And just when I was being to think the police couldn't get anymore ridiculous.

[LockHeart]

If I'm standing on an escalator and some bumpkin goes, "you might want to hold the hand rail" I'm within my rights to tell him to f*ck off and mind his own business. If that someone happens to be a cop I get handcuffed and fined for as many bogus charges as he feels like giving me. That's called fascism.

That's the biggest load of bullcrap i have ever seen on the net (well not really). If a police officer tells you to do something the law demands that you do what he tells you to do even though i don't agree with him. I don't know about a single country on earth were this is not the case. It's not fascism, it's just called the law. And if people could just ignore the police whenever they see fit then there is no point in having a police in the first place.

Erm, no. Just no. You do not have to do what a police officer tells you by law unless they are instructing you to comply with a current law, at least that's how it is in Britain anyway - their word is not automatically binding on you.

I think this Peelian Principle sums it up: 'Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.'

 

[SenseOfTumour]

*snip*

I'm 16. I was stopped and questioned for 5 minutes when a policeman saw me in school uniform outside the local doctors. He automatically assumed I was skiving, 5 minutes of questioning during which he was belligerent and aggressive while I answered politely.

Entirely fair enough and I fully believe you, I was just making the point that there's good and bad out there, and it's my opinion the good ones far outnumber the bad, but of course, no-one does news reports on people who complete a days work without incident.

I personally don't see any harm in respecting authority until they prove themselves unworthy of it.

Little things like this seem irrelevant when all of British politics seems to be falling apart over expenses claims, people quitting all over. I can't help but think power corrupts, maybe that's why you get bottom rank policemen doing extremely minor acts of abuse of power.

 

[Crash486]

If I'm standing on an escalator and some bumpkin goes, "you might want to hold the hand rail" I'm within my rights to tell him to f*ck off and mind his own business. If that someone happens to be a cop I get handcuffed and fined for as many bogus charges as he feels like giving me. That's called fascism.

That's the biggest load of bullcrap i have ever seen on the net (well not really). If a police officer tells you to do something the law demands that you do what he tells you to do even though i don't agree with him. I don't know about a single country on earth were this is not the case. It's not fascism, it's just called the law. And if people could just ignore the police whenever they see fit then there is no point in having a police in the first place.

What law do you know of requires you to hold hand rails on escalators? I'd like to see this printed law that this officer was upholding. Furthermore, there are plenty of situations in which listening to an officer might not be the safest course of action, they make mistakes too you know (although they'd like you to believe they don't).

What if her arm was broken and she was physically unable to hold the hand rail. Police officers aren't infallable beings, quite the contrary in fact, putting on that uniform and badge tends to give them a hyperinflated ego which if anything causes them to make more mistakes than the average person. Allow them to carry tazers and guns and suddenly you have a recipe for disaster.

For example, last summer a few of my friends and myself were hanging out by the pool at our apartment complex. Like strapping, atheletic, heterosexual, young males sometimes do, a few of my friends started wreslting with each other in the pool. A cop who I guess had been outside the gate heard what he thought to be a a fight taking place by the pool. Instead of assessing the situation, or using goddamn common sense, the officer comes into the pool, gun drawn and leveled at my friends. He then said, and i quote "I have a shot, should I take it?" I shit you not. My friends of course stopped dead in their tracks and stared dumbfounded at the gun now pointed in their general direction.

What kind of hotshot rookie cop comes to a pool where 2 people in their BATHING SUITS are wrestling, aims his weapon and threatens to fire? Any cop on this forum knows this is not correct protocol in handeling such a situation. You want to play the What-if game? What if his gun had misfired and he shot one of my friends in the head? You think he would see jail time? I think not. Point and case, cops make mistakes, you aren't required by law to blindly follow their instructions.

 

[Jharry5]

Well, they've got to make the money somehow, even if it means being incredibly amoral...
If she reacted in the way the article said, that still doesn't give them the right to fine her that much for not holding onto the handrail.

 

[kryptik102]

HAHAHAHHA!! Omg!!!
Phew. I'm lucky I'm British. the most idiotic thing a police officer would do here is help you chase someone that isn't White if you're White and you're chasing the person that isn't White.
If that makes any sense.
But in all seriousness, I hate to Po' for that.

 

[Rajin Cajun]

God this thread is so full of pseudo-Anarchist/Marxist trolls it is rather disgusting.

 

[asinann]

I only believe about 3 of every 100 words that a police officer says when defending their actions while on duty.

Those words are usually the, a, and ummm, I can't come up with a third word I believe out of their mouths.

Police overreact to everything, especially the ones that get assigned to bs duties like watching the choo choos.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Umm, why didn't she just obey instead of get up in their face? Just hold onto the fucken rail if you dont want a ticket

 

[Colodomoko]

You see kids, never trust a cop and always trust a vigalante(I hope I spelt that right).

Not all cops are bad, but some(I'm sorry, most)of them can be realy bitchy when it comes to their job.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

She wasn't fined for not holding the handrail.

Read the article again. She was fined 100 pounds for not holding the handrail

Yep, I did read it again, and yes I do see that she was fined explicitly for not holding the handrail.

I also noted that she was only fined after she refused to comply with the officers and making a scene. So, while the crime was failure to hold a handrail, the actual even that spurred the fining was her refusing to cooperate with safety officials requests.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Point and case, cops make mistakes, you aren't required by law to blindly follow their instructions.

Yes, cops do make mistakes. That said, I'm fairly certain that in the United States, when they attempt to enforce a law and give a citizen an order to that effect (like - please step out of the car) you are indeed required by law to obey. If they give a citizen an unlawful order then you are free to ignore them, but again this is at your discression - keep in mind you'll be saying no to a man with a gun and the capacity to garner a certain amount of trust simply through his wearing of a uniform.

 

[Tehpwnsauce]

It's Montreal police officers, they have the habit of either being jerks or corrupt.

Yeah good job detective, it's actually Laval police.

Kudos on the objectivity though.

*Rolls eyes* Hang out with many Montreal police do you? My mistake, but on the Laval police thing, I refuse to not state the absolute truth that Montreal cops are dicks.

I refuse to believe that any cops are perfect.

 

[Sparrow]

And I thought this sort of thing only happened in Europe.

Opening a post with a flame? Not the smartest of you Americans are you?

 

[Tehpwnsauce]

And I thought this sort of thing only happened in Europe.

Opening a post with a flame? Not the smartest of you Americans are you?

Wanna check my profile? I'm English.

And its not a flame Jean Charles de Mendez ring a bell?

 

[Sparrow]

And I thought this sort of thing only happened in Europe.

Opening a post with a flame? Not the smartest of you Americans are you?

Wanna check my profile? I'm English.

And its not a flame Jean Charles de Mendez ring a bell?

Oooh, zing!

But seriously though. Ain't a smart thing to do.

 

[bodyklok]

http://arbroath.blogspot.com/2009/05/woman-fined-for-riding-escalator.html

And I thought this sort of thing only happened in Rapture.

Fixed that for you

Fixed it again.

I'm fixing things! Wooh

 

[Tehpwnsauce]

And I thought this sort of thing only happened in Europe.

Opening a post with a flame? Not the smartest of you Americans are you?

Wanna check my profile? I'm English.

And its not a flame Jean Charles de Mendez ring a bell?

Oooh, zing!

But seriously though. Ain't a smart thing to do.

Really? Cos before you posted only one other person on this thread had flamed or insulted me in any form and that was purely because said person was angry that I had outsmarted them.

 

[Sparrow]

And I thought this sort of thing only happened in Europe.

Opening a post with a flame? Not the smartest of you Americans are you?

Wanna check my profile? I'm English.

And its not a flame Jean Charles de Mendez ring a bell?

Oooh, zing!

But seriously though. Ain't a smart thing to do.

Really? Cos before you posted only one other person on this thread had flamed or insulted me in any form and that was purely because said person was angry that I had outsmarted them.

Oh good lord not again. Why do the arguments always start when I'm tired? Wait a tic, I'll try and understand what your on about...

Right. You outsmarted someone? What do you want, a cookie?

 

[Tehpwnsauce]

And I thought this sort of thing only happened in Europe.

Opening a post with a flame? Not the smartest of you Americans are you?

Wanna check my profile? I'm English.

And its not a flame Jean Charles de Mendez ring a bell?

Oooh, zing!

But seriously though. Ain't a smart thing to do.

Really? Cos before you posted only one other person on this thread had flamed or insulted me in any form and that was purely because said person was angry that I had outsmarted them.

Oh good lord not again. Why do the arguments always start when I'm tired? Wait a tic, I'll try and understand what your on about...

Right. You outsmarted someone? What do you want, a cookie?

Well it would be nice.

Right since you're tired I'll explain it in a more simple manner. You tell me my opening post is a stupid thing to do and its a flame, threads which start with a flame continue into flame wars. Until you came along no one else had accused my op of being a flame or insulted me because of it. Thus you are the flamer here.