Road checks and road blocks have always been a reality on our roads from as far as I can remember. For those who are not aware of this - Road checks are in fact regulated, to some extent, under our Criminal Code. In my opinion, the law leaves much to be desired in this regard; however, that is a story for another day.

So, what does our law say in this regard?

When can a road check be carried out?

The Criminal Code in fact states that the Police may organise a road check when there are reasonable grounds for believing that a check on vehicles in or passing through a locality may lead to one of the following:

i)                   The arrest of a person who has committed or is reasonably suspected of having committed or about to commit a serious crime (that is a crime punishable by imprisonment); or

ii)                 The discovery of something the possession of which either is prohibited by law or which is connected with the commission of a crime; or

iii)              The arrest of a person whose arrest has been ordered by a court or other lawful authority or who is unlawfully at large; or

iv)               The ascertainment that a person is not abiding by a condition lawfully imposed on him by a court, such as someone breaching his bail conditions for example; or

v)                 The ascertainment of violations of any law regarding motor vehicles or traffic regulations; or

vi)               The arrest, or ascertainment of whereabouts, of a person in respect of whom an alert has been entered in the Schengen Information System; or

vii)            The discovery of any property in respect of which an alert has been entered in the Schengen Information System.

 

What is “Reasonable Suspicion”?

The Law stresses that the Police must have reasonable grounds for carrying out a road check. Thus there needs to be a reasonable suspicion that something from the above list is occurring in order for a road check to be made. But what is reasonable suspicion? First and foremost, it is not a mere whim or a trivial suspicion based on fiction – it must be a REASONABLE one.

The European Court of Human Rights has had the occasion to define “reasonable suspicion” countless times. Amongst others it stated that a “reasonable suspicion” presupposes the existence of facts and information which would satisfy an objective observer that the person concerned may have committed an offence. In fact, a failure by the authorities to make a general inquiry into the basic facts of a case in order to verify whether a complaint was well-founded brought about with it a violation of the person’s right to liberty and security.

Moreover, in order to determine the level of “reasonableness” one must take into account the specific facts of the case at hand as well as to what led to that “reasonable suspicion”.

What is interesting to note is that the European Court of Human Rights has also determined that uncorroborated hearsay evidence (hearsay evidence means something that a person says which he did not hear personally with his own ears or see personally with his own eyes) of an anonymous informant was not sufficient to determine “reasonable suspicion”.

 

The right to Stop and Search

Our Law also states that during a road check the Police may stop any vehicles and subsequently search them.

 

Authorisation

A point of law that not everyone might know about is this – A road check may only be organised upon an authorisation in writing by a police officer not below the rank of Inspector.

There are exceptions to this however – in the case of an urgent matter, such authorisation may be given orally by a police officer not below the rank of sergeant, however it has to be reduced to writing as soon as possible.

 

Evidence of other offences

The Law also comes with a great big umbrella clause then – it states that where in the course of a road check, evidence is found of the commission of an offence other than that in respect of which the road check was organised, then the Police are entitled to investigate the same.

 

Know your rights

If you have been stopped during a road check and are being treated as a suspect of a crime, know that you have rights afforded to you by Law.

Amongst all the rights afforded to you, there are two main ones that everyone should keep in mind:

1.      The right to silence - You have a right to not say anything that might in some way or another incriminate you.

2.      The right to a lawyer – If you are being treated as a suspect of a crime, you have a right to legal assistance.

 

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to impart legal advice and should not be acted upon as such.