ACT Govt issues warning about a dodgy tradesman

I blame hip-hop culture. Offenze, yo.

Yeah its weird though! These lunatics always seem to drive quite normally when I’m in the blue n white mobile. Then I drive home from a long shift and every second driver is doing something moronic.

Hmmm……….

Punching salesmen is never a serious violent offense, it’s a civil duty.

It’s a worry that policing is become a “by the numbers” excercise. It’s a shame. although from what I’ve observed in Canberra, it doesn’t come as a surprise. Lunatics behaving like psycopaths on the roads, and they get away with it…. unless they go a few KMs too fast, of course!

Hey don’t I know it! I am actually “proud” of my lousy arrest statistics. Call me old fashioned but I don’t think pure arrests give an accurate figure in policing. I could go out and find someone to arrest most shifts for relatively minor offensives, drunk in public being the most obvious one and look great in management but in reality I would not be “cleaning up the streets”, just looking for trouble.

It can be frustrating working in a culture where someone that has high arrest statistics is deemed to be doing a better job then someone that does not. I’m more inclined to make sure rowdy drunks, people peeing in public or people involved in minor fights jump in a taxi and go home for the evening rather then spending the night in the City Watch House.

Although for serious violent offenses I give no quarter…

Derek’s don’t run !

shouldnt that read no-idea generation Mael?

Thumper is from the stolen-beer generation.

But Thumper, kids have rights these days – and don’t the little tossers know it too!

Agreed, the easiest way to look good to a manager interested only in on-paper arrest stats would be to just arrest everybody (Loitering with intent?) for small crimes and then let someone else deal with them.

But something tells me there’s more to community policing than just arresting people and completing paperwork.

The problem is Maelinar, the statistics are the easiest way for them to assess how their officers are ‘combating crime’. They never seem to look at how much cops have prevented crime, i.e. mediating arguments before they turn into fights. Their mere presence on our roads prevents a hell of a lot of crime – how are they ever going to make that into a statistic?

The best cop I ever knew worked in Captain’s Flat. Sure he turned a blind eye to certain things, but come a domestic or a drunken tussle or some other dispute – he’d solve the problem quick-smart, mostly because he knew almost everybody, knew their backgrounds and knew places they could stay to cool a domestic dispute. I’m not sure what his arrest record was like, but I’m sure it wasn’t very high.

The best way to assess how good an officer is, in my opinion, is by their professionalism and integrity alone, not by how many people they bring in.

@Proud Local – if your management are looking at your arrest statistics to see if you look good, then it is them who are incompetent.

A good copper does not necessarily have to make any arrests, in order to continue doing a good job.

We won’t tell if you won’t, Proud.

Although in a private moment alone with DMD I would congratulate him. Still, as tempting as these things are to do, we can’t turn a blind eye to violence regardless of the reason. Society would turn to pot.

You guys on here are going to get me into trouble one day I swear….

Tell him ‘Yes, we’re selling our house. To ourselves . Privately’ and then punch him in the face.

Sh-t…I think I really have some anti-social problems.

I find real estate agents even worse. We were out doing some gardening out the front awhile ago and this guy came up and asked if we were doing it up to sell our house – basically replied no, we were doing it up so it looked nice for ourselves. No probs, he went away. But after that we kept having him just turn up out of the blue to see if we were selling our house, or we’d come home to find his card in our door. Now THAT was a pain in the buttocks.

“YES! I had presumably the same guy come up and ask me where my parents were (I’m 23 years old) when I asked what he wanted he got all nark and started swearing.”

He was probably a bit edgy because he was overdue his next shot of heroin.

I’d like to know whatever happened to the washing machine/fridge ‘repairman’, who used to claim he was an authorised repair tech for all major brands and who was constantly in trouble with fair trading? He’s probably out there still in business, because the ACT seems to be run by pussies!

I do so like it when Proud Local drops by and gives insight into local policing. 🙂

Does anyone know if this Wayne Kelly has a somewhat pommy accent?

Does anyone get pissed off with the door to door street-number painters?

YES! I had presumably the same guy come up and ask me where my parents were (I’m 23 years old) when I asked what he wanted he got all nark and started swearing.

But I never done nothin’, Proud, remember that!

Yep, it IS easier to arrest someone for a clear case of assault then it is to find some mysterious person who broke into a home or stole a car. I’d be happy with another arrest stat, makes me look good to management. 🙂

Exactly..and I’m not paying him $20 that would be better spent on beer!

He obviously done it crap the first time if he was back.

Heart: “F-k the cops!”

Head: “Cops will bust me because it’s easier than chasing people who mug old ladies, break into homes, steal cars and/or kill people.”

Heart: “Collar him when he drops and give him a few more, just for the satisfaction.”

Head: “Drop him – one punch should do it.”

Heart: “No, don’t hurt him; I’m sure he’s a lovely person just trying to earn a living.”

I am, it still seems logical.

DMD, think with your head, not your heart. 🙂

So i should of punched him in the face then? I knew it! I so wanted to!

DMD, most of those street number painters aren’t legit. They just pop down to the local hardware store, buy a can of paint, make up some templates, and annoy the crap out of the neighbourhood.

Six weeks later, you can hardly read the numbers.

Does anyone get pissed off with the door to door street-number painters? I encountered a rather aggressive one, who, when I told him that I wasn’t going to hire his services as it was a rented house and I’m not interested in giving dodgy f-k’s twenty bucks before they perform a service, started to argue with me. That’s kind of okay, once, but when I’m standing at my doorway, being cut-off over and over by ‘I done it last time’, well, you’re gonna get a door slammed in your face – which he did.

Someone should teach these possibly dodgy door-to-door tradesmen some salesmanship.

He should have a rough sawn fence pailing wedge in his lower bowel, until such time as he coughs up the cash!

From the Fair Trading media release:

“In six of the Court cases the OFT was successful. In the remaining case no defence has been received.

The cases total an amount in excess of $17,000. “Mr Kelly had been asked numerous times by my Office to return moneys owed to consumers and to make good any incomplete or sub-standard work he had begun. He failed to do so.

So you can rip off consumers in the ACT, be taken to court and the worst that will happen is the Office of Fair Trading will ask you to please return the money. When that fails the only step left is for the Minister to issue a media release calling you an unreliable tradesman.

Toothless tiger anyone?

We pesky pirates are at again, although we call it sword-fighting instead

This one is actually a followup and pursuit on the 2005 case, he was required then to pay back deposits and compensate people whose premises he did damaging works to or cease trading, but didn’t bother to comply with the ruling.
So, they’re setting the public warning media release on him as its their last resort\final option.

Another Kelly bandit. No doubt we will be singing his praises before long for having been placed under the jack-boot of Corbell

Fencing and roof repairs tend to be a minefield for folks. Be aware that these industries do not need any formalised licensing or quals, so they tend to be fly by nighters. However there are a number of reputible people out there doing this thing, so please do not paint them all with the same brush (mission brown).
For fences, Galland fencing, no messing around, a good price, and they seem to respect your plants near the fence you are reparing.

Similar warning in 2005:
http://www.fairtrading.act.gov.au/Media%20Releases/Premier%20Fencing%20PWS%20FINAL%20media%20release.pdf