This 105 year old film taken from the front of a New York tram should show that road behaviour has improved somewhat over the years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k

Yes, I know, it is still like that in Aussie cbds and on the tourist strips.

O sung wu, I believe police work has always involved a lot of paperwork. Many jobs do. I ran engineering laboratories for quite some time and if you want to see paperwork, that's the place to do it!

However, that never used to stop police from being part of the community, there to help people with all sorts of problems, from cats stuck in trees to tracking down rapists and murderers and everything in between.

I understand that it must be frustrating and time-wasting for police to deal with minor matters that people should be able to deal with themselves and I understand that the duties they are assigned to have fairly limited capacity to be varied by the officers themselves - traffic patrol doesn't have the discretion to stop and assist someone who got burgled last night.

That is all down to the rigidification of process for the convenience of managers. It does seem, however, that some police, like the "women" at Mount Gravatt, are wilfully obstructive and aggressively so, above and beyond the limitations of process. For that sort, it's not merely enough to say "sorry, I can't help, but this is the way you can go to get help from someone else", they must show they are in charge and be seen to be the dominant party in the interaction. "Sit down and shut up, Sir" with hands on tasers is intended to intimidate, dominate and make it clear to the one addressed that they are in a position of inferiority. It may be appropriately used toward a person involved in a fracas at a pub, but it is not appropriate toward a member of the public seeking assistance.

That some police think that it is appropriate is a failure of either their training, or the selection process that placed them in the role, or the culture they encounter among operational police.

In any case, it does not reflect well on the police as a service, although it speaks volumes about their self-perception as a "force".

Hi there ANTISEPTIC...

Much of what you say I'd agree with. Often when somebody criticise police to me, my immediate retort is usually along the lines of something like, '...why don't you wear 'blue' for a month or two...' then come back to me ?

However, much of your comment was both constructive and accurate. Though, you alluded to insufficient or inadequate training, which may be right ? However if police were to be trained to a standard that might accommodate ALL areas of scholarship that the public perceive as necessary, then potential police officers would spend more like ten (10) years, even more perhaps, under training, at the Academy.

Further, to go through with you, ad infinitum each point you raised, would take an inordinately long period of time and space. I'll say again, coppers are human. I've had a 'beef' with some of their actions, or omission to act, or behaviour of police, that I've witnessed since my retirement. I suppose the only difference, in most cases, I do understand or appreciate 'the why' of what was done or not done, where members of the public don't ?

Am I making excuses for them, no. BUT, as I stated herein, I do (in most instances) understand or appreciate their actions...remember, I said in 'most cases', certainly not all !

That said, thank you for a pretty well balanced opinion and critique, I for one, appreciate it.

The vast majority of police feel let down by the occasional cowboy or in this case cowgirls who get people off-side. The police cannot do their work without the cooperation of the public. The positive public relations hard won by hundreds is eroded by the ignorance of the few.

Hi there ONTHEBEACH...

I couldn't have said it any better my friend. You've captured the issues perfectly. The coppers NEED public assistance. The PUBLIC and the COPPERS are one and the same ! The only real difference, the coppers are merely 'agents' of the public, despite what a few may say.

Interesting vid, onthebeach. Pedestrians, cyclists, horse-drawn carts, cars and trams all right in together…. without a hint of a road rule of any sort!! There were no bingles in that 7 minute film, but there were a lot of near misses. I bet there were plenty of accidents back then, despite the very slow speed.

<< The police cannot do their work without the cooperation of the public. >>

Well, perhaps they need to harness the cooperation of the public instead of rejecting it! This is exactly what I have experienced with my small number of complaints about bad drivers over about a ten year period before I gave up….. and I only ever bothered to report the worst and most dangerous bad driving episodes that I was subjected to!

I’ve mentioned my outrage over this many times on OLO.

If the police facilitated the public’s assistance with road safety, as they do with neighbourhood watch or littering, where the public is encouraged to report incidents, then perhaps road safety would be greatly improved. And then the police could divert a lot of their efforts into other things.

But no, the public has been effectively knackered when it comes to road safety.

I couldn’t be more disgusted by this.