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Do we need cops at minor car accidents?
Published: 14 Aug 12 10:45 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/opinion/20120814-44345.html
Are police needed at minor car accidents; a dent or a scratch? A German police chief says they are wasting their time on such matters. Is he right, or should a cop be there to ensure everything is done properly? Have your say.
- Minor traffic accidents 'waste police time' - Society (14 Aug 12)
Adults should be able to deal with the consequences of a small prang – exchanging details and making sure all is in order. Wimber said his officers would be better deployed “catching proper crooks” rather than acting as administrators for insurance companies.
The police escorts for special transports should also be scrapped, he said, in favour of private firms which, if specially trained, could easily perform such tasks.
One might think that police forces struggling with budgets might be happy not to have to deal with car dinks, but both police unions rejected the suggestion that they no longer be called to the scene of small accidents.
One warned that those involved could act irrationally and a figure of authority should be there to ensure the situation remains calm and make sure everything is legal and correct.
Do we need a cop to show up for every minor accident? Does the presence of a uniform or two defuse a situation which could otherwise escalate? Or could someone such as an Ordnungsamt official currently used to dole out parking fines do the same job?
Would farming out special load escort duties be the thin end of the police privatisation wedge? Or is it sensible – keep police officers solving and preventing crime.
Should adults be able, and expected, to sort out small administrative details themselves – or is leaving cops out of the equation asking for trouble? Have your say.
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Your comments about this article:
I tend to think the Germans like submitting to authority and enjoy official procedures and bureaucratic red tape. I can't think of one person I know here (USA) who even begins to think like that. The president of the police force who is quoted for this article is absolutely correct. Or to put it another way: the German people do not always need authority figures to be present in order to act in a civil manner or to be their daddy if things in life don't go perfectly.
In the old days, it often came down to "he said, she said" arguments and the insurance companies were left to sort it out. Now, with cell phone cameras to document the scene, there's less of that simply because a quick picture will show who was out of their lane, etc. Usually, not always though, witnesses are willing to help should the need arise, and it's just not really a big thing.
On the other hand, an officer can be handy when it's clear that somebody ran a light or made an illegal turn. The problem is that most officers don't want to write those tickets, usually because they can't testify in court to what happened...because they didn't actually see it. Such is life.
Is Germany that different? How many times to these things actually become an "argument'" at the scene? The Germans I've met seem quite capable of sorting things out, even if they disagree about who was at fault. These days I suspect the police have better things to do a fair bit of the time.
wa
Ridiculous nanny culture.
@neilr:
don't get me started... people seem to think that somehow at all cost they must not alter the scene of the accident in any way, so even if it's just a busted taillight, they adamantly refuse to get out of the road, and they're often creating a sizeable traffic jam in the process. But when was the last time those self-important dolts actually saw CSI-style forensics teams home in on a fender bender...