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 - 2076 0522
AMPANG: 03 - 4252 2222
BRICKFIELDS 03 - 2274 2222
CHERAS: 03 - 9284 2222
DANG WANGI: 03 - 2070 2222
KL TRAFFIC POLICE: 03 - 2072 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 - 8 736 2222
HULU SELANGOR: 03 - 6064 1222
KUALA LANGAT: 03 - 318 7222
KUALA SELANGOR: 03 - 3289 1222
GOMBAK: 03 - 6092 6222
SABAK BERNAM: 03 - 3224 2222
SEPANG: 03 - 3142 1222
KLIA: 03 - 8787 2222