Police chief writes to cyclist to explain why he can't investigate crash

It'd be lovely if Sir Peter would express forcefully his opinion that good road infrastructure is the key to Transport for Greater Manchester who seem far keener on peeing money away on grand scheme buildings such as cycle hubs that have limited benefit & to a tiny fraction of we residents and cyclists of Greater Manchester rather than making the on road facilities better and safer for cycling and putting in well thought out, direct off road routes to get more of us out and about. People would maybe then prove the need for such hubs, which should be the next step after quality safe routes have enticed people out of their cars and off public transport and proven that there is a market and desire for centralised hub facilities.

Mr Plod gets very brave as he's set to step down from his role and live on his substantial pension...

At least no PR BS with this from the Chief Constable. He is only saying what is blatantly true and why crime figures going down because people not reporting it.

The police do have the ultimate responsibility for ensuring people drive correctly and should investigate all incidents for criminal intent. Without that what chance do we have to correct people's behaviour ?

Maybe we need a group to help fund private prosecutions ?

"There is no evidence that the police attending road accidents has any impact on casualty figures."

It will actually, as the Personal Injury Collision data, which is generally relied on when considering road schemes is collated from Police reports. Therefore, if the police don't attend then it won't necessarily be recorded or reported properly in such a way that it will help inform future decisions.

"There is no evidence that the police attending road accidents has any impact on casualty figures."

Strictly speaking, yes. Indeed, hard evidence on anything to do with safety on the road is always questionable.

But letting drivers know the cops are not going to turn up after a crash is hardly likely to help, is it? Disgraceful.

And this guy Fahey was given a knighthood ………….. What a disgrace. They have a statutory duty to investigate where an offence has been committed. I gave up on the plod years ago. If it was a copper knocked down an army of his mates would have turned out and there would be a whole team investigating to get a prosecution. They could investigate if they wanted to, but they just cba. Shameful. Complaint to the IPCC time.

"We take complaints very seriously and that is why we have agreed to speak to the driver"

In other words, not only will the police not investigate, but they will not enforce the law at all, not even to the extent of speaking to the perpetrator, unless a complaint is made first.

So remember, when you are run over in Manchester, so submit the report to the Police and the IPCC simultaneously.

I wonder if they also refuse to attend the scene when one car smashes into another car; or do they attend those incidents because drivers are more deserving?

What other crimes are not cost-effective to investigate? We ought to be informed of which offences are being de-facto decriminalised and which are not.

I also felt slightly sickened by the only-slightly-hidden implication that the police officially (due to budgetary constraints, of course) still will not do anything if the victim is "in a morgue" following the driver mowing them down. This has, in effect, decriminalised using a car to deliberately kill.
I would like to see this senior cop explicitly state that cops WILL attend the scene if you are killed…

I wonder if the staffing constraints in the GMP will mean a reduction in the frequency of their traffic officers unnecessarily harassing motorcyclists who haven't committed any offence? Can I take my motorcycle back to Mancunia, safe in the knowledge that I will not get stopped twice in the same day by the same cop for not displaying an L plate (despite holding a full licence for decades) ?

I certainly hope I never hear North Yorkshire Plod pleading 'budget cuts' as a reason they can't be bothered to investigate a crime as they somehow found £7 million to splash out on their new palace in Northallerton.

Very honest of the chief constable, actually, but...

What's to stop someone just giving you false details and/or denying something ever happened though if the police don't turn up? Plus, where's the evidence to say that the accident actually happened if the police don't make a report? In some countries, such as Italy, if the police don't turn up, an accident hasn't legally happened, so you don't have a leg to stand on regarding insurance.

Also, "nobody's hurt, everything's fine," may be true initially but when the adrenaline wears off, your back starts hurting and there's a hairline crack in your carbon frame that you didn't see...one imagines then that the insurance companies and/or the driver would quickly start muddying the waters.

"There is no evidence that the police attending road accidents has any impact on casualty figures. Speed cameras work because they can be sited at the most dangerous places and increase the chances of being caught."

Maybe

But there is lots of evidence that cutting the police force front line is a bloody stupid idea, Eh CAMERON you stupid clagnut.

I assume then that Sir Peter will be with holding his policing from the Conservative party conference in October, through lack of numbers?

my neighbor is a gm police officer. i asked him whether it was worth sending video clips of dangerous driving in to gm police. he said that unless the incident resulted in assault or serious injury or that the officer receiving the clip was a cyclist, they were unlikely to do nothing about it, as they do not have the manpower. in other words people with bad driving are ok until it results in serious injury or worse. and even than ....

So if the police won't be turning up to an incident, then we should take the law into our own hands? I assume they won't turn up when I smash my D-lock into their bodywork.

And to think, one of the Conservatives' strong points is supposed to be that they're tough on crime.

I hope Mr Hearne and others haven't forgotten that their party conference will be held in Manchester this October.