In New Zealand there are two types of police officer, real ones and revenue ones.
In the area of the city I live there are 6 cars.
4 of these are deployed every shift to gather revenue leaving just two for crime. I belive the other 4 can be called away from hiding behind bridges and lurking at the bottom of long hills should the need arise, but it gives you a good idea of where our forces priorities lie.
Traffic police have little to no respect from the travelling public in NZ.
Here the police have a quota system to fulfil each week. A friend of mines brother in law was the local officer for his district when they came in. He found his acceptance from the locals almost vanish and his ability to solve basic local crime disappere because the locals lost faith in him and wouldn't talk to him. He stopped ticketing the locals and in his words "shamingly went after the holiday makers"
I have the utmost respect for the officers out there keeping our streets safe from crime but I wouldnt giive the time of day to the revenue police.
I absoulutly have the feeling when seeing one in my mirrors (be it on the bike or in a car) of what is he going to try and nick me for!
There is several documented instances of the revenue police pulling killer manouvers in there cars to put another tick in their quota box, 'U' turns being a speciality.
I was subjucted to a near miss from a 'U' turning police car two years ago, he failed to make the turn in time and ended up broad side across the road in the face of oncoming traffic and me who had to take avoiding action. I raised my hand in a gesture of disbelief and shook my head, his response was to pull me over and waste my time "checking the machine". Fed up with this sort bullsh*t I reported him and he was dissiplined, but this is an example of how the (revenue) police conduct themselves over here.
The Cops do illegal U-Turns in Australia too.
Cop acquitted of Woodend road deathWHITNEY HARRIS
06 May, 2011 05:00 AM
AN off-duty police officer who killed a Woodend motorcyclist in an early-morning crash two years ago has been acquitted.
Peta Carbonneau, a Victoria Police officer for almost 10 years, left the Bendigo County Court, sitting in Ballarat, a free woman yesterday after the jury found her not guilty of dangerous driving causing death.
The 35-year-old senior constable was charged over the death of 31-year-old Woodend man Luke Wilson on April 20, 2009.
The court was told that Carbonneau, also of Woodend, crossed double white lines while performing a U-turn in fog when she hit the motorcyclist travelling south along Black Forrest Drive. Mr Wilson died at the scene.
During a committal hearing in the Bendigo Magistrates Court last October, John Beesley, who was first at the scene, told the court he had driven along Black Forrest Drive almost every day for the past 10 years.
He said the road was notorious for its fluctuating weather conditions and that on the morning of the accident it was the foggiest he had seen all year.
Carbonneau, a senior constable at Sunbury, was on her way to work when she realised she had forgotten a batch of cup cakes at home and decided to turn around to get them.The magistrates court was told that she believed she had sufficient time to perform the U-turn and was shocked when she heard an object hit her car.
Senior Constable Glen Urquhart, of the major collision investigation unit, said the motorcyclist was travelling at 80 to 97km/h before the collision.
Neither Carbonneau nor the rider were affected by drugs or alcohol at the time.
Black Forest Drive has a speed limit of 90km/h where the accident occurred.
