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This thread can be boiled down to a few simple points.

1. The Police do a very difficult job, under negative pressure from "on high" (senior officers and Government) which can't be fully understood by people without time spent in the job.
2. Having said that, they are not above criticism. The have standards to uphold and are held to account (sometimes the balance isn't correct though)

I have spent time on active patrol (albeit only as a Special for about 8 years) so I can see both sides. I've seen enough as an officer to understand that part of the story, but not fully "institutionalised" and so still see it from the Public's point of view.

I have made two official complaints about police driving. Once before I joined, once after I left. The first instance was a van conveying a prisoner back to Milton Keynes central police station. It was using blues at every instance it needed to take priority at a junction or roundabout, and then switching them off again. The speed was not in excess of the speed limit so I followed the van to its destination - the nick - and then went straight into the front desk and made a complaint. I was followed up by an Inspector a day or two later and assured that the officer had been "spoken to" about his use of blue lights. The inspector acknowledged that such misuse didn't serve the force well, and would lead to people ignoring blue lights "like they do in France".

The second complaint was made a year or two ago. Two training vehicles from West Yorkshire were travelling in convoy back to their force area from Scarborough. I encountered them several times (they must have stopped for some time and then caught me back up again) and they were consistently in excess of the limit, overtaking in the face of oncoming traffic (forcing it to slow down or move to the nearside) and generally driving like arses.

I made a complaint to West Yorkshire and said that if I had driven like that I would expect to be prosecuted. It was a terrible example to set the public in marked cars (no blue lights either). The Inspector who took the complaint said that this was why they used to do training courses in plain vehicles, so it wasn't as blatant. However the Home Office wanted more police "presence" on the roads so insisted that training was done in marked cars. The complaint was passed to the Sergeant of the driving school who called me up but basically didn't give a toss. His attitude was that it was a "sterile situation" and fully justified. Basically an arrogant idiot. I did try to explain that I was as pro-police as he was likely to encounter, and if I was sufficiently provoked to make a complaint then there would have been several others whose opinions of the police would have been damaged by this.

VladSoilerOfCarpets, on 05 February 2012 - 18:42, said:

Double the stripper? The last one was fookin enormous! Lets just say she wasn't doing it because of he looks!

GentleGiant, on 05 February 2012 - 13:59, said:

Nah, had that for my 20th!

Just had an idea, a Pure Highway so that I can listen to the cricket in the car?

VladSoilerOfCarpets, on 04 February 2012 - 19:30, said:

Ha! In fact the car I had before the wife's first Octavia was a 1989 190E auto. Lovely car.

I've always wanted an old Impreza Sport but that'll be too much money.

As for watches, I'm not allowed to wear a watch at work, so I wouldn't see it Monday to Friday.