For ease of understanding:
Priorities are a departmental thing, they are not law and are used for
internal management, ie you can be disciplined but it does not cover things such as traffic infringements in relation to speeding.
280 of the RTC is law and as long as you are performing your duties then you can speed whether or not you have lights and sirens activated.
Just because you don't hear a priority on the radio does not mean anything. Simple fact is you don't need one to speed whilst doing official duties.
Are the police allowed to speed?
Moderator: Bonez
not every person drives around with a scanner quizzing whether police cars can speed or not either.
Policing has to be the one job where everybody thinks they know how something should be done. For some reason I don't see people querying their mechanic about "should you be doing that" when fixing their car
Call me cycnical but the armchair critic brigade sure have found a home here.
Policing has to be the one job where everybody thinks they know how something should be done. For some reason I don't see people querying their mechanic about "should you be doing that" when fixing their car
Call me cycnical but the armchair critic brigade sure have found a home here.
Ok, a question then.. if the law does not prescribe any limitation on speed etc (which we all know it doesnt) for a Police Officer on 'official duties', then why bother having Police Regulations and all the other hoo-ha attached to priority levels, vehicle classes etc.. ?
Just curious.. seems a slight contradiction. If the law is the overriding factor, then surely the regulations pertaining to it are pointless?
Not bagging anyone.. as with any occupation, you get people who follow the rules/laws and those that dont. In the public eye, you would have to admit that a police vehicle (or any other emergency vehicle for that fact) travelling at high speed without lights/sirens would ring alarm bells for many.. regardless of whether what is being done is within the law or not.
it's about perception.. and I guess public education or lack thereof?
Just curious.. seems a slight contradiction. If the law is the overriding factor, then surely the regulations pertaining to it are pointless?
Not bagging anyone.. as with any occupation, you get people who follow the rules/laws and those that dont. In the public eye, you would have to admit that a police vehicle (or any other emergency vehicle for that fact) travelling at high speed without lights/sirens would ring alarm bells for many.. regardless of whether what is being done is within the law or not.
it's about perception.. and I guess public education or lack thereof?
Fastlane, yes I would agree about education or lack thereof. Unfortunatley as with most people in society a large number of our perceptions are developed from what we see on TV and movies. Of course very movie with a police car has them using lights and sirens to go fast. Like everything we shouldn't believe what we see in the movies.
Abour priorities, vehicle classes. As said previously they are an internal management tool used to best utilise resources (both human and physical). You could liken it to say a bank. A bank has a number of financial regulations it must comply with (ie 100 point id check etc). However each bank may add their own policies to each of these statutory regulations. They are not required by law to add them but each bank sees it as "best practice" to either reduce liability or improve outputs.
280 RTC does not give you free reign and does not make you immune from the Road Traffic Act and Crim Code etc but they involve more serious offences, not speeding, stop signs etc.
WAP believe having vehicle classes, priorities etc as "best practice", however the law does not require them to. WAP is one of the few law enforcement agencies to have such restrictive policies. In most places it is up to the crew in the vehicle to determine their level of response to a task.
It is not about operating beyond the law. For example a non-pursuit driver in a class 4 vehicle is not prohibited by law to engage in a vehicle pursuit, it is only a departmental policy. It must be remembered that a police officer in WA is not an employee as such, they are an agent of the crown with a high degree of autonomy. The policies are in place to give guidance to officers to give them some indication as to whether or not they are "acting in good faith".
Abour priorities, vehicle classes. As said previously they are an internal management tool used to best utilise resources (both human and physical). You could liken it to say a bank. A bank has a number of financial regulations it must comply with (ie 100 point id check etc). However each bank may add their own policies to each of these statutory regulations. They are not required by law to add them but each bank sees it as "best practice" to either reduce liability or improve outputs.
280 RTC does not give you free reign and does not make you immune from the Road Traffic Act and Crim Code etc but they involve more serious offences, not speeding, stop signs etc.
WAP believe having vehicle classes, priorities etc as "best practice", however the law does not require them to. WAP is one of the few law enforcement agencies to have such restrictive policies. In most places it is up to the crew in the vehicle to determine their level of response to a task.
It is not about operating beyond the law. For example a non-pursuit driver in a class 4 vehicle is not prohibited by law to engage in a vehicle pursuit, it is only a departmental policy. It must be remembered that a police officer in WA is not an employee as such, they are an agent of the crown with a high degree of autonomy. The policies are in place to give guidance to officers to give them some indication as to whether or not they are "acting in good faith".
-
ConstableCare
- 150+ posts
- Posts: 576
- Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 8:54 pm
It seems that some of you guys think that I was whining about the fact that I saw a police car speed with no lights or sirens, or just cop bashing because I think I know everything about what they do.
That's totally incorrect and I was simply asking the question, as it interested me to know what the law was in regards to it.
Thanks for all the constructive replies, to those who thought it was necisarry to take a stab at me then congratulations to you.
That's totally incorrect and I was simply asking the question, as it interested me to know what the law was in regards to it.
Thanks for all the constructive replies, to those who thought it was necisarry to take a stab at me then congratulations to you.
-
hitman
I know where you are coming from. It's happening all too often around here.Bonez wrote:It seems that some of you guys think that I was whining about the fact that I saw a police car speed with no lights or sirens, or just cop bashing because I think I know everything about what they do.
That's totally incorrect and I was simply asking the question, as it interested me to know what the law was in regards to it.
Thanks for all the constructive replies, to those who thought it was necisarry to take a stab at me then congratulations to you.