Heidi Blake reports:
Thousands of drivers have been reported by fellow motorists after being spotted speeding, drink driving or talking on mobile phones.
Anyone reported twice in a year could face police action under the scheme, named Operation Crackdown. The culprits could receive a home visit or a warning letter.
Sussex Police is trialling the campaign and has already received 20,488 reports from the public. Warning letters have been sent to 2,695, while a further 1,047 have been sanctioned for offences such as having an out-of-date tax disc.
Read more in The Telegraph.
My first reaction on reading the story was, “Huh?” Drivers here have been reporting unsafe drivers for years. But then as I read a bit more, it is not clear to me whether the UK police are actually verifying the reports in any way when it comes to reports of “aggressive driving” or the like. Certainly they can verify expired tags and the like, but what about other types of reports?
How about it, Sussex Police? Would people get a warning letter based solely on an anonymous report that you could not verify?
Thanks to Ian Geldard who sent in this link.