Most drivers are uncertain of what their rights are when stopped at roadblocks or confronted with suspicious police behaviour. Thus when residents in the Parkview precinct reported problems with police, the Parkview Community Policing Forum decided to tackle the issue.
Their Stop Corruption campaign is under way with the preparation of 65 000 information packages on the rights of motorists at roadblocks.
Clive Lotter, Parkview CPF communications officer, said: “It came to our attention that there had been quite a few incidents in the area of people being improperly treated by police or metro police at roadblocks.
“Police were performing impromptu late-night checks of cars, and in some cases eliciting bribes.
“The purpose of the packages is to put the tools in the hands of citizens, so they know what steps to take when they are pulled over by police.”
The information packs contain a “Stop Corruption” windscreen sticker - with a prominent SAPS badge and two information sheets.
“The sticker can be placed on the car in a prominent position so that when someone comes over to the driver's window, they see it and know that this is not just a defenceless driver,” Lotter said.
The information sheet lists both a motorist's rights and obligations when being stopped by police, and is small enough to fit in the cubbyhole. The other information sheet details, step by step, typical questions police will ask, and appropriate responses.
Some of the rights specified in the Stop Corruption campaign are a motorist's right to establish if the roadblock is official, ask the officer for their identification, request to speak to the commanding officer and ask to be escorted to the nearest police station. However, a driver has the responsibility to co-operate with reasonable requests made by the police, and provide their driving licence.
The campaign was officially launched in April with members of the Gauteng SAPS attending to support the project.
Lotter said: “We discussed the campaign intensively with the Parkview police station. They have been very supportive.”
The Parkview CPF team hopes that within a month they will be distributing the material. They will also make the information packages available to other CPFs and have already had enquiries from other cities about the packages. - The Star