance varient are useful in London i.e. West End in heavy traffic.

As it is illegal to "pedal furiously" you could pass them in a really low gear, perhaps accompanied by a "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeoooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" noise as you fly past

suzyb

It's illegal to pedal furiously :shock:

Kieran_Burns

suzyb wrote:

It's illegal to pedal furiously :shock:

from: http://www.bikeforall.net/content/cycli ... he_law.php

CYCLING FURIOUSLY?
It's an in-joke in cycling that cyclists can't be booked for speeding but can be fined for "pedalling furiously." Many cyclists list being cited for "cycling furiously" as one of their life ambitions. Professor David S. Wall, Head of the University of Leeds Law School, a professor of criminal justice lists his hobby as: Cycling (Furiously)

However, these legal eagles say they have been unable to find a a reference to such a cycling offence in Blackstone's Criminal Practice or in Halsbury's Laws of England.

Which is odd, as Christopher McKenzie, an Australian barrister, pointed Bikeforall to these cases: Taylor v. Goodwin (1879) 4 QBD 228, a case where the Queen's Bench Division held, on appeal, that a cyclist was appropriately convicted by a magistrate for furious riding of a bicycle. The dicta of Justice Melor in the case has been cited and followed in a number of cases since: see, for example, Smith v. Kynnersley [1903] 1 KB 788 (cyclist not liable to pay bridge toll) and Corkery v. Carpenter [1951] I KB 102 (cyclist liable for offence where cycling drunk).

Although a legal eagle searching Blackstones will not find a specific offence of "furious cycling", cyclists can nonetheless be convicted for "wanton and furious driving".

The wording of S35 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (as amended by the Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), s. 1(2)) is as follows:

“35. Drivers of carriages injuring persons by furious driving Whosoever, having the charge of any carriage or vehicle, shall by wanton or furious driving or racing, or other wilful misconduct, or by wilful neglect, do or cause to be done any bodily harm to any person whatsoever, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years.”

Jay dubbleU

Ah - I can see where you're going wrong there - its 'wanton and furious cycling' how does one cycle wantonly ?

amnezia

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Ah - I can see where you're going wrong there - its 'wanton and furious cycling' how does one cycle wantonly ?

mmm wantons..

Mithras

Be careful out there ....one or two of those Bike bobbies might surprise you...

rf6

Great to see all you keen cyclists not liking people on bikes! Seems like a good way of catching crooks, rather than being stuck in traffic in a stinky old diesel.

Use a bike to catch a bike thieft - makes sense to me.

Porgy

rf6 wrote:

Great to see all you keen cyclists not liking people on bikes! Seems like a good way of catching crooks, rather than being stuck in traffic in a stinky old diesel.

Use a bike to catch a bike thieft - makes sense to me.

I think the point was made that they are riding the wrong bikes for the job and many seem unable to ride safely, proficiently or even legally.

If i was using bikes to catch thieves (or more likely chav kids drinking cider) I'd give them road bikes and train them to ride them, ensure they know not to ride the wrong side of th road or on a pavement, and make sure the bike was the right size for the rider.

Mithras

Porgy wrote:

I think the point was made that they are riding the wrong bikes for the job and many seem unable to ride safely, proficiently or even legally.

If i was using bikes to catch thieves (or more likely chav kids drinking cider) I'd give them road bikes and train them to ride them, ensure they know not to ride the wrong side of th road or on a pavement, and make sure the bike was the right size for the rider.

Ah but when the police try to introduce training on a national scale, the press get hold of it, give the idea of a heap of ridicule and then it gets pulled to save further embarrassment.

It's not all bad news, some forces do train their officers to ride bikes, some better than others, http://www.publicsafetycycling.org.uk/.
As for the bikes, again these vary in quality. The size is a problem because it's a one size fits all and you share one bike between two or three officers.
I certainly wouldn't give them road bikes, however a rigid mountain bike set up for city riding would be ideal. My force won't run too a Cannondale bad boy with a lefty fork and rolhoff hub, but just about anything would be better than the Claud Butler Rock we have at the moment.
I'm still fighting to introduce cycle training, and clothing too Cambridgeshire Constabulary and have been for nearly 3 years.

NGale

one of our local PSCOs here in Exeter is a very enthuastic cyclist to the point with the D&C police have issued him with his own set of lycra 'uniform' to get around his patch. To be honest it's funny to see him in his special edition uniform.

Have to say he is great with the local kids and when it comes to the cyclists he is firm but fair and is right when he says that he needs to educate the bad cyclists for the benifit of the good ones who have their names tarred.

roger_merriman

Stanley222 wrote:

Porgy wrote:

rf6 wrote:

Great to see all you keen cyclists not liking people on bikes! Seems like a good way of catching crooks, rather than being stuck in traffic in a stinky old diesel.

Use a bike to catch a bike thieft - makes sense to me.

I think the point was made that they are riding the wrong bikes for the job and many seem unable to ride safely, proficiently or even legally.

The problem with most police forces (and no doubt plenty of other jobs) is the decisions to buy certain bikes, equipment, clothing etc has nothing to do with the officers and the people doing the job don't even get a say in it. Someone in a nice office will make a decision on what is adequate and is cheap. They aren't to bothered if it looks good or does the job well as they won't be using it!

ie - do you really think most coppers would choose to drive a ford focus diesel?!!!

bikes have looked fine, they are not for SCR but for kerb hopping and stair jumping after peds.

while I do see them pottering down footpaths (not shared paths) now and again the choice of bike is spot on.

be better if they where better trained but as above the media saw to that....