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POLICE TRAIN 'SPEED WATCHERS'
Police are offering training to the public Residents of a Scottish
village are being offered training with speed guns in a pilot scheme
aimed at improving road safety.
Community volunteers known as Speed Watchers can use the devices
to "clock" speeding drivers and then pass the information
on to police.
Strathclyde Police and East Dunbartonshire Council have launched
the Community Speedwatch pilot scheme in Milton of Campsie, on the
northern outskirts of Glasgow. A senior police officer said the
aim is to offer "a local solution to a local problem".
We know that speed, and the perception of speed, causes serious
community concern. Once information is passed on to police from
Speed Watchers, officers will decide whether to issue a warning
letter or prosecute.
Superintendent Austin Dorrian said: "We know that speed, and
the perception of speed, causes serious community concern.
"The purpose of this programme is to address this, involve
the community and make speeding as socially unacceptable as drink-driving.
"This is a good example of all agencies working together with
communities to promote safety."
John Morrison, leader of East Dunbartonshire Council said: "This
initiative offers us a chance to approach the problem of speeding
in a different way and puts the community at the centre of helping
to resolve the problems in conjunction with the police and the council."
However, a legal expert has questioned the pilot scheme. 'Vulnerable
to attack' Paul McBride, QC, said: "The police are professional,
highly trained and impartial, lollipop men and retired people are
not. "God knows, you may have a situation where an over-zealous
retired person, who has a grudge against his neighbour, clocks them
for speeding and the person loses their licence and their job. "There
is a risk that you leave lollipop men and retired people vulnerable
to attack just in the same way sometimes traffic wardens are attacked.
Rosemary McIlwhan, Director of the Scottish Human Rights Centre,
said: "This is policing on the cheap. "The police obviously
need more resources to be able to carry out their functions.
"Cameras are not the way to do it. You really do need more
people out there doing the work."
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