Hi,

Fantastic effort, those who have sent complaint emails, I am certain from some from the responses and some of my replies, and read notifications, etc, that these are being read – this is different from how it used to be, my complaint emails were always ignored. In fact, I think Pat Garrett is reading every word of all emails. Only one councillor has attempted to challenge complaints (Tony Trent), but it has been easy to dismiss his comments as being completely uninformed. I have comprehensively beaten Pat Garrett’s only reply (see the website) and he has not bothered to reply. For the first time, I am getting the impression that they are worried and they are thinking about it!

But still, a small proportion of those who have emailed me have sent a direct message to the email list. If EVERYONE could send a direct message that would be fantastic. I’ve simplified the page on the website about this:

http://www.dorsetspeed.org.uk/news/sogemail.aspx

The quality and completeness of the responses from the “authorities” so far has been pathetic, and no official response from the council at all. If anyone got any response please let me know but I doubt it. I think the council and DSCP are just keeping their heads down and hoping it’ll all go away.

But there’s plenty coming:

-FOI response about the “community concern”

-FOI response about the technical description of the equipment, etc.

-I’m sure there will be a court case before long that we can take an interest in

-Possible protest, etc. I have an industrial cabinet which with a bit of spray would look a bit like a speed camera. I could provide a sledge hammer and do a “smash a speed camera” event! I’m sure the press / public would love that. 

 ALSO, HERE’S THE NEXT THING I WANT EVERYONE TO DO:

My police complaint does not look like progressing, as I am not in fact a victim of this bad policing. So, please could everyone send a formal complaint to the police. This is incredibly easy to do. Just go to http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/ and you can do it online in a few minutes. My complaint is on the website, you can base it on this or do your own thing. Important points to make are:

 -The damage being done to the respect for the police, the law, speed limits, and people’s lives.

-The operation according to the DSCP is NOT about safety, but about “community concern”, where there is no nearby directly effected community.

-The extraordinary income being made by this single camera, and therefore, that there must be something unusual and incorrect about what’s going at this junction.

-The council have suggested the limit should be higher

-The publicity that has resulted from this operation.

-The poor standard of driving and large accident count in the area which show that the DSCP is not doing well.

-The rapidly growing widespread realisation that speed cameras have not provided the safety benefit originally expected and have instead only robbed cash from motorists.

I am sure that a large number of formal complaints against the police which will have to be properly processed, could be very interesting!

If you do raise a police complaint, please let me know, and of course, please let me know how it develops.

Cheers, Ian