Ja­son Nathu

If you're ever "pulled-over" by the po­lice in T&T, there are a few things to keep in mind.The po­lice can stop a ve­hi­cle at any time:

�2 to de­ter­mine whether the dri­ver has con­sumed drugs or al­co­hol;

�2 to see whether the car is me­chan­i­cal­ly fit;

�2 to check whether the dri­ver has a valid li­cence;

�2 to en­sure that the dri­ver has in­sur­ance;

�2 or where they sus­pect that the dri­ver has com­mit­ted a traf­fic or oth­er of­fence.

They have the au­thor­i­ty to ques­tion any­one with­out ac­tu­al­ly ar­rest­ing them. You should stay calm and re­frain from ar­gu­ing. While you may not be ob­lig­at­ed to an­swer all ques­tions, there are cer­tain things that you are re­quired to do.

You must pro­vide your dri­ver's per­mit and in­sur­ance cer­tifi­cate at the re­quest of a po­lice of­fi­cer. If you do not com­ply, you may be li­able for an of­fence.

The po­lice can stop and search any ve­hi­cle or per­son with­out a war­rant, if they have "rea­son­able grounds," such as the smell of mar­i­jua­na, or the sus­pi­cious be­hav­iour of the oc­cu­pant(s).

If you be­lieve your ve­hi­cle was un­law­ful­ly searched, this mat­ter can be ad­dressed at court at a lat­er time.At a road­block, the po­lice may search your ve­hi­cle with­out a war­rant and seize any­thing they rea­son­ably be­lieve:

�2 has been used in a crime,

�2 is in­tend­ed to be used in a crime,

�2 or can be used as ev­i­dence that a crime has been com­mit­ted.

You have the right to ask for iden­ti­fi­ca­tion in­for­ma­tion if you are not sure whether the per­son stop­ping you is in­deed a po­lice of­fi­cer. For ex­am­ple, the of­fi­cer may be in plain clothes or in an un­marked car.

If the of­fi­cer re­fus­es to give you con­fir­ma­tion of his/her iden­ti­ty, you should not sup­ply any in­for­ma­tion to him/her and you should dri­ve im­me­di­ate­ly to the near­est po­lice sta­tion to re­port the in­ci­dent.

If you are guilty of a "traf­fic of­fence", you may be is­sued a tick­et. A po­lice of­fi­cer may not de­mand mon­ey for an on-the-spot fine, and you should nev­er at­tempt to bribe a po­lice of­fi­cer.

If you be­lieve that you have a good ex­cuse for com­mit­ting the of­fence–like tak­ing some­one to the hos­pi­tal–you should tell the of­fi­cer. If you are is­sued a tick­et any­way, you will have the op­por­tu­ni­ty to ad­dress this be­fore a mag­is­trate at a lat­er time.

A po­lice of­fi­cer is not al­lowed to as­sault you for be­ing un­co-op­er­a­tive, but they may use "as much force as nec­es­sary" if you try to re­sist ar­rest. If you be­lieve you have been as­sault­ed, re­port the in­ci­dent to a se­nior po­lice of­fi­cer and an at­tor­ney, and in­sist on see­ing a doc­tor as soon as pos­si­ble.

If a po­lice of­fi­cer tries to ar­rest you, you have sev­er­al rights:

�2 the right to be in­formed of the rea­son for your ar­rest;

�2 the right to re­main silent, or not give any in­for­ma­tion to the po­lice oth­er than your name and ad­dress;

�2 the right to con­sult with an at­tor­ney;

�2 and the right to be brought be­fore a court as soon as is rea­son­ably pos­si­ble.

If you have been de­nied any of these rights, or be­lieve that you were wrong­ful­ly ar­rest­ed, you may be able to bring an ac­tion in court against the po­lice of­fi­cer.

This col­umn is not le­gal ad­vice. If you have a le­gal prob­lem, you should con­sult an at­tor­ney.