Thursday, July 24, 2008

Enforcement Experiance



On one eventful Friday night, i was invited by "the Department" to join them in conducting a road block. Since I recieved a formal invitation and after gaining approval from my boss, I decided to go and see how a road block is conducted.

It started at 8.30pm. I arrived at about 8.20pm. Upon arriving, I was greeted by some familliar officers. They brought me around to meet their head of divisions and bosses. It was a fairly cool night with tents with lights and fan all over the side of the road.



"erm... tak jumpe gambar roadblock malam"


The objective of the invite is to inform other public officers how difficult it is to catch a traffic offender. Apparently, out of 10 motorcycles caught, at least 5 didn't have driving licence / road tax / insurance.


I even saw the portable weight machine which is connected to a laptop. It is to detect overweight lorries. The lorry will have to place both of its front tyres on the metal piece, then the computer will record some data, then the next two tyres (left and right), and so on. At the end of it, the computer, using some specia software, would determine if the lorry is overweight or not. It was really cool and that gadget is bloody expensive.



Cool kan?

At the end of it, I understood how difficult and dangerous it is to catch traffic offenders. We may think that a roadblock is a bloody nuisance but it is really necessary. There are too many traffic offenders in KL. But the roadblocks must not cause catastrophy to everyone. In other words, not ALL roadblocks are necessary. Some are just pointless and annoying and ridiculous.


Apparently, some people are comparing the amount of fines imposed by KL Traffic Magistrates and other districts. Some say that KL is much cheaper than Shah Alam. I am not sure about other districts.


This could be true. Maybe that is the reason why there are too many traffic offenders in KL. After that day, I decided that public interest would be best served if a higher fine is imposed. This is done with the hope to scare others and deter them from being so careless with their licence, road tax and insurance. Apparently, on the day I incereased the amount of fines, I was informed that someone remarked that "Majistret ni sudah naik harga"... HAHAHA... Minyak pun boleh naik mendadak, ape lagi saman.


Then again, whatever fines or prison sentence that I impose will remain only within the Court compound. The message will never be brought across the all road users since most of the reporters are too busy covering other cases elsewhere. Oh well, who am I to dictate the use of media for some petty traffic offences?


It is everyone's interest but no one is interested...

6 obiter dictum:

Twiggy said...

hmmm... semoga ramai yang mengambil iktibar...

Anonymous said...

1.Discretion is to be exercised judicially and according to the law. By giving that offender to undergo concurrent sentence in my considered view is wrong as neither the offence was not the same transaction nor it has any connection to the latest. Its also means that the offender enjoy a free ride of his second criminal act, which i think should not be the case.

2. If you think that the offender shouldnt be put behind the bar for too long, you should have considered Section 293 or 294 or one week imprisonment, bear in mind your order( especially how long the ofender must served) is permanent as far as his criminal record is concerned.

Keep up the good work!

two_one said...

Twiggy: Ramai orang ambil iktibar or ramai orang makin berdebar?

Anon: Concurrent sentence does not mean he enjoys a free ride for his other criminal act. As you have rightly stated, his criminal record will be permanent.That is a form of a lifelong sentence for him as well.

V|vac|ous said...

Hallos Twiggs guy i enjoy reading yr blog since Twiggy promote on her site ! So carry on writting !

reminds me of sthing i will email twigs n she can pass it on 2 u now gonna write it here but i come from a judicial family

two_one said...

Vivacious: Thanks V!!! Will harass my bride about your email.. :)

V|vac|ous said...

ah am very glad that u reply to comments ! i dont like to comment in places where the blogger does not respond !!! :)