Police/RELA roadblocks – Are they done according to the law?

A week back, a poor guy’s head was rolled over by a truck because he was trying to flee from the police roadblock carried out along busy Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah (Sungai Nibong there). Many motorists usually do a U-turn, going against traffic whenever they see a police roadblock.

The other day when I was driving back from my son’s confirmation camp, a motorist also made a U-turn on the one way road where Penang Sports Club is. He was coming head to head with my car. It scared the daylight out of me and I immediately stopped by the roadside and sms my son to be careful. He was supposed to ride back much later, after me. We had repeated told him what to do in situations like these. Hehehehe, nak saman, saman lah, tunggu apa lagi? There is nothing to fear and at most it involves a few hundred dollars in summons.

Three nights back, a bunch of RELA (volunteer law enforcement) and policemen in blue suits were standing in the dark along Jalan Farlim, right after a turn. They caught us by surprise because they stood ver close after after a turn. There were not warning lights, no POLICE ROADBLOCK signs, nothing. Just a few chaps standing in the dark with an equally dark torchlight, flashing motorists down.

My hubby told me one can easily accidentally mowed these law enforcement officers down if they did no pay attention to the road. It happened before and one policeman died.

Then, much, much earlier, I read in the papers, a statement made by the Perak Police that we, the public can disregard these police officers if they did not have a proper roadblock. I don’t know if this is true? Anyone can clarify this?

A few other bloggers have also noticed the increase in police roadblocks during this month. I know festive seasons normally see an increase in crimes so the presence of these RELA men and policemen are certainly welcoming. But then, I hope everything they do is according to the law and they take great care to protect the road users safety and also their own safety.

So, berhati-hati di jalanraya.

16 thoughts on “Police/RELA roadblocks – Are they done according to the law?

  1. yesterday outside my school PFS, a boy got hit by a bus off Maybank Jln Mesjid Negeri and was under it. only lord knows what happened to him. that’s why there was traffic jam. no further story has been told.

    another motorbike of a student fell on the same road on the same location, but he just fell down and was help by a good samaritan. he was safe and no injuries reported.

    both students are not from PFS.

    a student’s dad was U-turning off Trinity Methodist and McDonalds. poor old man died crushed by a cargo lorry. happened few months ago.

    gosh.. PFS are simply a 190 year old school. and yeah freshman students believe those ghost stories of Pinhorn and those old headmasters. no accidents happened but a female form 6 student was exorcised few months ago..

    but it seems that the main road outside PFS are more fatal. it seems that, really, more accidents happen just directly outside PFS rather than inside. geeez..

  2. Yah I already kena the other day on sprint highway..

    Told him to stuff his bribe, dunno how much the compound will be, maybe 300RM, no reductions during ‘Operasi’.

  3. always got these kinda roadblocks in sibu. i think they were after some fleeing criminals.. lolz got apek policemen also at the roadblocks. with their rusty m-16. and i flashed him a pEaCE! sign

  4. In this matter, a totally RELA manned roadblock is definitely not valid unless it is in conjuction with an announcement made in the paper or some major public occassion that warrants such a road block, but if they are stopping you for some things that you’ve done wrong, aka on the phone kah, u – turn kah or whatever, they actually have no right to stop you or threathen you, for RELA members, just ask for them to issue you a summon and let it be, because they don’t have the authority to issue summon and don’t listen to whatever they have to say about “settling” etc etc..its all full of sh*t.

    For the Police force however, they have the right to make roadblocks, daytime or night, but in the night, the roadblocks should be well lit that everyone can see them and we should stop as they request, but when they ask to see your IC or Driving License, give it to them but when they start all sort of hassle of summons and the long story of very expensive to pay summons and hassle of paying summons and such, just tell them, if indeed you were wrong, then ask them to issue the summon and pay it lah, don’t bargain, if they start on wanting to settle it, tell them outright no, just settle the summon and at the same time, take down their ID number that’s usually pinned on their shirt, if however they are wearing a vest and the number and name is blocked, you can request to look at his Police ID and you are perfectly in the right to do so, irregardless of what he says and if he makes an issue out of it, threaten to report him to the nearest police station for not complying..the police has to be shown that people have their rights and the public should be aware that they have their rights.

    So remember, if a RELA roadblock, request for the notice from them that they are allowed to organise the Roadblock and NO, they are NOT ALLOWED to issue summons.

    For police, yes, they can have roadblocks anywhere they want and you must comply to whatever they say, if they ask you to stop, you stop, dont speed off. If however, they create hassle and problems and wanting to settle and such, insist on seing their Police ID and jot down their name and number or key it in your handphone and sms it to your hubby or wives or kids or siblings for record and then report the certain police officer when you settle your summon. Bear in mind, you are the one that is WRONG if you PAY the police BRIBERY and not the police. So insist that they issue you the summon irregardless how much that they insist you settle, but INSIST also they they give you their ID NUMBER AND NAME so as you can report straight to the POLICE DEPARTMENT when you settle the summon and then, to make sure that some action is really done on the matter, you must report to ACA or Badan Pencegah Rasuah or BPR where you can report directly online, explaning location, reasoning and person involved to BPR online at http://www.bpr.gov.my/cda/m_aduan/c_form.php or call their toll free number at 1-800-88-8844

  5. “Hehehehe, nak saman, saman lah, tunggu apa lagi? There is nothing to fear and at most it involves a few hundred dollars in summons.”

    Wah-lao-eh! Should have been “Mau kasi masok penjara, kasi masok lar! Punggung gua manyak longar mya lar! Dua olang mali sekaligus gua pun talak takut mya!”

  6. Rela members do not have total power to set up a roadblock. They have to do it with the police. They actually don’t have the powers of search and arrest. They can help the police, but ultimately its the police who can issue you summons. If the roadblock is all rela, then you know its a fake, call the police.

    So far all the roadblocks that i see are proper ones, even those catching people beating red lights. They have the roadblock sign manned with police. I also kena a few times on the moto, but as long as the licence is valid, roadtax is renewed and you talk to them with a smile, they will let you go fast fast. There are bigger fish to catch.

    So if you have not done anything wrong, don’t be afraid.

  7. i think the increase of roadblocks are because they want more DUIT KOPI!!!!

    a lot of ppl would rather pay 50bucks rather than paying the full amount of saman

  8. I know for a fact that when the Police decides to put up a roadblock, there must be :
    1) BIG signs to indicate a roadblock.
    2) Traffic cones placed about 200m away to indicate a roadblock.

    If such things aren’t displayed, you have the right to challenge them in court.

    Obviously this is just another way to collect some duit raya/deepavali.

  9. Those morons must have though they are invincible with their badge. The rule book has clearly stated that NEVER EVER park/stop 200 meters away from junction/turn/uphill road/corner that incoming vehicle unable to spot you.

    It is common sense line of sight issue : if incoming vehicle can’t see you, it also mean you can’t see them. As some bumper sticker say, “If you can see this sign, you are too close”.

  10. If I didn’t recall wrongly, they need to have an inspector ranked officer to be present in a Police roadblock and it has to be within a certain radius from the district’s station.

    You can always ask to see their officer in charge to check the purpose/validity of the roadblock. I usually do, normally, they will just ask me to ‘jalanlah’.

    The amount of income tax I pay can can sustain a small district police station for a month. I have my rights. The police should make us feel safe, not afraid when confronted. This is the image that they should project.

  11. Dodgy police with dodgy roadblocks, I called them fishing spots. There was once I got stopped by one of them and I bluntly asked the cop “Ada ikan?”

    He just looked blur and let me go.

  12. Hey there, I googled this up cos yesterday after the Merdeka countdown on the way back home, there was a roadblock not too far off some signboards. was pretty much paying attention to the signboards, and then i saw something in the dark, lo and behold, police roadblock which i managed to swerve over from my lane to the narrowed down lane (of 4 lanes) after an abrupt brake.

    not only that, i have already been expecting polica roadblocks due to the countdown.

    it was extremely dangerous, as i could have mowed the police officer down. or could have crashed myself. I got off the car and pleaded to the officer. i tried reasoning that i couldnt really see the roadblock in the dark, but if i wud have knocked anyone down in the process, it would have been pretty traumatic for me. not only that, i could have been charged with accidental manslaughter.

    i am only 20. im not sure whether there’s anything recorded down when my ic and driver’s license was taken for a brief moment. but the officer said ok and told me to go home (im not quite sure whether it means im let off). i just quickly paced back to my car after the horrific experience.

    thanks for posting this up.

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