This is is very useful information.
Please pass it on to your friends and family, especially the women
folk!
The next time you are stopped by persons who claimed they are plainclothes
police, you are under no obligation to answer their questions or follow
their orders, lawyers told Malaysiakini today.
"Policeman who is not wearing his uniform does not have the authority
to stop anyone," lawyer and human rights activist Sivarasa Rasiah
said.
Sivarasa was commenting on the alleged gang-rape of an 18-year-old
Uni student by four men claiming to be police officers on New Year's
Eve. The girl said that her car was stopped in Taman Tun Dr Ismail
in Kuala Lumpur and were asked by the men to open the car bonnet.
She was then told that she had committed an offence and ordered to
follow the men to a police station. The girl was driven in her car
along the North-South expressway to the Tapah-Cameron Highlands road
before she was raped in an oil palm estate.
This incident, and many others, have sparked confusion over the procedures
which motorists must follow when flagged down by the police. The most
common problem is that most people take instructions without determining
if the other person is really a cop," lawyer Annie Santiago said.
However, if you are stopped by a uniformed policeman, then you are
required to stop. But you need not get out of the car because you
are not expected to do so, Santiago said. He other rule to follow
is to provide your identity card only when you are asked to do so.
"Even then, you should get his ID first to confirm if he is a
cop. There is no harm in calling the relevant police station to verify
if he is supposed to be on duty that day," Sivarasa said.
Both lawyers said that motorists should never follow an officer to
the police station unless one is under arrest. "If you are not
sure, and your instincts tell you that something is wrong, then drive
off to the nearest police station and lodge a report," Sivarasa
said.
In response to the alleged gang-rape of the 18-year-old, Women's Aid
Organisation executive-secretary Ivy Josiah called on the police to
launch an education program to teach the public about their rights
to prevent them from being victimised by bogus police officers.
Procedures to follow in the event you are stopped by uniformed police
Officers while driving.
- Stop the car and wind down your window.
- If the police officers ask for your documents,
request to see their IDs first.
- If you are satisfied about their identity,
ask them if you are being summoned, and for what offence.
Produce your identity card and driver's license
and wait to collect your summon ticket.
In the event that the police officers ask you to follow them to the
police station:
- Ask if you are under arrest and for what
offence.
- If you are not under arrest, you have the
right to leave.
In the event you are flagged down by persons
you believe could be plainclothes police:
- Do not stop because plainclothes police
officers do not have the authority to stop you.
- Drive to the nearest police station and
lodge a report.
- The same procedure applies to pedestrians
In the event the police come to your house:
- Do not let them in before checking their
IDs.
- If you are not satisfied, phone the nearest
police station and confirm if they had been sent to your house.
- You are under no obligation to allow them
into the house if they don't have a search warrant.
- Do not go with them if you are not under
arrest.
In the event persons who claimed to be plainclothes police come to
your
house:
- Do not let him in because they do not have
the authority to do so.
- Lodge a report at the nearest police station.
CALL THE COPS:
- IPK KUALA LUMPUR:
03 - 236 0522
- AMPANG: 03 - 452 2222
- BRICKFIELDS 03 - 2274
2222
- CHERAS: 03 - 984 2222
- DANG WANGI: 03 - 230
2222
- KL TRAFFIC POLICE:
03 - 232 9044
- IPK SELANGOR: 03 -
5514 5222
- HOTLINE: 03 - 5510
2999
- PETALING JAYA: 03
- 7956 2222
- SHAH ALAM: 03 - 5510
2222
- KLANG: 03 - 3371 2222
- HULU LANGAT: 03 -
8736 2222
- HULU SELANGOR: 03
- 6064 1222
- KUALA LANGAT: 03 -
318 7222
- KUALA SELANGOR: 03
- 889 1222
- GOMBAK: 03 - 6092
6222
- SABAK BERNAM: 03 -
884 2222
- SEPANG: 03 - 847 1222
- KLIA: 03 - 8787 2222
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