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Covid impact on dashcam submissions ?

by stonojnr
Sat, Jan 02, 2021 13:31
6

I know some of you that read this site submit dashcam footage to the police on a regular basis, and was just wondering if youd noticed a drop or change in the amount of prosecutions the police were pursuing during this extended Covid period ? its the kind of thing an FOI request might prove if you could get them to admit the numbers properly, though obviously then postcode lottery becomes a factor.

With my own submissions the sample size is too small to draw a fair conclusion, but on the whole Ive never submitted into the process things that I didnt feel warranted some action to be taken.

Whilst Ive not had any rejected out of hand,yet, I am surprised how high the threshold to instigate prosecutions seems to be at the moment, Ive submitted two recently that Im sure this time last year (pre Covid) would have resulted in definite NIPs, and now they are just resulting in "formal warning letters".

So is that just down to these things are always subjective,what was shocking to you to experience first hand, is never quite the same on video review, or are near misses currently way down the priority list to pursue for some police forces ?

 

 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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6 comments

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bikeman01 | 4 years ago
1 like

Would you expect Covid to increase or decrese police action?

What factors would you expect to affect this - less traffic (not as far as I can see), less police (public sector workers are more prone to sickness), crime level (certainly reduced during lockdown).

I would assert that these are swings and roundabouts.

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Hirsute replied to bikeman01 | 4 years ago
0 likes

I think it depends on the tech and how secure it is. If they have to go into an office to do the work, then there would be a drop off as they probably would not be able to be at capacity especially if it has to be signed off.

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stonojnr replied to bikeman01 | 4 years ago
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it shouldnt have had any impact on police action is my view, if someone submits dashcam footage that warrants a prosecution, it should be prosecuted, regardless of the ongoing covid situation, and not as it feels like whats happening to me at least, downgraded to a warning letter just to alleviate pressure on the backlogged magistrates courts or the difficulties trying to run driver education courses remotely.

the volume of submissions might fluctuate due to all the swings and roundabouts that might impact it, but I feel the outcomes should broadly still be following the same paths.

now I hadnt submitted many videos this year because I believed, and Essex police basically admitted as much so I had no reason to doubt other forces were behaving in a similar fashion, that the threshold (for the reasons Id mentioned above) for prosecution had risen because of the covid situation, and certainly none of the videos I have submitted, even though one of them would rank among the very worst close passes Ive ever experienced, have led to me believe any differently.

but if that was happening, surely I wouldnt be the only one experiencing that kind of "blimey how is that not worthy of a NIP" reaction to their submissions,

at the moment it feels like Id have to become a KSI statistic to get the police to do anything more than just write a letter, which isnt how it was a year ago.

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Rendel Harris | 4 years ago
2 likes

I've submitted 14 to the Met since August, three no action, one warning letter, ten NIPs, so at least in London they're still doing a good job. 

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Hirsute | 4 years ago
1 like

Mine came back bar one as

'course or  take 3 points'

I've recently submitted 2 under new methodology and requirements

Status: No further action

Status: Course or conditional offer

Under the latter the ved expired 25 Dec 2019 (!) and is still outstanding, so I really hope the outcome is a bit more than that.

 

 

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the little onion | 4 years ago
1 like

I've dealt with various police forces in Yorkshire. They range from the just-about-acceptable to the awful. You can expect anything from no response (most common) to a slap on the wrist, to active victim-blaming (see this classic on this site).

I think the variation is down to who the officer is. I understand that the peopel who view the camera footage tend not to be specialist road safety officers. Rather, it tends to be police officers who are temporarily assigned to this duty because it is desk based - e.g. the copper who bust their knee arresting someone, so can't go out on patrol, but who can work at a desk viewing submissions. So you can't guarantee that they will have any experience of cycling, and may come with their own distinct anti-cyclist prejudice. I don't think covid has affected any of this.

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