Do the police care about cyclists?

OldSkoolKona

Not much, from the treatment of this cyclist (whose blog, btw, if you haven't read previously is worth checking out, the author is a barrister and gives good discussion of legal issues relating to cyclists)

http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2010 ... -take.html

Here's an excerpt. He's gone to the police station to report an incident involving a threatening driver which he had caught on camera:

...I persevered and eventually he went away to consult a sergeant. 20 minutes later he came back saying he would record the details as a public order offence. He took my details and recorded my answers in his computer. The questions included
'What were you wearing, was it fluorescent?'
'Were you in lycra?'

'Were you in lycra?' - WTF!! :shock:

Clarion

I'll take a wild guess, not having read the link, and say I think that's an example of the Met's caring attitude.

The answer is: No, they don't give a toss, unless they're targetting RLJs (cycling, not motorised, of course; they don't bother with penalising the latter, even if pointed out to them directly).

EKE_38BPM

Even when I was left hooked and put into hospital, there was no charge made on the driver. The MET couldn't give a damn.

Clarion

When I was assaulted by a taxi driver, the Police, after two prompts, still didn't contact the witnesses, and told me, in writing, that the assault was a proportionate response to my trying to stop the cabbie doing a hit & run.

Bless them.

jonny_trousers

Well the last Met WPC I met cared so much that she wanted to give me and my bike a little cuddle with her car at 25mph. It will be interesting to see what her statement read when she logged it at Kennington police station.

I suspect there will be members of the police force who care greatly about the wellfare of cyclists, there will be those who think we only have ourselves to blame if we cycle on public roads and there will be those who couldn't give a damn, much like the public really.

I guess it's no wonder wronged cyclists look to solicitors and insurance claims if the boys in blue won't help.

ooermissus

I tried pointing out to the police that the same seller on Gumtree had, over a few weeks, sold more than twenty bikes under a series of different names, and using three mobile phone numbers. All were less than a year old and were pretty clearly being stolen to order.

No response at all from the Met Police's Cycle Task Force which was supposed to be disrupting the trade in stolen bikes, but seems increasingly focused on cracking down on irresponsible cycling.

I am sure they do care - deep down - but there's not much evidence of it.

downfader

I've lost the link now but there was a video on youtube where the video creator had contacted Roadsafe a fair few times. He seemed of the opinion that Roadsafe was set up to stop officers "wasting their time with cyclists".

Possibly paranoia but from speaking to Londoners it seems they aint too impressed with Roadsafe.

And wtf has lycra got to do with the offence. Does that officer ask young women who have been raped if they were wearing a short dress and putting it out..?! :x

rjsterry

Thoroughly depressing. I suspect JT is right, they're only people, so you'll get your full cross section from positive support through indifference to loathing - just depends which one's on the desk when you turn up (as with so many public services). My colleague experienced just this variation in service when trying to access some local authority planning archives. The first women he met could not have been more obstructive, so he waited for her to go on lunch, went back and asked the person who had taken her place and got copies of the plans he was looking for brought out within ten minutes.

dilemna

Give some one a uniform and they turn into Napolean .........

sufferingpete

Sheffield Police genuinely don't give a sh8t.

After being knocked off police man dick head told me that the distance I live was too far away for him to drive to interview me so they were letting the driver off.

This is the distance that I cycle to work which he couldn't be arsed to drive.

The prick couldn't even write his name on the paperwork he got a secretary to pp it so I couldn't even phone him up.

There may be some professional police but I have never in my life met one.

A disgusting waste of public moneyIn my opinion they should have a 25 percent pay cut .

SamWise72

It's not particularly about cyclists; they don't care about anyone. My experience reporting any sort of crime has been exactly the same. They took 45 mins to turn up to a coked up nutter smashing up my neighbours house, by which time I'd been punched in the face, and my neighbour had had his leg broken. The only time I got anywhere was when I myself caught the bloke who had stolen my bike, so it was an easy clear up. We shouldn't take it personally as cyclists, they're just bloody useless.

vorsprung

If you want the police to care about bike crime, move to the Scilly Islands. It is one of their top priorities

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/page ... 8362291504

mybreakfastconsisted

I don't understand the lycra question, that can't be official procedure surely?

Ive heard horror stories about trying to report stuff to the cops, when I was intentionally hit from behind the cops were good but couldn't trace the car cos it had fake plates on.

The charm of Leytonstone!

noodles71

I've had my bike stolen in the City of London Police area. Their response when I went to lodge a complaint was they don't investigate cycle thefts. I was directed to try and see if the Met would do it instead but being out of their area they declined.

Another time a driver got out of a car at a red light and beat the crap out of another man of about 60 while he sat inside his car. This loser would have been half the age of the guy he hit. I was beside the car on my bike and got involved to help the old guy and got a black eye for my trouble. City of London Police did not have the resources to follow it up according to their letter and the camera it all happened under being Transport for London property meant they couldn't access the footage either according to what they wrote.

Thats not all, my bike gets totalled at a roundabout by a hit and run driver (rego details taken down) and the police acknowledge receipt of the form by letter but never contact me again. No action, response or even a pathetic letter to say they have investigated it and decided their is no action to be taken.

I've kept all these letters so if I ever come up against a judge because I have dealt with the matter on the side of the road with my very chunky D-lock he will understand why relying on the protection of the law when cycling is pointless.

Clever Pun

SamWise72 wrote:

It's not particularly about cyclists; they don't care about anyone. My experience reporting any sort of crime has been exactly the same. They took 45 mins to turn up to a coked up nutter smashing up my neighbours house, by which time I'd been punched in the face, and my neighbour had had his leg broken. The only time I got anywhere was when I myself caught the bloke who had stolen my bike, so it was an easy clear up. We shouldn't take it personally as cyclists, they're just bloody useless.

yep I suspect this is the case. but since we're all so cycling related and love a good moan it's all about persecution rather than the bigger picture.

jamesco

Last Friday on Uxbridge Road (London) the police were offering free tagging for all the cyclists coming past. Something good!

jonginge

jamesco wrote:

Last Friday on Uxbridge Road (London) the police were offering free tagging for all the cyclists coming past. Something good!

What? One of these?


A bit of an overreaction, no?

hatbeard

JonGinge wrote:

jamesco wrote:

Last Friday on Uxbridge Road (London) the police were offering free tagging for all the cyclists coming past. Something good!

What? One of these?


A bit of an overreaction, no?

I was thinking more along the lines of this...

Mr Plum

Most encounters I've had with the Police, cycling related or otherwise, have been totally unsatisfactory. Maybe I've been unlucky, but it often seems like they don't give a sh*t and they're only doing the job for the paycheque and pension...

SamWise72

I've been reading that blokes blog and watching his videos, and I'm confused. He seems to get more aggravation on a weekly basis than I've had in my whole life! The only verbal altercation I've ever had with a driver was when I chased down the bloke I saw try to run someone off the road. I've literally never had anyone honk at me, or shout at me as they come past. I had some bloke pass comment on me when a pannier fell off at a junction, but it wasn't aggressive like most of these. Is it because I mostly cycle in central London? I've cycled in from the outskirts a few times when I've gone to pick up an ebay bike, and I've gone to and from Ealing and Newham many times, still none of this. I don't get it. He doesn't seem to be doing anything to wind people up apart from take primary, which I also do whenever I see fit.

lost_in_thought

I have lived in Ealing for nearly 3 years now, and hey! it's a nice place!

I can't immediately recall any instance where a driver has got angry with me. They beep occasionally, I tend to ignore them.

motdoc

1) Take their name and number when saying hello.
2) Politely stick up for yourself, then ask for the complaint proceedure.

jonginge

The Police were great when I was left-hooked. Being smiley-happy rather than grumpy may have helped. Who knows...

ooermissus

SamWise72 wrote:

I've been reading that blokes blog and watching his videos, and I'm confused. He seems to get more aggravation on a weekly basis than I've had in my whole life!... I don't get it. He doesn't seem to be doing anything to wind people up apart from take primary, which I also do whenever I see fit.

I think he's highly assertive about his rights on the road, unwilling to back down or make conciliatory moves when faced by a young male driver, and thus likely to end up in a lot of confrontations.

I can understand his motivation, but I fear that one day he's going to get thumped - and having it on camera may not be much of a compensation.

mybreakfastconsisted

Unwilling to back down, or assertively cycling safely at pinch points to prevent dangerous overtakes?

I was approaching a pinch point last week and the following driver did not moderate his speed but instead drove on the wrong side of the road to avoid following me through the pinch point.

The cycling lawyer did the same, he rode in the middle of the lane at the pinch point. The driver followed him, made threats and called him "cocky".

The only person who behaved badly was the driver.

On my 5 mile commute I will experience one or two dodgy, dangerous overtakes. It happens every day. I don't shout at drivers because there are some head cases out there but I'm not surprised the Cycling Lawyers has similar encounters.

givecyclistsroom

Interesting observations there about the amount of aggravation I get during the course of a week. I have worried about this for a while, see http://thecyclingsilk.blogspot.com/2010 ... ssion.html
I assure you I do not go looking for it - it comes to me. I have quite a long commute at nearly 30 miles. Poor driving appears all the way but the aggression seems to be concentrated in a 7 mile range between Staines and Hounslow, an area where there are not many cyclists on the roads. Otherwise there are a few mouthy cab drivers but not quite to the extent of threatening violence.
I do, as it happens, wear lycra!

mybreakfastconsisted

I like your blog, I read the very first post about driver sentencing, sobering stuff.

There is no campaign for drivers to have cams fitted because they are not at risk from bad driving the way cyclists are.

You are far more likely to be killed by a police car than a cyclist yet it is cyclists who are disproportionately targetted by the police.


And more times than I can count, cyclists reporting bad or threatening behaviour are ignored.

Mr Plum

There was a post in the helmet cam thread a week or so ago where a cyclist got punched in the face by a van driver - despite it being caught on camera the Police said there wasn't enough evidence for an assault charge... WTF?!

mybreakfastconsisted

Ideal Scaffolding of Woolwich have employees who flick lit cigarettes and chewing gum at cyclists (me!) on Hackney Road. I called the police and the operator said I wasn't hurt so they wouldn't do anything.


Try throwing a lit fag at a copper...

SamWise72

lost_in_thought wrote:

I have lived in Ealing for nearly 3 years now, and hey! it's a nice place!

I agree, I grew up there. It was there as an example of somewhere I cycle outside Central London (I come in by train from Southampton), not an example of a bad area.

I don't think this chap is being any more assertive than I am; I would absolutely have taken primary at those pinch points, and other places besides, but I rarely get honked at, and I certainly never get anyone alongside me having a go. Perhaps it's my size (6'3, 17 stone), or maybe it's just that you cycle further, or in different areas.

rick_chasey

When I got assaulted on my bike the police were excellent.

I got a bit of a delayed reaction in terms of how i felt, so call them in the evening.

Policeman came over to my house, took a statement and description (and a number plate!)

They were a little slow in getting back to me (standard), but had taken the guy in for questioning - turns out he denied it, and it was my word against his. They even tried to track down the witness who pulled the offender off me.

Even if the offender 'got away', he still must have got the sh!ts when they brought him in.