If I had a pound for every time I've heard 'Haven't you got anything more important to do, why aren't you out catching burglars?' I'd have three pounds.
I did have a colleague whose answer to that SFQ would always be No sir, I've checked my diary and today it says 'persecute the innocent motorist' but we're not allowed to say such controversial things to members of the public any more as it's a contravention of the code of conduct and can get you sacked.
Everything gets caught on camera one way or another these days, whether it be Council CCTV, police body cameras, private CCTV, dash cams, drones or mindless smombies filming themselves being run over by emergency vehicles on blue light runs because they're too focused on their bloody i-phones to notice the lights and sirens screaming towards them as they wander into the road, so it's just not worth losing your job just to put some pompous pr*ck in their place.
The 'big brother is watching you' thing is only true if you include all of the unregulated recording devices mentioned above, otherwise it's just another lame conspiracy theory (I don't think there are any conspiracies really, I reckon the Government just wants us to believe that there are conspiracies).
So, to cover a few points raised above:
Yes, VOSA, DVLA and plod all have number plate recognition cameras all over the place.
Yes, you could get a fixed penalty (but no points) for running non-regulation number plates.
Yes DVLA will withdraw the number from repeat offenders who are caught using 'show plates' (show plates my ar*e) twice.
No, the level of discretion that individual officers have regarding certain offences is often down to local or national policy rather than for the officer to decide. Some Chief Constables have a 'zero tolerance' approach to even minor infractions of the law and it seems that as the number of minor traffic tickets issued goes up the level of more serious crime goes down.
The truth is that criminals use vehicles to commit crime. Real, proper criminals. Drug gangs, serial killers, rapists, paedophiles, burglars, armed robbers, you name it, they use cars to commit crime.
Most plods develop a sixth sense known as 'copper's nose' where they get that tingly feeling on seeing someone, even if they're at the wheel of a car, and just know that they're up to no good. Stopping criminals in their vehicles and sniffing out more serious offences is an extremely effective way of disrupting their criminal activities.
In reality, most front-line or roads policing officers will look out for the little things and pull everybody for every blown bulb, broken door mirror, double-take at a marked car, and, yes, even an iffy number plate.*
We're not necessarily interested in prosecuting Mr ordinary Joe Public for a blown brake light, but we do like to have a nosey to see what else the users of the vehicle might be up to, and it's surprising how often people who don't maintain their cars also don't have insurance, do have a boot full of amphetamines and have had a skinful.
* back to iffy number plates - Ever heard of Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper? A mass murderer who killed at least thirteen women in the seventies and eighties, Sutcliffe was eventually caught because a couple of nosey plods saw him sat in a car that had a number plate that was a couple of years too 'young' for the age of the car.
A check on PNC showed they were from a different make of car and he was nicked for giving false details and identified as the murderer shortly afterwards. If those plods hadn't acted on his iffy number plates, Sutcliffe would definitely have killed again, as his next victim was in the car with him and he had his favourite murder weapons - a blood stained hammer, a knife and a length of rope he'd already strangled two victims with hidden under the driver's seat and in his jacket.
Personally speaking, I have never ticketed a driver for having black and silver plates on a too young car, but I have given them for altered and stupidly small plates (the ones the size of a Rizzla paper you see on the front of many a modded Japanese import).
I can't, however, promise that you won't get pulled over and maybe even prosecuted for your non-compliant plates, and you're more likely to get pulled if ANPR can't read the plate. After all, for all we know you might be responsible for those unsolved Whitechapel murders.
Happy New Year everyone, drive safely now...
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