To think the police should focus limited officers on crime not speedometers

[Chocstrawberries]

The past two days I have driven past two speed checks, yet the last time I saw any police patrolling our high street is years ago. Given that we've got speed cameras I think the police should focus on patrols and solving burglaries and other crime until they get more officers to spare some for speeding. Or give speeding checks to traffic wardens.

depends if you have ever lost a loved one to someone speeding i guess?

It's a moot point anyway because they're not police officers. They're traffic enforcement officers. Two different jobs.

Or people on phones

They are effective if no one is speeding. That's how it works.

Honestly, speeding and dangerous driving and parking is what I worry about most when it comes to my family

I do think it wouldn't do any harm for some pedestrians to take more care. Not really paying attention and on their phones doesn't help either

Police speed camera checks are usually paid for by the council and they are a deterrent in areas where there is usually speeding. Speeding can kill people. I would say that's up there as a serious crime and personally I'm glad to see traffic officers out and about monitoring idiot drivers.

if I'm walking on the pavement I should be safe from cars. Don't blame the most vulnerable for dangerous car use.

I work for the police. The officers doing these speed checks are not the ones that would respond to a 999 call. They are either community officers, PCSOs or sometimes volunteers. Therefore it makes no difference to the response to crimes that occur if they are doing speed checks. Serious and fatal accidents take up far more police time and resources than speed checks so they are always worth doing x

I know more people who have died in road accidents caused by speeding motorists than I do people who have been burgled or stabbed.

Speed can kill. So of course police need to focus on folk who speed to prevent accidents.

Not often I'd say this but you're absolutely wrong op. Shit driving (including speeding) kills and injures loads of people including kids.

Funny thing is it's always the worst drivers that make the argument that the police have better things to do - the rest of us actually want the police to keep doing this and for the roads to be safer.

Maybe if people weren't stupid enough to commot any crime there would less need for police, and their endless excuses and 'well what I did is not as bad as the next criminal"

Quite often, criminals are criminals, no matter what.

Speeding is often the tip of an iceberg

I actually have a really positive view of the police in my area!
A couple of weeks ago, I was trying to park up to collect my child from school and a man started running at my car screaming at me "fuck off you cunt, you can't park there!"
Then as if out of nowhere two police officers came and really diffused the situation! They were amazing! I was going to move my car, but the police officers told me to continue parking, and told the man that I was allowed to park there because it was a public highway!
I've also had police cars let me out at junctions pretty much every time I'm waiting! I can't praise them enough! X

Speeding kills & destroys lives & one of the biggest causes of death & serious injury in younger people. Preventing these deaths is just as important as preventing deaths from cancer, heart disease, suicide etc. Should the cancer screening budget be diverted to tackling burglary or shop lifting ?

Secondly speed operations are very effective. A 'burglary watch' or increased patrols might make some people feel safer but don't do much to reduce crime so resources like patrols are used where they have maximum effect

Well exactly. How comes there is that Cycling Mikey bloke on YouTube finding lots of them every day but the police aren't just randomly cycling around catching people? Clearly a lot of people are using phones in traffic and the police should be jumping out and nabbing them

Omg, that's horrible! So good that the police were in the right place on this occasion.

Well that’s odd , seeing as it’s the number one cause out of the fatal 4.

https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/fatal-4-behaviours-drive-up-road-collisions-by-20-percent-in-july

I'm totally on board with more funding being targeted at car crime (I mean crime caused by drivers). There's so much of it about its normalised and the penalties are ridiculously low.

No. It just destroys the lives of the people who homes haves been violated. Don’t be so ignorant.

Would you rather be killed than burgled then?

@mugboat

Yes I agree but I still see people crossing roads distracted by phones rather than paying attention to the traffic and being g vigilant

Traffic officers who are in the vans are not police officers they are police staff as are the people who administer them they would not be turning out to a robbery.

How underfunded is the police right now? I just want to know.