Stop and searches are legal say SAPS
Police do not require a warrant to search a person or a car.
If you are pulled over by a police official and he asks to search your vehicle, you cannot say no. This is according to Greenwood Park SAPS spokesman, W/O Leon Audh, who explained that a resident cannot refuse a police officer access to search either the person or their vehicle.
“A stop and search, according to the criminal procedure and police act, is legal and can be done on a person or their vehicle,” Audh explained.
He added that police do not require a warrant to search either a person or a vehicle. Audh was responding to the numerous posts doing the rounds on Facebook suggesting that police cannot stop and search either a person or a vehicle without a warrant.
He said over the festive season, police are set to intensify their crime combating initiatives and this includes increasing stop and search efforts during patrols.
“We have initiated this type of operation and will continue to do so through the festive season. It is our mandate to remove criminal elements from our community and will continue to do so to ensure the safety and security of our area,” Audh said.
He said that stop and search operations were effective in that on numerous occasions they have recovered firearms and other dangerous weapons while conducting operations.
“If we believe a suspect is walking on the road with a dangerous weapon, the only way that we could confirm this is if we physically stop and search him or her,” Audh stated.
