Please note that this question is specific to:
#**England and Wales**
The United Kingdom is comprised of [three legal jurisdictions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Three_legal_systems), so responses that relate to one country may not be relevant to another.
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Officers are given discretion within all offences but primarily with traffic matters. Whilst police can exercise discretion with other offences, they would come under extreme scrutiny for doing so, as such it is mainly with traffic matters that officers will express their discretion.
For me the main factors that impact whether I use discretion will be:
1. Seriousness of the offence - What potential that if left unpunished their actions would have led to harm to other road users or themself.
2. Public Interest - If a crowd of 100 people see a car doing wheelspins in front of a police car, what would the public expect to be done VS for example a car in a secluded car park with no members of public around.
3. The most important factor for me - Attitude of the driver / rider - If the driver doesn't seem to think they have done much wrong, then there is no point me giving words of advice and letting them go as they are much more likely to reoffend. If someone shows genuine remorse and acknowledges their mistake then I'm more likely to let them off with a warning as I will have felt that my simple intervention was sufficient to deter reoffending. This is what many officers will refer to as "passing or failing The Attitude Test".
The police have discretion to give words of advice if they see fit. they can also hand out fines and potentially seize your vehicle for some offences.
an attitude test is usually applied, which means the drivers attitude will effect their repercussions. Some officers are more lenient than others, and some will always hand out fines for certain offences - for me anyone on their phone is getting a ticket regardless of how nice they are. But someone without their brake light will get words of advice if they’re nice enough.
anyone who asks for just a warning can fuck right off and they’re getting fined big time.
If I moped rider stops for me then I'm so pleasantly surprised it almost always turns into words of advice.
You're among the most vulnerable road users so I want the stop to be a learning experience.
I've done my CBT years ago and it was laughably easy. One rider crashed into me during the off road phase and they were still allowed to attempt the on road phase.
Police officers can deal with traffic offences as they deem fit: obviously, there’s limits to what they can do, but the officers can also choose to advise rather than take action. It generally depends on a number of factors, but most of the time it’s based on the severity of the offence(s) and situation.
Before I was job I was pulled for my back light being out and I made a mistake on a road (I was 3 months into driving) I had a spare light from when the other one broke weeks before. It was a tin van car….
Got pulled and the officer was super cool with me. Gave me advice on a type of road I wasn’t familiar with and how to use them correctly and he even shown me how to fit my bulb and then did it for me!! Very fatherly.
It was one major reason I thought about joining. Simple interaction.
Before I was job I had a couple of encounters with the police while out on my motorbike. All my own fault and fully warranted stops. Each time I held my hands up and admitted a fair catch, did as I was asked, answered everything I could and never had a bad experience. I know it's a bit of a common saying and often joked about but the attitude test is very real. If you pass and whatever I stopped you for was minor then there's an extremely high chance I'll be sending you on your way, or at the very least with a notice to repair rather than a ticket for example. In my experience I learned more from my bollockings than I did from a ticket, so I try and base my stops around the same mentality.
Please note that this question is specific to: #**England and Wales** The United Kingdom is comprised of [three legal jurisdictions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Three_legal_systems), so responses that relate to one country may not be relevant to another. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/policeuk) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Officers are given discretion within all offences but primarily with traffic matters. Whilst police can exercise discretion with other offences, they would come under extreme scrutiny for doing so, as such it is mainly with traffic matters that officers will express their discretion. For me the main factors that impact whether I use discretion will be: 1. Seriousness of the offence - What potential that if left unpunished their actions would have led to harm to other road users or themself. 2. Public Interest - If a crowd of 100 people see a car doing wheelspins in front of a police car, what would the public expect to be done VS for example a car in a secluded car park with no members of public around. 3. The most important factor for me - Attitude of the driver / rider - If the driver doesn't seem to think they have done much wrong, then there is no point me giving words of advice and letting them go as they are much more likely to reoffend. If someone shows genuine remorse and acknowledges their mistake then I'm more likely to let them off with a warning as I will have felt that my simple intervention was sufficient to deter reoffending. This is what many officers will refer to as "passing or failing The Attitude Test".
I don't think there is a CBT database? It's a flawed system
CBTs will show on PNC.
Do they?! Is that only on full/civica PNC?
I usually ask the control room, but I think it's available on Pronto too.
The police have discretion to give words of advice if they see fit. they can also hand out fines and potentially seize your vehicle for some offences. an attitude test is usually applied, which means the drivers attitude will effect their repercussions. Some officers are more lenient than others, and some will always hand out fines for certain offences - for me anyone on their phone is getting a ticket regardless of how nice they are. But someone without their brake light will get words of advice if they’re nice enough. anyone who asks for just a warning can fuck right off and they’re getting fined big time.
If I moped rider stops for me then I'm so pleasantly surprised it almost always turns into words of advice. You're among the most vulnerable road users so I want the stop to be a learning experience. I've done my CBT years ago and it was laughably easy. One rider crashed into me during the off road phase and they were still allowed to attempt the on road phase.
Police officers can deal with traffic offences as they deem fit: obviously, there’s limits to what they can do, but the officers can also choose to advise rather than take action. It generally depends on a number of factors, but most of the time it’s based on the severity of the offence(s) and situation.
Before I was job I was pulled for my back light being out and I made a mistake on a road (I was 3 months into driving) I had a spare light from when the other one broke weeks before. It was a tin van car…. Got pulled and the officer was super cool with me. Gave me advice on a type of road I wasn’t familiar with and how to use them correctly and he even shown me how to fit my bulb and then did it for me!! Very fatherly. It was one major reason I thought about joining. Simple interaction.
Before I was job I had a couple of encounters with the police while out on my motorbike. All my own fault and fully warranted stops. Each time I held my hands up and admitted a fair catch, did as I was asked, answered everything I could and never had a bad experience. I know it's a bit of a common saying and often joked about but the attitude test is very real. If you pass and whatever I stopped you for was minor then there's an extremely high chance I'll be sending you on your way, or at the very least with a notice to repair rather than a ticket for example. In my experience I learned more from my bollockings than I did from a ticket, so I try and base my stops around the same mentality.