A Criminologist’s Diary-22

Medical Checkup and Vehicle Checkup

We were having a drive through the freeway from Dallas to Bentonville at a speed of 70 miles per hour. That is the permitted maximum speed in freeways. Martin was very strict in keeping the speed limit and I was more serious to see that he did not violate the law on speed limit. We could see some policemen hiding themselves to catch the violators of the speed limit. They had speed detecting gadgets with them and once they caught a driver, they came with evidence to convince him that he was driving at an over speed. There were 'wiser' drivers who kept an electronic gadget with them to identify the presence of the hidden policeman sufficiently in advance. They were really smarter not only in escaping a ticket from the police but also in violating the laws. Forget about such mental cases.

The traffic policeman is a decent law enforcement officer who books a driver only if he has violated a law and only if he has dependable evidence to prove the violations. They do not stop all vehicles going through the freeway and harass the road users as we see in our country. In Kerala, for instance, checking of motor vehicles stopping all vehicles going on the road, retaining the road users for hours together, asking them a number of questions, finding out some violations of law and then booking them-fining them for violations. There is no justification for such vehicle checking and there is no rationale necessitating such checks. If the police have evidence of violating a road law/vehicle law by a driver, then book him rather than booking all drivers driving their vehicles through a particular road. Whenever I give lectures to police officials, I used to insist that there should be decency even in detecting road violations.

"Check only one violation at a time or book a violator of laws if there exists visible evidence. Vehicle checking is not a medical checkup in which the doctor examines the patient from all sides to find out some disease or malfunctioning for effective treatment. In vehicle checking, the examination is done to correct the erring driver and if needed to punish him and not at all to treat him medically. Be decent and dignified"-this used to be my instructions to the police officials.

The mobile courts are not medical checkup centers although many check the vehicles from left and right, from up and down, from behind and beyond to find out, somehow, some defects solely for fining the road users. This is not the right approach and in every sense, it is an atrocity on road or abuse of power or misuse of authority. By checking vehicles, one can find out some defects which may be violations of law. It is not for that the mobile courts are intended. It is intended for nobler purposes and more over to ensure the safety and security of the people on roads. Certainty of punishment is always better and more effective than severity of punishment and the mobile court is for that purpose and that purpose alone.