Yep, doesn't cost the police anything. We all know people are more likely to come over and have a look at an Pani than a CBF125
I say bring back unpaid penal labour. Why not put prisoners to good use and let them clean rubbish of the highways and lakes, and look for potholes in the roads. I've got a fence that needs to be painted too.
Yes! Bring back leg-irons and chain-gangs! Er...Really? Bet you it results in more escapes but it did at least provide a superb Sam Cooke song!
Sometimes I don't understand how certain forces spend their budgets. For instance North Yorks police drive BMW cars, with leather interiors (I know this because I've sat in one whilst being complimented on my riding by the officer, then rewarded with points for my efforts!). Surely a Mondeo or lower cost equivalent would do freeing up money for more important things like more police officers.
It's all to do with residual values. A large Police force can buy at competitive prices and sell at a premium (one careful owner, full service history!) BMW's obviously have a better residual than a Ford, better build quality and less maintenance. Overall running cost for the vehicles life = Less. Pure economics :wink:
You'll have noticed the guy responsible for cutting the death toll isn't wearing a seat-belt. Brilliant.
Yes,but thats the thing with budgets If you bitch and moan and then get a generous budget,you have to spend it otherwise you'll get less the next year.(My missus used to work in local Government One of the many reasons that Public servants don't live in the real world A mate of mine in Hertfordshire force told me that one constabulary decided they didn't want the Honda police spec bike,nor the standard spec Beemer,so they bought....Harleys! Needless to say, it was an awfully expensive experience paid for by Joe Public Want more? How about one of the smallest fire brigades in the country replacing their Scania training vehicle ,(most expensive truck chassis you can buy-will easily go a million kms lugging 26 pallets of baked beans..),with only 90k kms on the clock Reason?...because they,"had the budget".... There's no such thing as reason when Civil Servants buy stuff,which is why they are always bleating that they have no money
Yes you're right, I live near a mental hospital, (thats near it not in it) and I know someone who works there. Its NHS run and every year they sell equipment off even though theres nothing wrong with it simply so they renew it because if they don't spend the budget it will be reduced the next year!
I hope we are not blaming public servants for asinine, truly preposterous budget strategies. Ministers often decide upon budgets in response to whim/ideology/economic downturns/etc. The easiest thing in the world would be to reduce the budget of a department which is consistently under-spending to its budget. So, when the thrifty department, dutifully saving the taxpayer money each year by not buying unnecessary items, needs to actually spend out on a worn out widget or a knackered dooberry ... they don't have the money because their budget has been cut. Their frugality and intelligent spending is rewarded with a slashed budget. The current way that budgets are monitored and administered is the result of laziness of thinking and lack of imagination by ministers and top civil servants. Stupid feckers shouldn't be allowed to run a dog-walking service, let alone a country.
The lazy way to set budgets for next year's provision is to take this year's expenditure as a starting point and then vary it as little as possible. The proper way involves a lot more effort and thinking, since it requires working through what needs to be done in the coming year and calculating how much it will cost. If the regime you are working under is the lazy type, and if the work fluctuates a lot, it can be very difficult to get hold of enough money to keep going next year. I have seen places fail to do it, and get cut so much that they virtually collapse. Actually though, anticipating all contingencies, finding ways to do more with less, and making something out of nothing are really interesting challenges - anyone in the public service has to accept this as part of the landscape.
Generally, this sort of bikes are donated by local dealers as a way of PR. My local dealer 'loans' bikes to various public services e.g. The local Fire Brigade, Blood Runners etc.
