Parking Sensors for Cops with No Parking Skills

Having all those flashy lights and the annoying sounds fitted to the car is a clear indication that you are a police man, but by no means driving a police car is a clear indication that you are a good driver too. Or, not necessarily good, but at least one who can park the car.

The South Yorkshire Police is apparently filled with cops who can't park. The department is forced to spend 60,000 GBP ($92,000, EUR73,000) each year to fix the scratches and other parking-related damages on the department's fleet.

It would be understandable if these damages occurred during chases, police intervention mission and such, but apparently the most likely place for parking mishaps to take place is the department's own parking lot.

But there's more. The cops working for the South Yorkshire Police are... special. From now on, all police cars will be equipped with parking sensors not only at the rear, but at the front as well. It's not clear how much will be spent for the new devices required for police cars, but David Blunkett, the Former Home Secretary and Sheffield's MP for Brightside and Hillsborough had a better idea, one which he shared with The Telegraph:

“Perhaps it would be worth spending a bit of money on advanced driving courses."

And he's not the only one blaming the drivers. Although police officers are asked to pass a tougher exam in order to be able to drive a police car, Barry Humphreys, spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, says that's no longer the case, as “standards of police driver training have fallen.”