snafu:
HATO’s were never meant to replace road policing. We are not trained or equipped to do a constables job.
However in the surreal world of Parliament, we are (as with PCSO’s) being asked more and more to deal with incidents that the police should deal with.
Unfortunately, senior officers in many forces have used HATO’s as an opportunity to reduce road policing. This is a mistake. We were supposed to an addition not a replacement.
As has been stated previously you are there to assist the police by attending incidents where it is not required for the police to attend and that is what you are trained to do.
Surely therefore the government has every right to expect you and PCSO’s to deal with more incidents that you are capable of dealing with in order that the police can the be freed up to deal with other incidents.
Senior officers obviously see you as there to assit there forces by dealing with incidents, as you have stated therefore their officers are not required as much on the motorway and will be sent to areas where they are needed hence why you are replacing the police.
limeyphil:
Well i think i’ve got the answer. we dress up Gordon brown, ruth kelly, and ken livingstone in bright orange overalls they act as mobile traffic cones on the more dangerous stretches of our roads.
Would be better if they were dressed in black overalls and used as traffic cones at night
And stop bragging just because you have a longer length than most of those around you
couldn’t help it…
i’ve had a bad feeling for a while(not supported by the peers of the recovery industry)that the HA are driving towards being in control of recoveries and carrying them out themselves…as far as i can tell it is the logical conclusion.
and having been on the end of a long and complicated story regarding an ainsworth and martin artic that was disabled straddling the hard shoulder white line by 2 inches…ha on scene(not a no-face in the control room) deemed it to be in an unsafe position and called for thier own recovery(30 minutes) as ours was too slow(60 minutes).2 and a half hrs later a recovery company turned up from 30 miles away and towed the whole thing back to thier yard with a bill over £1000 …where it could only be repaired by themselves as no-one else was allowed to work in thier yard…while we were waiting with the by now embarrassed ha , a road cone crew turned up and duly coned us inside a roadworks that had been planned to start at 8pm. removing the risk…too late to stand down the ha recovery crew.now the motorway police are a different story altogether,they have generally seen it all and know when someone is taking the mick.
police have the final say,until they say otherwise…send your own recovery crew.
and insist on your right to remove your own vehicle with the recovery crew of your choice.
snafu:
HATO’s were never meant to replace road policing. We are not trained or equipped to do a constables job.
However in the surreal world of Parliament, we are (as with PCSO’s) being asked more and more to deal with incidents that the police should deal with.
Unfortunately, senior officers in many forces have used HATO’s as an opportunity to reduce road policing. This is a mistake. We were supposed to an addition not a replacement.
As has been stated previously you are there to assist the police by attending incidents where it is not required for the police to attend and that is what you are trained to do.
Surely therefore the government has every right to expect you and PCSO’s to deal with more incidents that you are capable of dealing with in order that the police can the be freed up to deal with other incidents.
Senior officers obviously see you as there to assit there forces by dealing with incidents, as you have stated therefore their officers are not required as much on the motorway and will be sent to areas where they are needed hence why you are replacing the police.
Have I been trained to do all that I do
What am I capable of doing and what have I been trained to do
Are Police officers no longer required on the motorway to deal with all the criminals who use them, not to mention the drunk, uninsured, unlicensed, and otherwise unfit
snafu:
HATO’s were never meant to replace road policing. We are not trained or equipped to do a constables job.
However in the surreal world of Parliament, we are (as with PCSO’s) being asked more and more to deal with incidents that the police should deal with.
Unfortunately, senior officers in many forces have used HATO’s as an opportunity to reduce road policing. This is a mistake. We were supposed to an addition not a replacement.
As has been stated previously you are there to assist the police by attending incidents where it is not required for the police to attend and that is what you are trained to do.
Surely therefore the government has every right to expect you and PCSO’s to deal with more incidents that you are capable of dealing with in order that the police can the be freed up to deal with other incidents.
Senior officers obviously see you as there to assit there forces by dealing with incidents, as you have stated therefore their officers are not required as much on the motorway and will be sent to areas where they are needed hence why you are replacing the police.
Have I been trained to do all that I do
What am I capable of doing and what have I been trained to do
Are Police officers no longer required on the motorway to deal with all the criminals who use them, not to mention the drunk, uninsured, unlicensed, and otherwise unfit
Have you been trained to do all what■■?
You are capable and have been trained to reduce incident related congestion, Manage collisions, Remove damaged/ broken down and abandoned vehicles
Clear debris/ animals from the carriageway
To improve road safety for all road users, Undertake high visibility patrols, Provide mobile or temporary road closures, ■■■■■■ or accompanying high risk, abnormal and other vehicles
Improve journey times by monitoring the network and road works for congestion
Improve customer relations by attending events to promote HATO’s etc
Yes the police are required to deal with criminal matters, I never stated that they were not, however you will find (as previously stated) that police are being sent elsewhere to other incidents (where i live they are in the process of doing away with the motorway police due to the HATO), as they no longer have to deal with all incidents on the motorway network as you are there to assist them in dealing with incidents of the above nature. otherwise why are you there
What exactly are you (and pcso’s) now required to deal with that should be dealt with by a police officer■■?
Greg:
Yes the police are required to deal with criminal matters, I never stated that they were not, however you will find (as previously stated) that police are being sent elsewhere to other incidents (where i live they are in the process of doing away with the motorway police due to the HATO), as they no longer have to deal with all incidents on the motorway network as you are there to assist them in dealing with incidents of the above nature. otherwise why are you there
Exactly the point I was trying to make. The police should be there to deal with these incidents. We should be there to deal with non criminal/police stuff and if it is criminal/police assist with closures, RRB’s etc.
As the specialised motorway police are moved away, we deal with things we were not trained for until they can get to us.
Any decrease in police officers patrolling the motorways is a bad move IMHO. As I said, we were supposed to be in addition not instead.
Naive maybe I should have listened to all the bobbies who told me this would happen
snafu:
Exactly the point I was trying to make. The police should be there to deal with these incidents. We should be there to deal with non criminal/police stuff and if it is criminal/police assist with closures, RRB’s etc.
As the specialised motorway police are moved away, we deal with things we were not trained for until they can get to us.
Any decrease in police officers patrolling the motorways is a bad move IMHO. As I said, we were supposed to be in addition not instead.
Naive maybe I should have listened to all the bobbies who told me this would happen
Whilst i agree you are supposed to be there as an addition, in reality that is never going to happen, The police are not going to pay for the same amount of officers to patrol and deal with incidents as they were ten years ago, as you have quite rightly said you are there to lighten there work load, therefore you would effectively be paying two agencies to do the work that used to be done by one. business and logical sense say that would not happen as it is not financially viable.
If you are being sent to deal with matters that need the police why don’t you refuse to go, the fire and ambulance round here refuse to go to some areas unless with police.
Greg:
Whilst i agree you are supposed to be there as an addition, in reality that is never going to happen, The police are not going to pay for the same amount of officers to patrol and deal with incidents as they were ten years ago, as you have quite rightly said you are there to lighten there work load, therefore you would effectively be paying two agencies to do the work that used to be done by one. business and logical sense say that would not happen as it is not financially viable.
If you are being sent to deal with matters that need the police why don’t you refuse to go, the fire and ambulance round here refuse to go to some areas unless with police.
I think any reduction in the police is a bad move
Greg
As THM said we do agree on reduction of the police.
As for two agencies doing one job I don’t agree. I’m sure from your posts that you are familiar with our stated role. It is also often stated that by freeing the police from non police roles such as traffic management, non injury RTC’s, checking on welfare of breakdowns etc. would allow them to concentrate more on police matters on the motorways and there is plenty of that.
However IMHO since we were set up the goalposts have been moved so that the priority is now such things as violent crime in towns and cities. While I would totally agree that this is a priority, police forces have not been given extra resource to deal with this so senior officers have looked where they can find the officers needed. Some of this has come from us (and some from the same 3 for 2 offer on PCSO’s) which has led to the reduction in roads policing.
Therefore as patrols by the police are reducing, we are the ones who come across things or are sent to incidents pending a bobbie coming available.
Why don’t I refuse to go is a PM discussion
Please understand this is not a dig at the police, particularly the front line bobbie. From a selfish point of view, due to the reasons stated above, I want them close. As you say any reduction in police in the times we live in is a mistake.
I have known a lot of Traf Pol for a long time and traffic depts were being reduced, to cover lack of manpower in other areas,long before hato’s were even being thought of.As a hato ,and a taxpayer ,i do not want less roads policing.The blame for less police lays squarely at Govt for not given police the finances they need and for thinking cameras can replace proper policing.
im sure the two goons i saw on the M1 this morning, one in a Davis MAN, the other in a UK Pallets Scania dont want more Police. They were both driving along onto the hardshoulder and lane 2 while chatting on their phones. I think points and a fine isnt enough. I reckon being paraded through towns that have lost family due to ‘profesional’ drivers while on their phones would help.
extrucker:
I have known a lot of Traf Pol for a long time and traffic depts were being reduced, to cover lack of manpower in other areas,long before hato’s were even being thought of.As a hato ,and a taxpayer ,i do not want less roads policing.The blame for less police lays squarely at Govt for not given police the finances they need and for thinking cameras can replace proper policing.
Indeed it does, my local force has just been bragging on how they have spent over £600,000 on cameras to check the number plates of every vehicle that enters the city. What they didn’t say was that they have reduce yet again the traffic police, who are needed to then stop the vehicles the cameras pick up
Greg:
Indeed it does, my local force has just been bragging on how they have spent over £600,000 on cameras to check the number plates of every vehicle that enters the city. What they didn’t say was that they have reduce yet again the traffic police, who are needed to then stop the vehicles the cameras pick up
Just about sums up the thinking of senior officers in all walks of life
Saw the aftermath of a smash on the M6 just approaching J43 last week.
Up ahead was what looked like a cop car on the roundabout of the junction. It turned out to be a couple of HATOs!! Anyway I sent them off in the right direction, job to do & all that.
I hope there was some hot tea in their flask, as the young girl in the wrecked car was in bits.
I figured that the HATO I had spoken to must have been Snafu, as he was a bit of a Salad Dodger!!
and called for thier own recovery(30 minutes) as ours was too slow(60 minutes).2 and a half hrs later 
a recovery company turned up from 30 miles away 
, a road cone crew turned up and duly coned us inside a roadworks that had been planned to start at 8pm. 
removing the risk…too late to stand down the ha recovery crew.now the motorway police are a different story altogether,they have generally seen it all and know when someone is taking the mick.
