Rather extraordinary, the machinations of our leaders, the way prominent people and organisations build structures at our expense for the purpose of watching us, controlling us and penalising us - and all for their own benefit, one suspects.
It was revealed last week that the police aren't satisfied with enforcing the law in the way we all expect. Now they're getting into big business as well.
The Association of Chief Police Officers will earn millions from the 'retraining' of drivers caught breaking the speed limit. Britain's most powerful policing organisation has set up a private company to cash in on its own orders to send speeding drivers on retraining courses.
ACPO has told all police forces that from April hundreds of thousands of motorists should be sent on Speed Awareness Schemes rather than receiving penalty points and fines - and it has set up a new company which will earn millions of pounds running the only database that records which motorists are eligible for 'retraining'.
ACPO is already under fire after The Mail on Sunday disclosed that, despite setting police policy on everything from anti-terrorism to speed cameras, it is a private company - dubbed "Police Chiefs PLC" by the newspaper - with an annual income, mostly funded by the taxpayer, of £18million. Now it is set to earn an estimated £5million a year checking speeding drivers' eligibility for the national Driver Offender Retraining Scheme.
The work is being done by ACPO subsidiary company Road Safety Support (RSS). It will oversee a database that holds records on whether speeding drivers are disqualified from taking a retraining course because they had already taken one in the previous three years. According to the DVLA, this database was set up by the Government agency but in January 2008 was turned over to ACPO. Now RSS has the job of running the database and police forces will be charged £5 for each driver's details checked.
Last year 2.1million drivers were caught speeding in the UK. If only half qualify for a training course, the company will generate an income of more than £5million a year by checking their eligibility. RSS also makes money from around 30 police and local authorities running safety camera partnerships. This operation is expected to generate a turnover of £900,000 in its first year of operation. It earns this money by charging speed camera partnerships a percentage of the £110million Government grant each area gets to spend on road safety projects.
The speed camera managers are promised access to RSS's self-styled 'Dream Team' of experts to combat 'loophole lawyers' who get clients acquitted of offences on technicalities. But RSS lawyer Andrew Perry actually works for the Crown Prosecution Service and his work is already funded by the taxpayer.
Last night a CPS spokesman said: 'Andrew Perry is a Crown Advocate, employed by and paid by the CPS, who is seconded to work with Road Safety Support. RSS pay the CPS the full cost of this secondment.'
An ACPO spokesman said: 'ACPO is introducing speed awareness courses nationally. Driver Offender Retraining course attendance will … be held with the Police National Computer. Administration will be provided by RSS. 'The database administration charge is £1.50. It is proposed that this will increase to £5. RSS does not make profits and any surplus will be returned to road safety initiatives.'
The GOS says: Yes, and my Granny was one of the Spice Girls.
Basically, these police chiefs are profiting from law enforcement. I suppose if one thought for a moment that this money would filter down into the service and provide more bobbies on the beat, or more secretarial assistance for ordinary coppers, or even better police cars or something, one wouldn't mind so much although really law enforcement should be funded entirely by the state - properly funded, that is.
But that's not going to happen, is it?
And that's not to mention the basic fallacy underlying this story - that speeding drivers need retraining. While there are always a few stupid boy racers who take risks with their own and others' lives, the vast majority of people caught speeding are drivers who have simply mistaken or ignored the dictates of local authorities, who have the responsibility for deciding speed limits. These drivers simply disagree with the local council's idea of what constitutes a safe speed on a given stretch of road in the conditions prevailing.
So people who disagree with the state need "retraining". Hmm, now where have we heard that before? "1984", was it?
If we knew that speed limits were always put in place for the right reasons, and that sensible and reasonable decisions were being made about the level of those limits, and that the government's own guidelines on speed limits were being adhered to, we wouldn't object at all.
But we know that is NOT the case, don't we? We know that sometimes speed limits are put in place just to placate grieving parents of accident casualties who demand that something should be done. Sometimes the council and their advisors just play safe, and set too low a limit in case anyone accuses them of being soft on motorists. And, dare we mention it, sometimes limits and, more importantly, speed cameras are placed deliberately to maximise revenue.
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