What to Do If You Are Stopped By The Police: It is widely said that Police is your friend because they were primarily designed to protect the all citizens in a country at all costs and as such they operate closely within the vicinity of citizens in a bid to adequately protect them. However, in recent times it seems as though the efficiency of the police have waded off as they no longer offer adequate protection to the citizens, and now perpetrate nefarious activities in the society as well as constantly harass the citizens that they were designed to protect either by exhorting them or illegally stopping them on the road.
As a matter of fact, it has now become a common phenomena for the police to stop citizens moving with cars on the road, either because they what to detect if such citizen is a criminal or because they want to exhort such citizen. These are the most common scenario, and when this occurs many people especially those who are innocent might feel infuriated about this unnecessary stop and check by the police that they may want to vent their displeasure badly, which of course may not be the best way to approach the police and as a result may result to a bigger issue with the police.
To avoid this sort of scenario, this Article shall discuss what a citizen should do if they were being stopped by the police on the road. I believe this Article will equip you with better knowledge of how to handle this sort of situation next time.
Who Is A Police?
A Police officer is a member of the Police force and as such is a law enforcement personnel warranted by law to represent the civil authority of the government and are empowered to maintain law and order in the society, protect the lives and properties of citizens, prevent crimes, investigate all manners of crimes, respond to emergency calls, amicably resolve disputes in the society, maintain public peace, and apprehend those who breach public peace, commits crime or have caused a reasonable apprehension that they have committed crime.
To effectively perform these roles assigned by Law, Police officers often have to stop, search and investigate citizens to be sure that they are not in possession of any prohibited substance, stolen property or likewise have not committed any crime nor indulged in criminal activities.
What to do if You Are Stopped By a Police Officer
The truth is that it is inevitable not to be stopped by the Police, especially if you are a young boy driving a good car, so you just have to be prepared for it, and learn how to perfectly approach this situation by bearing the following in mind and adhering to them:
1. Firstly, whenever you are driving, you must carry all your papers and particulars of your car. This is one way to avoid drama with the police as particulars are the major thing the police check out for especially when they don’t believe you are the owner of the car or you’re qualified to drive, hence you must always carry it whenever driving as the Police must check your papers to ensure that you are not driving a stolen car and likewise you are qualified to drive a car in the country.
2. Secondly, when you have fulfilled the above requirement and you are still stopped by the police, respectfully obey them by pulling over, stopping your vehicle, and following their instructions. However, it is advisable that you remain in your vehicle as the officer approaches and that you don’t attempt to get out of your vehicle, act suspicious or zoom off with speed when the police officer is approaching.
3. Do not give consent to the Police search, but at the same time do not interfere or obstruct their operation of law (which is searching you to check if you are in possession of any criminal thing), as you may be arrested for obstructing the operation of Law, and likewise when you give your consent to the police to search you, it may affect your legal rights if you decide to sue them in Court, so it is best to just let the police do their thing without expressly giving them consent to do so.
4. Politely question the police as to why they are searching you and at the same time provide them with all particulars of your driving license and car registration or if you are not the owner of the car you are driving, let them know who the owner is and your relationship with the owner or even offer them the chance to call the owner over the phone.
Of course, the police will equally question you too and in this instance you need to calmly and honestly respond to all their questions.
5. Finally, give the police space to do their job, do not become excessively argumentative or abusive with the police officer, and do not touch or threatens them, as this might get you arrested for Assault and Obstruction to the police carrying out their duty.
So in as much as you might be infuriated by the fact that you are innocent and the police officer is just wasting your time for nothing, you just need to calmly provide your particulars and prove that you’re innocent as directed above, and the police will let you go without any further issue.
Alternatively, asides stopping you on the road with your vehicle, the Police may stop you on the streets. This usually occurs when a crime was committed in your vicinity and there is a reasonable apprehension by the police that you are a suspect to the crime, or that you know something about the crime or you are in possession of a stolen property, or that you are hanging around people under Police investigation, or you look like a person suspected of committing the crime or you are within the area of the commission of the crime, or you are in a blackspot which is unoccupied or largely you are quite notorious in the neighbourhood.
Either of these may cause the Police to stop you in your streets and possibly arrest you for investigation at their station. In this instance, you need to let the Police know in a cool and collected manner that you know your rights and that you are neither guilty of the commission of the crime nor have knowledge of the commission of the crime and prove same to them when being questioned. That way, they may release you afterwards.
Instructively, you need to make sure you were not in possession of any weapon; you are not running or making sudden fast movements when you site the police in a bid to resist or obstruct them or you are not staying in wanted places, and act calm and collected when stopped by the Police. This way it will be really hard for the Police to directly link you to the commission of any crime, and as such they will let you be.
As promised, I trust this Article has delivered an excellent content on this common topic, and you have now equipped with appropriate knowledge of what to do when you’re stopped by the police either on the road or in your neigbourhood. For more informative articles, kindly stay glued to this blog.
