KINDLY permit me a space in your column to call on the Minister of Public Security, the Acting Commissioner of Police and the traffic chief to discipline, fire or transfer any traffic officer who demands a bribe and when met with a refusal, victimises motorists.

Such ranks should be transferred to the T.S.U or any department where they have fewer contacts with the general public. This is needed in order to build the police-citizen trust.

Based on my personal experience on March 20, 2018, about 10:30 am, I stopped for less than five minutes with my vehicle on the Tuschen Public Road to allow my wife to get out of my car to walk over the road to purchase two pounds of cassava while I was in my car, and the engine was still running. This stop was less than five minutes because there were about three minibuses parked there; as such, I did not pay any attention as to whether there was a no-parking sign there.

I recognised that the three minibuses had been driven up a little, so i pulled up too ,not conscious that there was a no-parking sign. Thereafter, a police sergeant of the traffic department , who is stationed at the Leonora Police Station, rode up and said to me i am on the no-parking sign.

I conveyed to the sergeant that I was sorry and that my wife had just gone across the road to purchase two pounds of cassava quickly, while my vehicle was idling.

The traffic rank said to me, ‘talk to me’(meaning a bribe). I informed him that i am a rural constable and while taking out my card to show him, he got angry with me because i did not talk to him[bribe] as I objected to paying a bribe.

He then instructed me to drive to the Leonora Police Station, where as the sergeant, he could have instead issued me with a traffic ticket, since it is a ticketable offence.

As I drove past my house in Meten-Meer-Zorg with my wife in the car, I again approached him before he entered the station compound; he repeat the said words again ‘talk to me’[bribe]. I asked him for a chance, since I am a rural constable and I am asking for forgiveness.

The sergeant , who was furious at me not complying with his demand, then instructed me to
sit on the prisoner’s bench and told another officer to put me on $10,000 station bail.
The officer there said that this man should be put on $5,000 bail, not $10,000, which the officer later lowered to $5,000.

I lodged the bail, got receipt #342603 and was instructed to attend court on Monday, March 26, 2018.

The traffic sergeant should have given me a ticket instead of treating me like a criminal, because I refused his demand for a bribe, which reminds me of a bandit that refused to hand over his valuables and was later tortured.

Traffic officers with this mindset should be transferred immediately from the traffic department and place behind a desk to do secretarial duties, instead of hunting for persons who commit minor infractions to bleed their pockets of their hard-earned incomes.

I acknowledge that my short stop may be a violation of the traffic rules, since i was in the driver’s seat with my engine running,for which i apologised and a ticket should have been issued, instead of being placed in an embarrassing  situation in front of my wife, who is still traumatised .

Meanwhile, at the said time, I was at the traffic department of the police station,when another motorist was stopped by a traffic constable, with his old grandmother in the car; the insurance for the car had expired. The constable went to the same traffic sergeant and asked him what to do. The sergeant instructed the constable to impound the vehicle and let the grandmother take a taxi and go home. Apparently, this sergeant does not have a mother or a grandmother or feelings for anyone other than himself. He should realise that there is a saying that goes like this, “Once a policeman, twice a civilian.”

I am calling on all citizens to help stamp out this type of corruption, do not pay bribes.

Your Truly

Ganesh Bharat