“Being firm avoids catalysing trouble by being seen as a 'soft target'.”

Fine. Just as long as it is neutral.

“Police are people so some may mistakenly read a particular person to be a troublemaker.”

It seems to me that for many police, if a person is worth approaching in the first place, then they are automatically deemed to be a troublemaker, and deserve a harsh demeanour. Thus, an air of intimidation or of overriding authority is projected straight away, which I think is grossly inappropriate and offensive, and very negative in terms of respect for the police.

Police are polite when they pull you over for a random breath test, licence check, speeding ticket, etc. Well, the same demeanour needs to apply all the time, unless there is good reason to behave differently.

“He then showed his badge and let her off the hook.”

What the…?

So he was police officer. So why did he show his badge? Was it an attempt to get out of an RBT? Why was he rude to start with? Who was letting whom off the hook? Very interesting.

“A very wide sense I would suggest.”

Well, we need to look at the whole policing regime, which includes the law-makers, local council regulatory officers and internal regulation of company and departmental rules and codes of conduct. All of these aspects seem to have the same problems – the blind-eye syndrome. So to be fair, it certainly isn’t just the police at fault here, it is a chronic ailment of society.

"Mmmm now you’ve lost me. Facilitating significant crime??"

Police can't be everywhere at once. You can guarantee that Police would miss significant crime if they spent all their time on minor technicalities.

"...It is simply not a matter of prioritisation. It is not a matter of one thing or another."

Would you consider the possibility that an offence might occur that could benefit from judicial intervention while the Police Officer is writing a ticket to the bike riders' pseudonames?

“My feeling is that it would not be necessary if cyclists simply thought that there was a significant probability of getting fined for infringements. So it comes back to the quality of policing. Improving the quality of policing has got to be a far better idea than a bicycle registration system."

A million tickets can be written to a million creative versions of John Doe and the riders can throw all those tickets into the bin smugly and tell their mates. How will that make them think that they will get fined? At the least it would have to be a legal requirement that they carry a drivers licence but even then ... without registration...

"... you will generally get a much better quality of interaction if you present a positive demeanour."

That is for sure. Sounds like you have that one wrapped up.

"It seems to me that for many police..."

You might have had bad luck or maybe your interactions were skewed toward traffic cops.

"Police are polite when they pull you over for a random breath test, licence check, speeding ticket, etc. Well, the same demeanour needs to apply all the time, unless there is good reason to behave differently."

...That surprised me. Do you mind if I ask what other circumstances you came to interact with the police? Many police do have strong feelings about some offences and might be a little terse.

“So he was police officer..."

He was just having a joke with her imitating the people often encountered then let her in on the joke (/let her off the hook).

“Police can't be everywhere at once. You can guarantee that Police would miss significant crime if they spent all their time on minor technicalities.”

It is not a matter of spending “all their time” working on any particular thing; it is a matter of finding the right balance. And surely just working a beat and looking after the little things has got to be part of that balance. Besides, all police are in immediate radio contact if they need to be called to more urgent matters.

I guess you would agree with me that there should be many more police, and that one of the primary reasons for this is so that the perceived minor things don’t get left out.

“A million tickets can be written to a million creative versions of John Doe and the riders can throw all those tickets into the bin smugly and tell their mates.”

O dear. The vast majority of people would comply with the police and give their correct name and address, especially if it was made clear to them that giving a false name or not providing that information is a serious matter, probably a lot more so than the infringement for which they are being fined. The more tickets that get issued, along with the necessary publicity, the more people will realise that there is actually a significant chance of getting caught if they play up, and will pull their heads in accordingly. That’s a pretty basic principle – greater frequency of effective policing leads directly to lower offence rates.

I almost get the impression that you think that the police should not bother with cycling infringements and the like at all, because some of these minor offenders might give them the run-around.

“Sounds like you have that one wrapped up.”

Absolutely. And surely it has got to work both ways.

“Do you mind if I ask what other circumstances you came to interact with the police?”

OK, a few examples;

Darwin, June 2006 http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=2877#45955,

Yeppoon, December 2001. I went to the police station to report really disgusting full-on tailgating, intimidating and dangerous driving that had just been imposed upon me. To my amazement this awful excuse for a driver was there. It became immediately apparent that the police officer was going to protect this person, a local and presumably an acquaintance, and do whatever it took to sting me, the traveller. The way in which the two of us were treated was a million miles from equitable. I ended up making another formal complaint about that issue. But the officer to whom I complained obfuscated the process and basically told me what I could and couldn’t complain about, which I consider to be none of his business and a complete perversion of his role. He then informed the relevant officer instead of taking it through the proper channels. And yet he was residing in a different town (my home town), a few hundred kilometres away.

Lakes Entrance, 2000 http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=99#1939 as already mentioned on this thread,

Townsville, ~1995. I was pulled over by a cop on a motorbike for an RBT. This cop accused me of not blowing in the device correctly and immediately threatened to drag me down to the police station if I did not cooperate. But I was fully cooperating, having been breath-tested numerous times before without any problems. It was patently obvious that he just wanted to exercise his domination and full-on nastiness that he thought he could do with impunity. His whole behaviour was very different to what I had encountered before in RBTs. Needless to say I was not over the limit….and never have been. I have always regretted not making a complaint about that.

continued

Following up on an aspect of blind eye turning I raised recently, I have this information from a Queensland contact:

"Not only are there signs in the car park and along the beach to let people
know where the clothing optional beach is, but in the tourist information
brochures for Bowen, put out by Bowen Council , Coral Beach is advertised as
a clothing optional beach and said to be very popular with European
tourists. Illegal or no? They do it."

So it seems as if the Bowen Council people have more common sense than almost all the various members of successive Queensland governments, who have pig-headedly ignored the proven popularity of nude bathing with many tourists, particularly those from a number of European countries. Countries with large numbers of people who enjoy holidays which include nude bathing include both Britain and Germany. Australia has tourism offices in both these countries, but we officially pretend that nude bathing doesn't happen here, presumably to suck up to the wowsers.

And it looks as if the police in the Bowen area have enough sense to ignore this technically illegal, but obviously harmless and beneficial aspect of local tourism.

continued from my last post

Townsville, ~1990. I was knocked off my bike by a car. The driver left the scene, so I called the police. The cop that came to the scene was the most utterly nasty piece of work, straight-up, to me the victim of an accident! It seems that he was enormously annoyed at being called out over what he presumably thought was an insignificant issue. Either that or he was just plain psychotic. I went into the police station the next day to make a complaint and caught same cop behind the counter. He gave me another huge serve, in front of three other rather stunned officers. I went back late that evening to make a complaint, which was accepted by another officer. I never heard about the matter again.

Perth, ~1980. I was parked somewhere on the edge of suburbia next to a patch of bush, having just gone for a walk which I have always done a lot of as a botanist. The cops pulled up and immediately accused me of all manner of stuff. I could not say anything that satisfied them. Again it was patently obvious that they were simply intent on having their powerplay with me and being as nasty as possible. Eventually they let me go. That is just the worst sort of rank police behaviour, which was simply completely unprovoked and unavoidable.

and there's more...