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When I was brand new on response @MPSNewham a wise area car driver (now retired) took me out on a night duty in the van. First thing he asked me was what sort of calls/stops/arrests I hadn't dealt with. One I mentioned was drink drive. His response was let's go & get one then...
Being extremely naive & wet behind the ears I was somewhat puzzled about how I was going to find a drink drive. The lesson then began on the signs of a drink driver...I'm sure colleagues will know what sort of things I mean. I was taken to some main roads near various clubs/pubs.
It didn't take very long to find a car displaying some of the drink drive signs (I won't mention them on here). At no point was the age/sex/race/religion of the driver mentioned. Pulled car over. Had a conversation. The driver had been drinking. I required a breath test.
He blew over. I arrested him. He went to custody. Blew on the EBM. Blew over. Charged and bailed a few hours later. Pleaded guilty at court. He wasn't a nasty person. He didn't claim he was pulled over for spurious reasons. He was dealt with courteously. That is the end.
We may have saved his life. We may have saved others he could have had an accident with. He might have learnt from it. He might not. He wasn't known to police. No medals are sought or required. Point is, it was a simple traffic stop.
If politicians don't want us to do things like that - absolutely fine. But then please don't come moaning to us when people are killed by drink drivers, stolen cars on false plates aren't stopped..the list goes on.
Because that is what you wanted.
Because that is what you wanted.
Officers will have countless examples like this for all sorts of offences. That is just a really simple one - my first drink drive arrest.
