milo24/7

Well you will forgive me for a little civic pride in the city where I live.! Personally I believe that Sheffield, indeed South Yorkshire as a whole, is deserving of such assets as a Police Helicopter AND/OR an Air Ambulance. The county may well be covered from afar, but that will only be when incidents nearer to the helicopter bases arent occuring also. Time-critical incidents are prioritised by the chances of success / usefulness of the crew. So this region will slide down the pecking order. I for one will always be critical of such decisions rather then trust that every decision made is in the best interest of the people being served.

No. The Police helicopter is going too. Sheffield is losing both the Air Ambulance AND the Police Helicopter. But dont worry Leeds are keeping both theirs, so its ok. !

yeah you could do. But you could also remember the eighties. You know when the evil witch otherwise known as thatcher the milk snatcher, devastated all the heavy engineering in this part of the world. The tories, then as now, with no regard for anyone but themselves and their upperclass twits brought in an industrialist to "run" british steel (into the ground as it happended). Who was this person, Ian MacGregor... AN AMERICAN..!! Not content with destroying British Steel, he was then appointed chairman of the National Coal Board..!! guess what happened next.. ah yes the british coal industry also went to the wall.. (ironic that now the country depends on overpriced gas from overseas..) and now that the eastern european countries no longer subsidise their coal to undercut the UK, the price of coal has risen to the point whereby its actualy worth digging it out the ground again now..! (maltby pit is doing very well thank you) But of course, the wicked witch maggie was intent on bringing down the miners, regardless of the consequences to the North. Labour are indeed, it would appear, guilty of gross mismanagement of the country. But they are no better or worse for this than than the tories. It will only be a matter of time before the government ministers all have non-executive directorships of companies, succesfully bidding for government contracts and have their noses well and truly buried in the trough, AGAIN. People have short memories and seem to forget how utterly despicable the working class get treated by the tories. Sadly we never learn, and while ever only a third of the population can be a**sed to vote, we never will. Personally, when thatcher finally pops her clogs I will dance in the street for what she did to my family and my community, and if they dare to give her a state funeral, I will be there to yell out a huge BOOOOOO as they go past. Why, because I do remember. So perhaps if the conservatives had managed the economy better during their last term, we wouldnt be a nation of shoppers, shopkeepers, cleaners and public sector workers. We may have continued to have the industrial power we once had, whereby we were innovative and productive, the rival if not the better of any country in the world, and stronger economicaly for it. As for cops having expensive toys ...?? well that pretty much demonstartes the depth of knowledge.. I wonder what that poster does for a living...

What price justice then..? Will we compile a list of things that will be investigated and a list of things that wont..? Trivial joy riders - what is the definition of this..? Is it judged on the value of the car they have stolen, so only executive cars will be chased..? Perhaps it can be based on whether or not they have burgled your house or not. Or maybe by postcode..? We have a postcode health service, so perhaps we can have postcode policing too..? Those people that live in areas where there are lots of crime can be ignored if they report a car theft, because the car wont be worth much anyway and lets face it they probably know the people responsible..! We can prioritise petty crime the same way. Shoplifters from waitrose can be investigated/chased. But not from Aldi.. ! If the helicopter is called over from Manchester to a car chase, they can ask whether its local joyriders in a nissan micra (in which case its not worthy) or if its a new executive BMW, in which case they will make the effort to travel 20 mins to fly over the pennines..! (assuming its a quiet night in manchester that is) I like your idea NAGEL.. its a new way to police.. dont bother with petty stuff like someone stealing your car..!!

well i guess its open season for the burglars to come to sheffield (from manchester) and take peoples cars from their drives, knowing full well that by the time anyone knows whats happened they will well on their way back over the hill on the M62..! another quality decision by SYP..

well maybe but i cant see how many crooks they are going to catch when they have to travel over from manchester first..!! Personally i'd rather pay another ten pence and keep the one at sheffield..!

yeah but not all the 1.75 million people ARE paying taxes..!! So are we now paying for the helicopter in manchester too..???

Have we..? when did that happen..!! Does that mean both are being scrapped.?

Actually the tories commissioned the Sheehy report into the future of Policing in 1993. This friend of the tories was then running British American Tobacco, and was intent on running the police as a business, and paying them the same. He argued that Police work was not a special case occupation, and compared newly appointed constables to people stacking shelves in local supermarkets. He argued they should be paid the same. Which is all well and good, however (and all respect to supermarket workers) but police officers regularly are attacked, and occasionaly murdered, (pc sharon beshenivsky) merely because of the uniform they wear, and the job they do. Police Officers are there to deal with the section of society that you, the public can choose to cross the road to avoid. If Police work is to be considered a business, then Officers will obviously lose those restrictions on private lives currently in place. ie being unable to join a political party, being unable to live where they want without permission from the chief constable, be unable to join a trade union, and be unable to go on strike..!! (amongst many others) Performance related pay (as recommended by Sheehy) will also bring in many dividends for hardworking officers, who when dealing with minor misdemeanors, perhaps with young people, can arrest, process, and have prosecuted, every individual they come across, (rather than give a verbal warning) and claim the bonuses that the tories would like to pay. So no. It's no shock at all actually. Police work is traditionaly a working class vocation. And we all no how the tories treat them.

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Not so. The seat in use at the time is irrelevant, you can be stood next to your vehicle and still be "in charge". Many people are prosecuted when asleep in the back seat for drunk in charge offences. As mentioned earlier, the test to be applied is, the likelihood of driving And whilst that is subjective, the court will decide one way or the other. virtually all drink drive legislation applies to "public places". A pub car park is private property. But it is a public place. (Unless the landlord puts electric gates on it and issues his regulars with a swipe card.) The same applies to supermarket car parks, private roads with no gates on, open playing fields/park land etc.. and for obvious reasons. !! A drink drive/drunk in charge arrest, will generate about 3 hours paperwork at least, after the arrest. So if you really believe that 3 hours paperwork is a way of relieving boredom.... well... what can i say.. ??? Next time I find an Officer that is "bored" I'll ask what "tricks" they do to break the endless monotony..!!

short answer: YES.. PERFECTLY LEGAL..... (however) just as it perfectly legal (tho not advisable) to drink alcohol whilst driving.!! Yes, you can drive up the M1 and drink a can of stella if you choose. The problems occur when you exceed the limit whilst doing these things... The current limit is 35 micrograms in breath. Which YOU will not be able to judge. Its nothing to do with pints/units/shorts... whatever.. everyone absorbs alcohol differently so ignore people that say the limit is 2 pints, 2 wines, or whatever. The only safe measure is ZERO..! Anyway. As far as the being sat in the vehicle and being drunk.. yes. the offence is drunk in charge. Ignore where the keys are. The location of the keys and the proximity of the "driver" are simply means to determine the likely-hood of the drunk person, actually driving. It is this likely-hood that will sway a prosecution one way or another. The legislation is HUGE and much caselaw has been written about it, because drink driving legislation is the most tested in the UK.. Far too big to explain fully on a forum. However... if you are in possession of your car keys and drunk, yes, technically you are committing an offence. But dont get worried about it... the test that will be applied by a court is, "what is the likelyhood of you driving... 99% of the time the answer will be ZERO... If however, you are found asleep in your car, down a quiet country lane, or somewhere similar, and the worse for drink... you are highly likely to be arrested for drunk in charge.... (and this is the MOST common circumstance this law is used) Dont forget, its a safety thing.. its there to prevent drunk people, who are not making clear decisions, from driving when they shouldnt. Dont worry about the technicalities of the legislation, your head will spin if you go into it too deeply. (im sat with a glass of wine right now, my car keys are on the side, and i am "in charge" of my vehicle..! I could easily go and drive it right now... however, the cops arent going to be beating down my door. The message is simple. Cars and drink dont mix. If you were arrested whilst sat in your car with your mate, on your street, over the limit for drink driving. How confident would you feel about convincing a court, that there was absolutely NO chance, whilst in your drunken state, that you wouldnt have been tempted or able, to just drive a bit further down the road, move the car round the corner, drive it to your mates, nip to the shop, go into to town, drive to the coast...!! Can you see where this goes....... This legislation is in place because people have lost loved ones as a result of drink driving. Its not because the law makers wanted to stop people sitting in cars on their driveway with some cans...! Its there as an intervention, so the police dont HAVE to park round the corner and wait for the vehicle to be driven (and therefore risking an accident or a pursuit, or both) by someone who is drunk. They arrest the person in charge, and let the court decide if there was a likelyhood of driving taking place WHILST over the limit.

ah well.. 25 years in the "business"... it does that to you..!! In fact the title of this thread should be changed to "south yorkshire police helicopter to go.." be under no illusions that this is whats being planned. SYP wont share its chopper with someone else. It will go, and they will have to pay to use someone elses when the need arises...!!

like most police forces SYP is top heavy with departments / civilians that are nothing to do with policing. wasting money on handheld computers PCSO's walking around in gangs 'cos they cant deal with "proper" police work. "business change" managers..? cant wait to hear the outcry when its announced that the SYP helicopter is binned..! and it WILL be binned cos west yorkshire is quite close by and already provide cover.. welcome back the ram raiders anytime soon..!!

Just so you know. SYP dont get ANY of the money from the safety cameras. The fines go back to the safety camera partnership. Any surplus after wages and equipment costs goes back to the government. That also applies to ALL fines issued to motorists, and offenders at the courts, not just speeding. The money goes straight to the government. The Police dont see a penny of it. Police budgets are fixed and come from council tax and the home office. However the cops on miami vice..... they get to keep speedboats and Ferrari's and lots of other cool stuff. Maybe it will happen here soon,and we can drive around in L reg Vaux Corsas or crappy toyota Camry's. Cool.