Police Voyeurs

[Safebare]

Police are using a new tactic to catch drivers on their cell phones. Police in many different communities are using school buses, heavy trucks, motorcycles and other high profile vehicles to look inside the driver's window to see if they are texting, emailing or surfing the internet. What else might they see and decide to initiate a traffic stop? The blurb I saw showed the cops in the observation vehicle video taping the perps, then sending the video electronically to the catch unit.  This all seems a bit voyeuristic to me.
I usually cover when next to a school bus, but no longer worry about other high profile vehicles. Now I have one more thing to worry about.

[Greenbare Woods]

Police are using a new tactic to catch drivers on their cell phones. Police in many different communities are using school buses, heavy trucks, motorcycles and other high profile vehicles to look inside the driver's window

Some of us think that the police should get off the backs of the people.  Others disagree.  One more thing to worry about from the police state. 

[jbeegoode]

It sounds extreme and costly. It would be only in certain areas of high use, like urban freeways, if used. It reminds me of those old signs in the desert reading, "Speed monitored by aircraft." There was a plane early on that I saw, but it was just a bluff. When they put in those DAM photo catchers for the private corporation's profit margin around town, they installed them at corners where there was no monitoring going on. Just as a threat, fake cameras.

Law enforcement lies. One of the most dishonest entities around. It is easy to degenerate into the moral character of the projection onto the adversary. I don't think that it is a good idea that there is a habit of lying and manipulation by the police. It simply tells me that they are not to be trusted, a very very dangerous place for law enforcement to be.
Jbee

[Safebare]

You are correct. Private aircraft follow highways to navigate (VFR) and the unwitting public see the signs warning of aircraft speed monitoring, thinking ' well, there they are!'.
IDK. It frustrates me that people consistently do stupid things (texting while driving) that put others in significant danger and will only stop when pushed by laws and fines, or worse. That creates the platform for more laws and increased limits on our freedoms.   I guess the better solution is through technology that limits electronic capabilities while driving, but how does the device know when you are driving vs a passenger?

[eyesup]

Now I have one more thing to worry about.

If they really are using school busses, that could be cause for action. Even if it's passive surveillance, it's not a law enforcement vehicle. And if a wacko really believes a school bus is monitoring him! Well the police don't need another bone headed idea to blow up in their face for people to beat them up with.

It frustrates me that people consistently do stupid things . .

In a free society the stupid will always be among us. You can't have a free society without consequences. If it's too costly, however you define that, people will avoid doing it. No simple slap on the wrist because it's a 1st offense.

Abraham Lincoln said, "The best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it to the letter." If the law says "No texting or phone calls while driving", make'm pay dearly when they get caught. Law enforcement shouldn't be interpreting the law. That's why we have courts.

How does the device know when you are driving vs a passenger?

When an engine or motor is started a ping is generated. If a phone detects the ping it shuts itself off. It could be tied to a tachometer for RPM along with an interrupt switch on the transmission. Above a certain RPM while in gear, the ping is emitted. the phone won't work!

I'll send you my bill! 

Duane

[nudewalker]

School buses? Most of the time our district has a difficult enough time keeping their fleet maintained. Along with the fake red light monitoring and other big brother may be watching cameras to enforce behavior. The only one I agree with is radar hidden in construction vehicles to catch speeders in work zones. Dealt with enough preventable accidents while working EMS in the day.

My question is how would they know if you were talking on a bluetooth enabled vehicle or singing with the radio?  And Duane mentioned what if a wacko thought the school bus was monitoring him? Here's is hope it would only be a waste of aluminum foil.

[ric]

in the uk the school busses run for an hour or so twice a day.... rare to see one on the road any other time... wouldnt be a lot of use as a covert surveilance vehicle.

but whatever plod does to catch people its wasted effort unless the courts penalise those that are caught.

slightly off topic , in the news this morning a 40 year old was convicted of having excess of 10k child porn pics and videos , judge gave him 6 months jail instead of the 5 years allowed, then suspended it cos the 41 one year old was of otherwise good characture and his wife wanted to start a family.
the lunatics really  are running the asylum,  next question ought to be  whats on the judges computer

[Davie]

West Midlands Central Motorway unit use covert HGVs to catch lorry drivers texting, looking at TV, having their dinner whilst thundering along the motorway. I support this action and feel they are protecting my loved ones from one of these idiots killing a fellow road user.

I don't however support the current covert speed cameras that are painted grey, or are hard to see. Some locally in an urban area are small, high up with a splash of yellow. These cameras are supposed to deter but these fall into the entrapment category as a cash cow.

Davie 

[ric]

imho nearly all speed cameras are designed as cash cows.

jf you really want to stop speeding you use unmarked mobile cameras, nobody knows where theyre going to pop up and impossible to spot.   in the short term a lot of drivers would be caught , most would learn that the only way to avoid a fine would be to abide by the limits, but  long term the fine revenue would dry up.
so we mainly get fixed bright yellow cameras which catch unwary strangers and the locals just slow down for the camera and exceed the limit the other 99% of the time and get caught on the few mobile cameras that are arround.  its a steady income stream year on year that does absolutly nothing for road safety.

[jbeegoode]

I was stuck in thick freeway traffic out in LA a few years ago at a dead stop, bumper to bumper. I hadn't heard about the no cellphone law. I was talking to DF in Arizona, trying to get the directions I needed to get out of the mess and to my conference. Bam, BAm, Bam, on my window! I look out and there sits a motorcycle cop! He angrily yells at me, "Quit talking on your cell phone." I complied, not having a clue of the law. I showed no guilt. I'd never heard of such a thing, looking back at him obviously confused. He pulled away in a huff. Apparently he saw my Arizona plates.

Nope, I wasn't carnuding that time.
Jbee

[eyesup]

Whoops! Safebare!

My solution did not address the problem of the passenger as you asked. That would be a more complicated problem.   

See, the law is making life more complicated. Not better.

Duane

[eyesup]

Jbee, I had a similar reaction from a motorcycle cop when I made a mistake in a school zone. Read me the riot act as though I had blatantly broken the law.

He asked whether I was aware that I had just broken the law he said I had  broken. I said no I was not aware of that, and then thanked him for telling me about it. He chilled immediately but was not happy that I hadn't argued.

He sped away in a huff. If he had waited I could have explained and he could have left in a minute and a huff.
(that's one's not mine, it's Groucho's  )

Duane

[Davie]

It's a game. Argue and you fail the attitude test. I'm not saying its right or wrong, I've been on both side of the game, which I suppose comes down to human nature.

I do remember stopping a guy very early in the morning and asking for his details. He was very polite but was firm that he had no duty in law to tell me anything. I had the sense to listen, I let him go wishing him a good morning and learnt that both sides have rights. I never forgot that conversation and I'm grateful for that man and the encounter and in later years working in a Criminal Justice Unit deciding (with the CPS) on prosecutions I hope I brought with me a sense of justice. I know I was determined to prosecute in many cases but equally I was happy not to if a sense of fairness determined that was the best way forward. Sometimes I had to curb youthful inexperience, or laziness in preparing cases.   

Davie 

[Greenbare Woods]

Jbee, I had a similar reaction from a motorcycle cop when I made a mistake in a school zone. Read me the riot act as though I had blatantly broken the law.
Duane

It is armed robbery.   It is an important part of the city budget, about 1/3 of all revenue for many cities.  It is the antithesis of free men in a free country. 

Not so long ago armed highwaymen were caught and hanged by the good people.  Now they rob for very corrupt governments.

 

[jbeegoode]

Jbee, I had a similar reaction from a motorcycle cop when I made a mistake in a school zone. Read me the riot act as though I had blatantly broken the law.
Duane

It is armed robbery.   It is an important part of the city budget, about 1/3 of all revenue for many cities.  It is the antithesis of free men in a free country. 

Not so long ago armed highwaymen were caught and hanged by the good people.  Now they rob for very corrupt governments.

Robbinghood? The evil sheriff's men? Some jurisdictions just use traffic as a revenue source. Oro Valley next door, was like that for years. The police chief proudly said that he was always within his ridiculously bloated budget. He bragged about it when he retired and ran for council. He also used fascist tactics for political reasons. How do these monsters happen?

It makes people avoid cops, but also avoid them off duty. That has something to do with it. They basically create their own isolation. Who wants someone standing next to me at home, who is out to protect me from myself? Who wants someone around who might make trouble for my friends? It is one thing out on the job, but not at home in a free country. The "if you aren't doing anything, there are no worries" argument is crapola. That can't be healthy for a cop. How can a cop leave his work behind? How can people cozy up to the guy who is supposed to protect you, a good thing, when he has all of these stinky little enforced morality laws on his plate? Politicians started this.

Then the system in places like Ferguson, Missouri are outrageously disgusting, evil, but that is way past being naked and free. That is enslavement.
Jbee