Our Labour Services

Your Rights when pulled over

What are my rights when pulled over or interacting with the police?

Short answer:  All rights afforded to you in the Constitution in conjunction with certain responsibilities.

Long answer:

Not a lot of people know what their rights and responsibilities are when interacting with law enforcement officials.

The best advice in these situations is to be neutral, observant and responsible.  

RESPONSIBLITIES:

You need to abide to the rules of the road, whether you agree with them or not. This will minimise the possibility of being pulled over, thus minimising your exposure to conflict with law enforcement authorities.

When law enforcement officials indicate you to pull over, you have the responsibility not to flee. In South Africa, you have the right to proceed to a police station. If you decide not to stop and to proceed to a police station when being followed, you must not speed away.

This does however not apply to roadblocks and you are advised to always stop at a formal roadblock.

To guard against falling victim to “blue light gangs”, follow these steps:

Be acutely aware of where you are at all times.

Indicate to the vehicle following you that you wish to proceed to a police station before stopping by doing the following:

Turn your hazard lights on and then –

Extend your right arm out of the window and with an tightly outspread hand extended into the air with your forearm at 90 degrees from your shoulder;

Gesture to them to follow you by moving your forearm forward and back to the upright, and repeat this action several times.

Drive at no more than 40km/h and proceed directly to the closest Police station.

Call 10111 and tell them that you are being followed and are proceeding to the closest police station. Provide the registration number of the vehicle that is following you so they can establish if it is a legitimate police vehicle.

If you are not sure where the closest police station is, you can ask the 10111 operator.

When you get to the police station, if there are no police personnel in sight, hoot for as long as it takes for someone to come out.

Remain in your vehicle with the engine running and the vehicle in gear and your windows wound up until such time as police from the station come out to you.

Cooperate with police personnel and the officers from the vehicle that followed you and explain that you felt intimidated and therefore proceeded directly to the police station.

If you are shouted at, do not respond by shouting back. Remain calm and respectful.

If you don’t feel comfortable reporting unfair treatment to the authorities themselves, then you can make use of any one of the following:

 Corruption Watch at www.corruptionwatch.org.za

 Crimeline by SMS to 32211

 JPSA at www.jp-sa.org

When interacting with a law enforcement official, you have the responsibility to treat the person with dignity and courtesy. Remain calm and respectful

If a law enforcement official wants to arrest you, you have the responsibility not to resist arrest in any way. If you do, you will escalate the situation. Don’t get into a fight as you will come last.

RIGHTS:

You have the right to establish the identity of any law enforcement official. You may demand to see their appointment certificate (identity card). The Criminal Procedure Act states that an officer who cannot or will not provide an appointment certificate on demand is in violation of the Act and that any actions that he or she takes will be unlawful if such a certificate is not provided.

If you demand to see the appointment certificate do so in a polite and respectful manner. If they refuse to show you their appointment certificate, do not get into an argument with them. Observe as many details as you can about them and any other officers or vehicles that may be present. The matter will only be taken further after your situation has come to an end. Do not try and litigate at the roadside or in a police station.

A law enforcement officer may not insult you, swear at you or treat you in an undignified fashion.

A male officer may not physically search a female and vice versa.

The Constitution forbids arbitrary search and seizure of your person, property or possessions. If you are stopped they must have a valid belief that you may have been involved in the commission of a crime and that a search warrant would be issued by a Magistrate or Judge if they wish to search you or your vehicle or seize your possessions.

This applies to “random pull-overs” where you are singled out by law enforcement authorities. It does not apply to properly constituted roadblocks where search and seizure is in fact authorised prior to the roadblock being set up.

If you are arrested, you must be informed of your rights immediately when you are arrested. You must be taken directly to a police station. Driving around with you in the back of a vehicle for extended periods of time is not acceptable. If this happens it is essential to let your friends and relatives know what is going on.

The eBlockwatch “panic button” can be invaluable in such circumstances as it provides tracking capabilities as well as an alert. Visit www.eblockwatch.co.za.

You are allowed to make a phone call and if you are left with your cell phone, make sure that you make such a phone call as soon as possible after your arrest.

You have the right not to make any statement to the police. It is our recommendation that you never make a statement as you could incriminate yourself unintentionally. Rather make a statement to your own legal representative.

In most cases, you will have the right to apply for bail at the police station. It is only in the case of serious crimes that your application for bail can only be heard by a court.

There is a big difference between paying bail and paying an admission of guilt fine (J70a) and you shouldn’t confuse the two.

An admission of guilt fine finalizes the matter against you and is the same as being found guilty in a court.

You have the right to be represented by a legal representative of your choice. Under no circumstances should you take legal advice from police or prosecution officials.

It is clear that the best way to avoid traumatic situations is to be calm and prepared. Keep your cool and have a friend or family member on speed dial in order to notify them of your whereabouts.