Big Brother

[martyyn 2]

So there I am, a fine Sunday afternoon in Wellington, cruising along with the family in the car and I notice a police car behind me. No problem with that, its not the first time and certainly wont be the last. After a couple of mins he slaps on his lights and pulls me over.

My wife expresses her confusion because I was well below the limit and even used my indicator ;-) I remember that I was supposed to renew my licence last week but had completely forgotten. So the guy comes over and tells me that he believes my licence has expired and he'd like to check it.

He proceeds to tell me how lucky I am that I wasn’t pulled over by a new officer who wouldve given me a 400 dollar fine....blah blah blah.

Now I considered discussing this further, the ridiculousness of getting a 400 fine for less than a week overdue, but thought better of it.

But as we're driving away, my wife starts to wonder about his comment....'I believe your licence has expired'. He obviously had to ring in my licence plate to find that out so what made him do it ?

Im 35, in a sparkling 740 with the whole family in tow. Not speeding, not pulling away from intersections in any haste and certainly not drawing any attention to myself.

So why did he call me in ?

My wife has lots of experience of dealing with police officers (as a solicitor in family law she deals with them every day) and she knows how power crazy some of them are, but Id never really given it much thought.

Are all police officers naturally this suspicious, or is it a power trip thing ?

Surely he had better things to do than call me in.

Surpsied he mentioned nothing about my UK plates though

[Simcox_325i 0]

The reason you got pulled over was you were driving a very nice looking car. The police usually do checks on old dumps for WOF etc and checks on flash cars to see if they are stolen.

see i doubt ill get pulled over in my 3 series.

[E30stz 0]

A very nice car ? packed with the whole family ? yeah right.

Firstly you know why the new numberplates have come into play right ? I cant remember the term but basically its so certain scanners can recognise the numberplate.

I think you'll find incidents like this happen more and more often.

[Deftones 0]

Tinted out 7 series with nice mags... drugs anyone? j/ks

[pug'n 0]

Tinted out 7 series with nice mags... drugs anyone? j/ks

my thoughts

adn yuh, plates aren't high on their agenda it seems. I haven't had a fornt one on the gti for months. been goiven a seatbelt fine and the cop used the rego label to get the rego number when he saw a lacking plate.... awesome

[bumpstop325 0]

he just wanted to check out your misses. He may of needed to fill his contact quota. This is different to the ticket quota.

IRD = Iwi Racing Development.

[Guest Spargo]

Got done the same way at 1am in Orewa a couple of weeks ago.

"Just a random check" Yea, sure, you randomly pulled the only guy on the road.

[325GRANT 0]

He may of needed to fill his contact quota.

thats your answer rite there i think.

not enough police for call outs (taxi in piha incident) but pulling someone up to threaten a $400 ticket for an expired licence... come on

dont get me wrong i have no problem with police doing a job, and if you were speeding or driving dangerously sure pull you up but its just getting stupid out there... its all about the dollar.

it makes it very hard to respect the nz police doesnt it.

[Guest Spargo]

[

it makes it very hard to respect the nz police doesnt it.

This isn't really the time or place for this, ESPECIALLY as this is a monitored forum.

[325GRANT 0]

[

it makes it very hard to respect the nz police doesnt it.

This isn't really the time or place for this, ESPECIALLY as this is a monitored forum.

why?

where have i broken the law or suggested we do?

i have voiced an opinion that not in any way shape or form breaks any law i know of.

why is my comment more controversial then martyyn saying "and she knows how power crazy some of them are" or "Are all police officers naturally this suspicious, or is it a power trip thing"

if i had said "lets get them back by driving like fools and racing around doing burnouts" then maybe your comment would have some substance, but i didnt and i wouldnt. as i said before ... "dont get me wrong i have no problem with police doing a job, and if you were speeding or driving dangerously sure pull you up"

i also said "it makes it hard to respect the police" i didnt say i dont.

the real problem it higher up then the 'bobby on the beat' and i understand that. when a police officer is compelled to call in a number plate, find out who owns the car then go through a back ground search on the owner to look for faults, quite frankly i feel sorry for the police officer. im sure he or she didnt join the nz force so they could do petty crap like that.

as for being a monitored forum,

any police reading this ... i feel for you! you shouldnt have to waste time on so called "random pull ups" just to make a quota.

[Neal 542]

Martyyn,

Maybe mid to late 30 somethings fit the new NZ "crime" target profile. My wife and I have cellphones swabbed checking for drug residue on a visit back to NZ in Nov by customs. They then proceed to take our passports into another room for further checking , all Ok of course.... Mind you , I was spending a bit of time on bimmersport at the time ... Big brother watching this forum to closely maybe

[pug'n 0]

[

it makes it very hard to respect the nz police doesnt it.

This isn't really the time or place for this, ESPECIALLY as this is a monitored forum.

to say nothing offensive?

bahah

[martyyn 2]

Let me stress that I didnt post this experience to set up a bashing of the police. I dont for a second believe that its an easy job and I would like to think that the bad apples are far in the minority.

I used to walk through Cuba Mall every day when the druggies were making trouble and the treatment a female officer got from them on one occasion was disgraceful. I dont know how she managed to keep it together being surrounded by huge blokes all fawning her.

What I was surprised about was the fact that I was 'checked out' given my personal circumstances. My tints are dark yes, but prefectly legal, as is my sports suspension lowering the car, and my 18' m-pars. I was driving perfectly legally even letting others out of intersections where I couldve gone myself.

But for whatever reason the officer chose to phone my plate in.

I have a Corolla wagon around my building each day with completely blacked out windows all around, sacked so low I very much doubt it had springs at all, with half the front of the car missing and huge dents down the side....now how is that allowed to be on the road ?

I think 325Grant has some very valid points in his post. Whether this forum is moderated or not, or whether there are in fact police officers as members shouldnt matter when someone is making a valid point. In fact if there is a police officer on here Id love to here from them, privately or otherwise. I be fascinated to have a chat over a pint with a police officer will to discuss this sort of thing openly.

I wouldve loved to have had a chat with the guy who pulled me over at the time. Why he chose to pull me over etc but felt that since he was letting me go that I should leave it at that.

But that for me is the hardest thing, that I felt I should keep my mouth shut (not easy for me as some of you know) and let him get on with it.

If this thread does degrade into a police bashing exercise then please lock it, but if there is some serious discussion Id love it to stay open to see what people have to say.

[m325i 709]

People with nice cars and families commit crime too.

[325GRANT 0]

i was in another BMW forum the other day (cant for the life of me remember what it was now :banghead: ) that had a section solely devoted to asking questions regarding legal issues. they had a few members that were police officers that would answer them.

how good would that be? we could all know without doubt what is legal and what isnt.

if there are any "officers of the law" here please come forward. i know friend of mine who is a police officer avoids stepping up at times like these because he feels he would possibly be shunned but i dont think this is really that kind of forum. i think the law abiding members here outweigh the "hoons" and any help would be appreciated.

[shadowninja 0]

I would think a 740i being driven under the speed limit is suspicious enough to be pulled over.

I think we've all had experiences of 'random' checks when we feel they aren't. I have read in car mags that NZ cops have 'contact' targets, not necessarily ticket targets.

[325GRANT 0]

my understanding, and it is based mostly on speculation so please feel free to prove me wrong, is that there is a dollar value on police targets.

if it is just contact targets its not really a bad idea.

[martyyn 2]

I would think a 740i being driven under the speed limit is suspicious enough to be pulled over.

When I say under

[nz320i 0]

Your car draws attention, I think thats all its down to, shiny, big and tinted does look dam cool and kinda sus to a cop i would imagine.

[hybrid 1043]

It is normal for the police to check a plate details back to the field controller on duty. They will reply back with your whole history to the officer. Your licience would have come up and they will just have pulled you up on those grounds. They are just doing their job as you said before.

Its interesting listening to police scanners sometimes .. one thing I learnt over two days of listening is if you were to be in a high speed chase ... there is _no_ escape. They have that sh*t locked down in less than 5 minutes and know exactly what to do. If the perp gets away on foot... police dog units 9/10 times find them.

[DCEIVN 0]

Perhaps he pulled you over to remind you that your license was expired... doesn't explain why he ran your plates.

[bravo 35]

And this year Police have begun trials with a new technology which will help to combat both crime and crashes. Automatic Numberplate Reading cameras are now being tested in patrol cars. Cameras read plates at a distance, and vehicles of interest that correspond with the Police database – either because they are stolen or owned by people wanted by the Police – can then be pulled over.

Probably testing out his new gear

[Jazzbass 1]

This may not answer you 'why' but it is offered as a 'maybe'.

I have a friend who is a Police Officer in Auckland.

She says that they will often target the following vehicles (her words):

Drivers wearing hoodies (typical crim wear & restricts side vision)

Drivers wearing baseball caps backwards (because it looks stupid-poss young driver)

Drivers at night wearing shades (safety issue, plus poss unlicenced driver)

Tints (something to hide - possible crim, booze or unlicenced driver)

Cars with 5-6 people in (seat belts)

Cars with stupid hip-hop stickers (just bad taste and poss young unlicenced driver)

Very wide wheels (safety issues with car - boy racers - possible outstanding fines)

Big bore exhausts (boy racers - possible outstanding fines - unlicenced driver)

Cars with replacement guards in different colours (possible hit & run drivers)

Furthermore she states that the way to get noticed ('might not' pull over immediately, but will be watched) no matter what you drive, or who is driving includes:

Hard acceleration (loss of traction - instant ticket)

Hard braking (why? speeding? Loss of traction)

Loud exhaust (poss wof issue)

Loud hiphop in car (idiots with no taste - poss too young to drive)

Arms hanging out of window (idiots causing self poss harm)

Smoke coming out of car interior (poss drugs)

Very low cars (poss wof issue)

Any black CR-X (poss very young unlicenced driver - no normal drivers)

She did list a few others, but in the interests of avoiding racist comments, I'll keep them to myself. (I'm sure you can guess).

She denies that there is a quota (but was smiling when she did).

I'm sure any police reading this will be smiling by now....

[Jazzbass 1]

Oh yeah - she said they love people giving them lip. It just makes it so much easier to write up a ticket instead of a warning chat.

[bumpstop325 0]

I have a friend who is a Police Officer in Auckland.

She says that they will often target the following vehicles (her words):

instead of using the word quota, try "contacts" with your mate.