Is Offering A Reward For Dobbing Justified?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-25181326
Even for DD at Xmas?

[mccfluff]

say your mum is walking home and a drink driver knocks her over and carries on & drives home... if they were stopped before they got in the car then perhaps your mum wouldn't of been knocked over on her way home

i agree that you shouldn't have to be bribed into reporting crimes, but drink driving is a crime that can destroy lives just as muggers can,

Who should i report - the guy walking ahead of me in a hoodie down the canal last night -should i report him as a mugger? or the guy driving out of the car park when i have seen him drinking should i report him for drink driving

[joggerjayne]

Fluffy, yes ... BUT ...

This campaign does not stop the person getting into the car and running over my mum.

If it did, it would be worthwhile.

But the Police are not instantly teleported to the pub car park.

By the time the Police arrive, the driver is home.

If he has an accident, or runs over my mum (again? she must be fed up with being run over so much!) ... he gets nicked.

The reward scenario only kicks in if he gets home safely.

[jeffa]

LOL! Of course not. I'm saying that the offence of drink driving is just as serious whether you get caught or not. You seem to be implying that it's only those drunk drivers who get caught that are criminals.

As McFluff states, a drink driver who kills an innocent victim (see I used the word!) causes just as much damage as a mugger who does the same.

The police know that there will be many more incidences of drunk driving at this time of the year, and they are mounting a specific campaign to try to reduce it.

[jeffa]

JJ, that is precisely what this campaign is trying to prevent! Drink drivers who get away with it are far more likely to do it again, just like the perpetrators of any other crime. Catching one early and taking him off the road for a while is the whole point of this.

[mccfluff]

no the reward scenario kicks in, if he gets stopped and prosecuted successfully for dd

which in this scenario 'could' happen before he knocks over your mum
or after

personally i wouldn't call the police, if i saw someone have a few beers and leave, if however they were obviously drunk/wobbly/slurring, & i couldn't get their keys off them and get them home by other means, then i would

[joggerjayne]

I know, I know.

But crime happens all the time. Literally, all the time.

And, up to a point, if no one gets harmed, it's hard to justify giving it special priority.

On any given day I (and most of us) will see motorists speeding, cyclists riding on the pavement, teenagers down on the beach smoking dope, dodgy deals happening in pub loos, people smoking out of the windows of offices.

Crime happens.

And I think, what the heck.

Until ... someone gets hurt.

And then, I want the full resources of Sussex Constabulary to catch the offender.

Unfortunately, they can't investigate it at the moment, because they are all on their way to Mr Smith's house, because someone says he had a gin and tonic at the golf club, and they want their cash reward.

[ummmm]

JJ...that is not what would happen.

[mccfluff]

that JJ is botox and you know it

[LazyGun]

Seems a reasonable enough option to me. And its not as if offering a reward "for information leading to a conviction" or whatever is new; Many cases over many years have offered rewards to those who offer up the info.

Indeed, Crimestoppers, the charity that are working with the West Midlands Police in this instance, make a point of saying that a reward is available for shopping someone for any crime.

Festive season is upon us;many more people give in to the temptation to drink-drive. Thats a bad thing, and we should be supportive of measures to further reduce such anti-social and irresponsible behaviour.

[joggerjayne]

The Police cannot be in two places at once.

The more personnel they have following up these reports, the fewer they have available for other duties.

Or are they not having much man power available for this scheme? It only works if you have officers ready to follow up all these reports, otherwise the driver gets home, has more to drink, and gets in bed, and the scheme becomes pointless.

Presumably, by offering a reward, they want as many people as possible to be reported. And they will have to follow up those reports without delay.

Imagine the adverse publicity if people start sobbing drivers in, and the Police don't respond!

[glasman]

What JJ won't be saying this Christmas -

" I'm just going out to do some drink shopping".

[ummmm]

We have a street full of pubs. At this time of year we will often have 4 or 5 police cars parked in the side streets watching the pubs.

Wouldn't it be more resourceful if they could just receive a phone call?

[joggerjayne]

Quite the reverse, ummmm

The Police cars parked outside the pubs stop people before they drive off.

The phone call scenario means that people drive off, and then the Police go and find them.

The "phone call" scenario allows people to drive off which, surely, is what the scheme is support to be preventing?

[joggerjayne]

glasman ... I hardly ever drive, because there is nowhere to park in town, and all the car parks (except one) are further out of the town than my flat. I'm one of the cyclists about whom so many people complain all the time.

[Ellipsis]

> Tony Dring, from the Campaign Against Drink Driving group, said it was "disappointing" that it had come to people "having to shop their mates". He said: "It shouldn't need a £200 incentive but if that's what it takes to saves a life, whether it be your own or somebody you love, then so be it."

Scene: golf club car park. "Look at that drunk twonk getting into his car. What a prat - let me try to talk him out of it, perhaps offer him a lift. What? I can get £200 for reporting him???! Well, in that case ... where's my phone?"

The financial incentive is all wrong ...

[ummmm]

No they don't stop people before they drive off. They radio down to the next police car if they suspect someone has been drinking.

I've come out of the pub and got in my car and I've never been stopped.

[joggerjayne]

Isn't that bizarre.

They suspect someone is intoxicated, so they let them drive down the road.

Given that so many accidents happen on short journeys, it doesn't make much sense to say "we didn't let him drive very far".

[joggerjayne]

Just thinking about the pub car park situation ...

I can't think of any pub near me that actually has a car park.

Within ten minutes walk of here, there must be at least fifty pubs, about twenty of which I use (not all on the same day!!!) ... and none of them has a car park.

[mccfluff]

ok well i can think of 5 pubs in the village i live in and all of them have a car park
there is only one close to work - no two, the gym has a bar in it and they both have car parks

[joggerjayne]

I love the way gyms have bars.

How many guys come out of the changing room, and have a pint?

Lots!

I suppose they're working on the "I've earned it" principle.