The next time you are driving and flagged down by persons purportedly to be plainclothes police officers, you are under no obligation to stop, lawyers told malaysiakini today.

"A policeman who is not wearing his uniform does not have the authority to stop anyone," lawyer and human rights activist Sivarasa Rasiah said.

Sivarasa was commenting on the alleged gang-rape of an 18-year-old university student by four men claiming to be police officers on New Year's eve. The girl said that her car was stopped in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail in Kuala Lumpur and were asked by the men to open the car bonnet.

She was then told that she had committed an offence and ordered to follow the men to a police station. The girl was driven in her car along the North-South expressway to the Tapah-Cameron Highlands road before she was raped in an oil palm estate.

This incident, and many others, have sparked confusion over the procedures which motorists must follow when flagged down by the police.

"The most common problem is that most people take instructions without determining if the other person is really a cop," lawyer Annie Santiago said.

However, if you are stopped by a uniformed policemen, then you are required to stop. But you need not get out of the car because you are not expected to do so, Santiago said.

The other rule to follow is to provide your identity card only when you are asked to do so. "Even then, you should get his ID first to confirm if he is a cop. There is no harm in calling the relevant police station to verify if he is supposed to be on duty that day," Sivarasa said.

Both lawyers said that motorists should never follow an officer to the police station unless one is under arrest. "If you are not sure, and your instincts tell you that something is wrong, then drive off to the nearest police station and lodge a report," Sivarasa said.

In response to the alleged gang-rape of the 18-year-old, Women's Aid Organisation executive-secretary Ivy Josiah called on the police to launch an education programme to teach the public about their rights to prevent them from being victimised by bogus police officers.

[#1] What to do if you are stopped by the police [/#]