Editorial
Roadblocks abuse human rights
Last Sunday this newspaper carried a front page story highlighting a European Court of Human Rights judgment which held that stop and search provisions under the UK's terrorism legislation was illegal because it allowed police to stop individuals on the basis of a "hunch" or "professional intuition" - as opposed to using the acceptable ground of 'reasonable suspicion'.
Moreover, after obtaining the opinions of local lawyers, we questioned whether the practice adopted during roadblocks in Malta could, therefore, in the eyes of the ECHR, be illegal too.
Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici said by way of reaction: "The ruling attacks the immense powers given to the police in the UK by the anti-terrorism law, which allows searches if it is expedient to do so. In Malta, the basis is one of reasonable suspicion so I cannot see how this judgment, at face value, impinges on our state of affairs."
It is entirely possible that the minister has never been stopped during a roadblock. However, many other people have. And they will tell you that the police - or, as is much more common, army personnel dressed in military fatigues - adopt as a guideline anything but 'reasonable suspicion' when they order a vehicle to pull up at the roadside. The process is as random as the Super 5 lottery - what the ECHR described, in fact, as a "hunch" or "professional intuition".
To some extent they cannot be blamed for this because unlike several other countries like the UK which the ECHR judgment refers to, there are no guidelines as to what constitutes 'reasonable suspicion' in Malta. Elsewhere police must have - and communicate - some tangible ground for believing that a particular individual has been involved, or is about to be involved, in some crime or other. A lone male in a Ford Escort with a large exhaust pipe does not, in itself, satisfy this test.
Not only does the army not offer any explanation as to why drivers have been stopped - a practice associated with police states - they proceed to search the vehicle and, as our story about a man being strip-searched illustrates today, the person. The experience is degrading, humiliating and unbefitting of a modern democracy like ours.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that anybody who felt aggrieved by the experience had every right to seek legal redress. However, even if this were adequate - it is not - he has rather missed the point.
It is up to him, as Home Affairs Minister, and up to senior officers in the police force and army, to ensure that abuse does not occur in the first place.
As things stand even asking a question to the police or army personnel is enough to land an individual with an obstruction charge.
One argument often made to justify roadblocks is that individuals are caught with drugs. Statistics for last year, which show that only 67 individuals were detained on suspicion of a committing an offence despite 1,159 vehicles being stopped, does not do much to bear that out. But, even if it did, it is not right that at least 1,092 law abiding citizens suffer in the process.
Moreover, using the same logic, why do the police not search every individual that frequents Paceville?
Reasons may include impracticability as well as a desire not to harm business. But the overriding consideration has to be, as is the case with roadblocks, because it is an infringement of human rights. And it is time our politicians did something about it.
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john fenech
Mar 28th 2010, 13:34
Crime prevention is a very important component to any law agency but it must be administrated within the confines of the law by unambiguous method of application for instance:
• UK: Section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, gives police the right to search people in a defined area at a specific time when they believe, with good reason, that: there is the possibility of serious violence; or that a person is carrying a dangerous object or offensive weapon; or that an incident involving serious violence has taken place and a dangerous instrument or offensive weapon used in the incident is being carried in the locality. This law has to be authorized by a senior officer and is used mainly to tackle football hooliganism and gang fights.
• Only a police officer can stop and go onto search you, your clothes and anything you are carrying, except when powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 are being used.
• A police officer, or a community support officer must have a good reason for stopping or searching you and they are required to tell you what that reason is.
Useful link: http://www.met.police.uk/stopandsearch/what_is.htm
Alex Caffari
Mar 28th 2010, 13:28
continued...
Needless to say I am extremely disgusted by all the stories I have been reading on this issue. It is time for the politicians to take action to stop this abuse, and if they do nothing about it, it is then time for us, the voters to hold them accountable.
@Emanuel Debono
Have you ever been stopped in a road block and been treated in the same way as the young indioviduals in today's story?
If so, and you still maintain that these acts of abuse of power are a good thing, I'm sorry to say that in my opinion, your dignity has been flushed down the toilet.
Alex Caffari
Mar 28th 2010, 13:25
I have never been stopped in a road block. Either by police or by the AFM. However, if I ever was, I would cooperate fully in answering any questions they may have of me, but I would take issue with having my vehicle, myself or my passengers searched unless they have 'reasonable cause'. If I were ever treated in the same way as the young individual and his passengers mentioned in today's story, I would certainly be making alot of noise about it too. We live in a peaceful democratic country and we have rights to privacy and dignity. We are the taxpayers who pay the salaries of the police and AFM members and we are the ones who elect our politicians. Therefore, they are answerable to us and not the other way round.
On the subject of strip searches, it is extremely inappropriate and humiliating for one to be conducted in public for all to see. Things like this when reasonably called for should be conducted in the privacy of a police station or at least some kind of mobile enclosure.
John Bowdler
Mar 28th 2010, 12:21
What a ridiculous response from the so-called Home Affairs Minister to a stop and search scenario. How do these people ever become voted in? This is what will happen if Mifsud Bonnici - or his wife - or his family members - or his 'friends' - ever get stopped. They will identify themselves to the officers and make a noise about who they are, and will be apologised to and quietly sent on their way. No such luck for John Doe. I'm not making a political point here - all politicians and their accolytes labour under the mis-apprehension that they are the masters and we are the slaves, when in a true democracy - and not a third-world type banana republic - it should be the other way round. Your article is spot-on: in Malta there are always two weights and two measures unfortunately.
Emanuel debono
Mar 28th 2010, 12:17
Please, please,if you have nothing to hide....you have nothing to worry about....Stop the whining.
If even 1 out of a 100 get caught .....it's worth it.....you do the crime ....expect to do the time..