Video: Policeman Attempts to Hit Moving Motorcyclists with Baton

We know for a fact that motorcyclists face many dangers on the road and are far more exposed to risks than people driving cars and trucks. Nevertheless, we didn't think that a police officer could pose a threat to the well-being of a biker…

If you watch the following video carefully, you'll see a NYPD Chevrolet Impala squad car pulling up in the middle of the road in an attempt to stop the oncoming motorcyclists, with the officer then jumping out and trying to hit the bikers with what looks like a police baton.

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Footage Shows Police Officer going Nuts on Man Who Declined a Search, but is it Real?

Video footage of a police officer first stopping a man in an SUV for speeding over the limit and then going on a curse rage because the driver declined to have his vehicle searched is making the internet rounds.

In detail, the cop pulled over the SUV for going 57mph in a 45mph zone. The driver initially cooperates providing his license. The officer then makes a background check and discovers a previous arrest for possession of marijuana; he returns to the driver and tells him that he'll "cut him through" for speeding but he would like to take a look at the vehicle.

The SUV driver declines the search without a warrant. The officer, who up to that point was polite, explodes and starts swearing at the man, and then leaves the scene.

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Bavaria's Polizei Takes in New BMW 5-Series Touring Patrol Cars

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann accepted a larger than life key to a new fleet of BMW 5-Series Touring police cruisers from the Head of BMW Group sales to public authorities, Alexander Thorwirth.

The ministry took in a total of nine specially modified examples of the latest 5-Series estate that will be used in Munich and other areas of the state.

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Video: You Know You've Really Done it This Time When…

Chances are you're going to get into trouble sooner or later if you're driving under the influence, but the…coffee stains really hit the fan when you enter the wrong lane and crash head-on with the County Sheriff's patrol vehicle…

The incident, which was captured by a police cruiser dash camera, occurred in Oklahoma at around 6:30 pm, this past Saturday.

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Teen Girl Rams Stolen Jeep Wrangler into a Church During Police Pursuit [with Video]

A police video camera has captured the pursuit of a speeding Jeep Wrangler that ended with the 4x4 plowing a Church in Socastee, South Carolina on Friday. The driver turned out to be a 15-year-old girl who had stolen the red-colored Wrangler. Despite the severity of the crash, the teenage girl managed to escape with serious but non-life threatening injuries.

As you can see in the police clip after the break, the young girl told officers that she “was trying to kill herself” because she “hates her life”. A sad story indeed, but then again, it could have easily ended much, much worse that it did….

Source: Youtube & Wmbf

VIDEO

British man has been fined £175 (US$279) and ordered to pay £265 (US$412) in court costs and surcharges after flashing his lights seven times at oncom

British Man Fined for Warning Other Drivers of Speed Trap by Flashing Lights

Thursday, January 13, 2011 | Categories | Offbeat News, Police Cars, Reports |

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If there’s one thing all car enthusiasts can agree on, it’s that speed cameras are a nuisance. Back in the good ol’ days, you would see the van or a sign indicating a fixed camera long before you came to it. You’d slow down, pass by it and then speed up again. Don’t be shy, we all do it. Now, these so-called “life savers” hide behind bushes in unmarked vehicles, all the while speed related deaths and injuries continue to rise.

In what I’ll fancifully describe as the government’s latest bid to demoralise its citizenry, a British man has been fined £175 (US$279) and ordered to pay £265 (US$412) in court costs and surcharges after flashing his lights seven times at oncoming motorists in July of last year. Why was he flashing his lights? To warn them of a speed trap, of course.

The man, Michael Thompson, was in the Grimsby Magistrates’ Court last week where the verdict was handed down. The charge was “willfully obstructing a police officer”, which Mr. Thompson disputed in his hearing. He claimed that he was trying to warn motorists of the trap to prevent them braking suddenly upon sighting it – a cause of many-a rear-end collision.

Mr. Thompson was pulled over by police in his home town of Grimsby. In the hearing, it was revealed that the officer told Mr. Thompson that what he had been doing was perverting the course of justice, to which he replied, “I don’t believe that’s the case.” The officer then said, “I was going to let you off with a caution – but I’m not now.”

In my opinion, it’s hard to see how it that could be perverting the cause of justice, unless “justice” is catching motorists speeding and not preventing accidents. When questioned whether the case was absolutely necessary, a spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) responded:

"Cost is not a consideration in our decision to prosecute. When a file is provided to the CPS from the police, it is our duty to decide whether it presents a realistic prospect of conviction and whether a prosecution is in the public interest. In accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors a prosecution was deemed appropriate.”

Though Carscoop does not endorse speeding or breaking the law, it’s hard to see how this latest case is in the public interest. You would think getting motorists to slow down through blackspots (this being the original purpose of speed cameras) would be more important than revenue raising, but then I don’t work for the British government. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

By Tristan Hankins

Via Telegraph

The Lotus is a visually stunning machine which offers us the opportunity to engage with the public, reinforce and promote the life-saving messages of

Lotus Evora Tries Out Police Uniform in the UK

Friday, January 14, 2011 | Categories | Lotus, Lotus Evora, New Cars, Offbeat News, Police Cars, Reports |

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Lotus has loaned a brand new Evora to the boys in blue at the Central Motorway Police Group (CPMG). The police-liveried version of the British sports car was officially revealed at this week's Autosport International Show at Birmingham’s NEC. Once its show duties are over, the sports car maker will hand the keys of the Evora to West Midland's police officers who will then trial the car for a two week test period.

Gino Rosato, Director of Corporate Operations at Lotus comments: ‘Lotus is proud to take part in this and similar initiatives to help create a safer road culture for our customers and other road users. We believe that you do not have to compromise fun for speed and to that effect we build sportscars that are fun to drive within legal limits! We will be working with Officers from CMPG to teach them how to get the best from the Lotus Evora at our test track to ensure that any high-speed activity is as safe and effective as possible.”

PC Steven Rounds from, CMPG said: “The Lotus is a visually stunning machine which offers us the opportunity to engage with the public, reinforce and promote the life-saving messages of road safety.”

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Seattle Police Department Twittering Car Thefts

From now on, if you are unfortunate enough to have your car stolen in Seattle, the local Police Department [SPD] will post a description of your vehicle on Twitter. Yes, that Twitter. It’s part of a new initiative to cut down on the roughly 3,000 car thefts that occur in the city each year.

The new Twitter account is called, "Get Your Car Back" [http://twitter.com/getyourcarback#], though I’m sure the SPD could have something cooler like, ‘Stolen Vehicle Watch’ or ‘Smile, You’re On Twitter’. The Tweets, which are visible to everyone, look like this:

COLOR:SILVER YR:1993 MAKE:HONDA MODEL:ACCORD BODY:4DR LIC:608YTL ST:WA ***DO NOT MAKE CONTACT CALL 911***

The idea is to get ordinary, average citizens on the streets looking out for stolen vehicles and reporting them to the police so that they can quickly be recovered. Kind of like that reality TV show, The Fugitive, though not as dull. It is also hoped to deter criminals from stealing the cars in the first place.

Lieutenant Mike Edwards of SPD’s Investigation Procedures, explains:

“Twitter is more than a craze. It’s been around long enough now that clearly [it’s] something the average citizen at almost any age is aware of and using, so for us it is an opportunity to get information out in a very timely fashion, much quicker than we have been able to in the past. So what will happen is once the officer has arrived and confirmed it is a stolen vehicle, our dispatch center will then tweet it.”

Depending on the success of ‘Get Your Car Back’, the SPD may consider using Twitter for other purposes, such as reporting traffic accidents.

“One of the important messages from all of this is as technology continues to grow and expand [the SPD is] growing and expanding. We are looking for new and different ways to do what we’ve done and part of that too, is to engage the public a lot more and get the community more involved and aware of what we are doing.”

Needless to say, Lt. Edwards and the SPD discourage citizens from taking action against the drivers of stolen vehicles; you should always call the police.

By Tristan Hankins

SEMA Show: Stealthy Ford Taurus Police Interceptor Concept

A [supposedly] stealth concept version of Ford's Police Interceptor will make its world premiere at this week's SEMA Show in Las Vegas. As cool as it may look though (minus that worn-out driver's seat...), somehow we can't see this interceptor being very stealthy as those massive 22-inch alloy wheels and blacked out grille are bound to capture motorists' attention on the road.
Said to be inspired from the SR-71 Blackbird, the original stealth airplane revealed in the 1960s, Ford's Police Interceptor study also gets a large boot spoiler adorned with bead lights painted black, smoked tail lamps and tinted windows while the body was lowered an inch.
Ford doesn't say what's hiding under the hood, but the production Police Interceptor sedan model will be offered with two powertrain options, an E85-capable normally aspirated 3.5-liter V6 engine delivering at least 280 horsepower and a turbocharged version with direct-injection and at least 365 horsepower and 350 lb.-ft. of torque.

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BMW Gains UK Police Approval, Announces 330d Saloon Interceptor

Good news for police officers bad news for tax-payers in the UK; Hyundai (see here) is not the only maker to be approved as a key supplier for all 52 Police forces around the country by the National Policing Improvement Agency. BMW has also received the agency's blessings, which means the Bavarian firm's cars and motorcycles will become standard issue to the UK's Policemen and women as part of the four-year deal.

Crime fighters in blue will be able to get behind the wheel of cars such as BMW 330d Saloon and Touring, 530d Saloon and Touring, all variants of X1, X3 xDrive20d, X5 xDrive30d and xDrive40d, while the R1200 RF-P Police bike is also on the menu.

Aside from the latest 5 Series models, which are an all-new addition to Police fleets, BMW also announced a specially modified 330d Saloon Interceptor as its High Performance Pursuit Vehicle.

In civilian form, the 330d comes with a 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six diesel delivering 245HP, which accelerates the sedan from 0 to 62mph [100km/h] in 6.1 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 155mph [250km/h].

According to BMW, the UK Police force-spec 330d Saloon Interceptor features special upgrades but the company said it couldn't reveal full technical details of the car "for security reasons".

Tim Abbott, Managing Director of BMW UK, said: "This is excellent news for BMW and shows the breadth of appeal of the products we sell. We have a very strong commitment to the 'Authorities market' throughout the world and have a very close relationship with the UK's Police forces. Orders for BMW Police vehicles started as long ago as the mid 1970s in the UK. This latest news reaffirms our commitment to 21st Century policing."

And just so you know, the Bavarian firm said that some of the BMW police vehicles will be unmarked and perform "less visible policing roles."

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British Driver Receives Driving-Ban after Jamming Police Speed Gun

Bad news for drivers in Norfolk, UK: if you use a laser jamming device to evade hand-held speed guns you may receive a thirty day driving ban.

In a landmark court decision, a 21yo man had his driver's license suspended after he admitted to willfully obstructing a police officer by fitting laser jamming equipment to his Vauxhall Astra. The man was also fined £100 (US$157) and had the offending equipment confiscated by Norfolk Police.

Ten other drivers are waiting for their days in court over similar offences, though the devices are not illegal in Norfolk or anywhere else in the UK (yet). The Plods only became aware of the high-tech devices when they pulled over a Porsche 911 Turbo on the A47 trunk road in March this year.

Sgt Geoff Bowers, one of the road traffic officers spearheading the crackdown on high-tech jammers, had this to say:

"People using laser jamming devices have no regard for speed limits and, therefore, put themselves and other road users in danger."

The devices can be bought off the internet and can cost up to £500 (US$783). Feel free to add your two cents about the matter in the comments.

VW Offers Chattanooga Police Jetta SportWagen TDIs to Keep Residents / Speedsters Safe

Now we've officially seen it all; a body-kitted German station-wagon running on a [relatively] small displacement four-cylinder diesel engine as a Sheriff's Department patrol car. And all thanks to VW's decision to donate two custom-made Jetta SportWagen TDI vehicles to the law enforcement departments of the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County.

The donation was made as part of Volkswagen's ongoing efforts to reach out to the community of Chattanooga, where the German automaker is building a $1 billion plant that will produce among other cars, the New Midsize Sedan (NMS) starting from next year.

Volkswagen said its engineers and designers overhauled the white Jetta SportWagen to incorporate special features including custom-built enclosures and mounts that hold all the communications and emergency lighting gear in place.

The car gets a body kit with front and rear aprons, and side skirts as well as 18-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 225/40 18" Goodyear Eagle GT All Season tires.

Under the hood, the Jetta SportWagen features VW's 2.0-liter TDI clean diesel four-cylinder engine with 236 ft.-lbs. of torque, that returns up to 42 miles per gallon on the highway.

Official Statements:

"Volkswagen is thrilled to be able to provide technologically advanced Jetta SportWagen vehicles to both the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County police departments to help keep the area safe while driving in a reliable, versatile and stylish vehicle," said Frank Fischer, Chairman and CEO of Volkwagen's Chattanooga

"This generous gift is much appreciated and will be a welcomed addition to our expanding Chattanooga Police Department," said Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield. "We applaud Volkswagen for their continued investment in our community."

"Since Volkswagen announced their billion dollar investment in Hamilton County they have demonstrated numerous times their willingness to be a good corporate neighbor," said Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey. "Today's gift of two law enforcement vehicles is further proof of Volkswagen's commitment to Hamilton County and we thank them for their generosity."

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