I get scared easily whenever i see the police. It's this certain aura that they emit. I'm sure many of us gets intimidated easily too by the police. We are brought up to fear them. Not surprising actually, considering how my mum threaten to bring me to the police whenever i misbehaved.
But many of us do not know that blind obedience to authority stemming from fear naturally does not serve the best interests justice. Police are trained to intimidate us. And sometimes, looking for an easy arrest, they will make us violate our own rights unless we know the rules of dealing with law enforcement.
Here are ten of them:
Acting nervously or aggressively only gives the police a better reason to suspect you, even if you have done nothing wrong. Do not be afraid if you have nothing to hide
Saying anything stupid like, "How about we settle this for 50 dollars?" will more often than not end up with a unpredictable outcome, especially if the police hates corruption.
Unless the police have a valid reason to suspect that you are carrying something illegal, they cannot just simply search your belongings if they randomly stop you on the road. And if they damage any of your belongings while doing a search, like dropping your laptop on the ground, they will not be liable. And if they want, they can also plant an evidence, like a bag of drugs, to purposely incriminate you too. Demand for a reason (politely, of course) and if they have don't have one, refuse.
And sometimes they do, in order to make you follow their orders. Be skeptical
This we all know. Police needs a reason to approach you. Purposely holding a beer bottle while driving gives them a helluva reasons to scare you
Only criminals run and when you run, you're automatically branded as one
When you touch a cop, they might think that you're trying to fight or something and they can retaliate in the name of self defense. Which even means taking out a gun.
In the age of technology and camera cell phones, it's never easier to record misconducts of police as evidence. Of course, don't record them straight in the face. Do it secretly and then post it online. The uproar that will be caused after that would be quite a drama
This would apply more to bogus police. Some robbers have been known to use this trick to gain access into unsuspecting people's house
*****
However, do bear in mind that i'm not trying to teach you on how to disobey the law. The steps mentioned above are for you to know your rights and how to behave accordingly when stopped by the police. And it's also effective against some police looking for easy arrests and "duit kopi".
There have been numerous reports too of bogus policemen (like what's happening in Malaysia), where robbers or rapists don a police uniform and act like one in order to get unsuspecting victims do what they want. Knowing your rights help a lot in ensuring that you don't get conned by these people.
Knowing your rights prevents power abuse.
This article is taken from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/neill-franklin/a-cops-advice-on-dealing-_b_783387.html#s182291
2 comments:
Nice nice :D
So true! Policemen nowadays only want duit kopi even it's for RM2!
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