TRAFFIC Chief Ian Amsterdam yesterday said that on the issue of police road blocks, from a Traffic point of view, it is always advisable for ranks to be outfitted with the reflective vest and traffic wardens to have the reflective wand so that they are visible to motorists from a distance.He added that it was announced by the Commissioner of Police Seelall Persaud that after several incidents of persons impersonating police officers and committing robberies at roadblocks at night had been publicised, police roadblocks should be within the vicinity of a police station with a marked police vehicle parked there.

Amsterdam noted that traffic ranks should accompany members of the patrol, be it detectives or anti-crime ranks at roadblocks, to indicate to motorists that they are out there conducting a legitimate exercise, especially in big roadblocks called “deliberate roadblocks.”

He explained that roadblocks should have all the features while “snap roadblocks” are set up on the basis of information received by the police to do stop-and-search exercises on motorists at any given point on the roadways.

The senior officer stated that in this type of roadblock, a traffic rank may be unavailable if the in-line traffic rank is out on other duties, but it is advisable they be a part of that roadblock because they can focus on documentation while the detectives and members of the anti-crime patrol can profile motorists in the stop-and-search exercise.

Amsterdam said that perpetrators impersonating police officers and setting up roadblocks may be persons with military training, and may have even absconded from active duty and deemed Absent Without Leave (AWOL).

He pointed out that the “cop bandits” may very well be people with some form of military training that are doing these crimes and they are trying to ascertain how many police kits are unaccounted for by ranks who were interdicted and sent off duty or discharged.

Amsterdam told this publication that police roadblocks should also have the presence of a detective and, if possible, they should wear their name tags so motorists can identify them by their badges of rank as well.

He advised that motorists in doubt should always look for a parked police vehicle when approaching a police road block and ask questions and if necessary ask to see identification cards of ranks manning that road block.

Last week, a group of workers were returning to their East Bank location after conducting business in Berbice when they were stopped at what appeared to be a police roadblock by several men dressed in police uniforms. After stopping, they were taken to a desolate dam at Grove, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara and robbed.

There were two separate incidents on the East Bank corridor where persons travelling to and from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) were stopped at roadblocks by men posing as cops, who relieved them of money and valuables amounting to millions.

By Michel Outridge