Hands off!
LAST week, a decision was handed down by a court sitting in Goroka.
The magistrate ruled that there are no legal provisions that support the conduct of body searches by security personnel at trade stores and supermarkets.
He cited a precedent, a court ruling that had previously found against the practice.
The National has long questioned the legality of this “security” measure which is one of the most demeaning activities in this country.
We’re fully aware of the problems of shoplifting and we know full well that shoplifters left unchecked can virtually ruin a business.
But we’re also aware that men and women have a right to personal privacy and that activities such as body searches would take place in other countries only as an anti-terrorism measure.
The present system often targets elderly citizens and school children.
These groups are relatively defenceless against the probing fingers of security guards; female victims of these body searches are frequently visibly embarrassed.
The searching of children seems to us to be particularly indefensible.
Again we know there are street boys who make a practice of stealing food from stores; it is often obvious that their need overcomes any fear they may have of being caught.
Some youngsters steal goods for poverty stricken families.
Still others, who have no need for the goods taken, thieve for a dare.
The fact remains that children who are daily subjected to these body searches grow up believing that such measures are simply the way of the
world.
Any budding emotions of trust or respect for other people’s property are very effectively nipped in the bud and our society is the loser.
Further, those undertaking the searches are not members of the police force and that’s another matter to be considered.
As a result of the Goroka ruling and of the previous court finding over this matter, those “guards” have no legal standing at all.
In the Goroka case, an aggrieved man took both the person responsible for what he deemed an offensive body search to court, as well as his employer.
Both the employer and the person who conducted the search were found guilty of an offence.
The National has sought a government ruling over this matter for many years but no-one has been prepared to give a forthright statement either quoting the laws that make body searches legal, or indicating that previous court decisions had already made them illegal.
Where does the Goroka decision leave store owners and operators?
The necessity of controlling theft of goods from stores is of course acknowledged.
What systems could be put in place to supersede the body searches?
There’s no foolproof system that will guarantee all stock stays on shelves until it is paid for.
But the use of concealed cameras, shop detectives and strategically placed mirrors can reduce theft to a manageable level. In large stores overseas, and in a handful of similar businesses in PNG, electronic detectors work effectively, provided they are regularly maintained.
It seems to us that the major issue for many shop and supermarket owners and operators is one of cost.
They know full well that these prevention measures exist and are available; at the same time they’re so intent on minting money that they will not install these electronic devices or employ shop detectives to safeguard their merchandise because of the cost involved.
We don’t believe that our people are more likely to thieve from stores that those in other developing countries and we do recognise that poverty can be the biggest single stimulus to thieving food and clothing.
The point is that the responsibility of finding a workable solution to this problem now lies with the individual business owners and operators and not with national, provincial or local level governments.
We appeal to the Government to issue an immediate notification to all licensed store owners and operators alerting them to the court finding.
Storekeepers should be given a three-month grace period to find their own legal solutions to the problem; after that period has passed, any storekeeper or his employee who conducts a body search on a customer should appear before court.
The intolerable habit of body searches, now found to be illegal, must cease immediately.
 
Carmakers change to green gear
By MARCEL MICHELSON
GENEVA: When Lamborghini and Hummer try getting in on the action, you know greener cars have come of age.
The makers of US$400,000 supercars and flashy sports utility vehicles find themselves trying to keep up with tiny, fuel efficient new models at the Geneva auto show as toughening pollution laws put the focus on small, light and thrifty.
Hummer, the rugged US troops transporter that has become popular with Hollywood stars, is showing a version of its HX concept vehicle that can run on ethanol, which emits less greenhouse gasses than gasoline.
Lamborghini’s new version of the Gallardo, its “cheaper” model at US$222,000, is also designed to emit less CO2, the main greenhouse gas blamed for climate change.
But trimming 20kg off a 325kph supercar is well short of the radical steps being taken by industry heavyweights such as Toyota as a battle of superminis heats up.
Toyota calls its new iQ the world’s smallest four-passenger car at less than 3m long and expects to begin sales by the end of this year.
“I dream of a car that improves the air while it rides, that makes its occupants healthier and that can go around the world on a single tank,” Toyota chief executive Katsuaki Watanabe told reporters at the show on Monday.
The Japanese have been crafting tiny cars for decades but with consumers in Europe now buying such models in increasing numbers, the stage is set for a major upturn in exports from Japan’s top brands, mostly from their low-cost factories in China and India.
While Toyota and Suzuki with its A-Star Concept go for sleek lines to bolster their offerings, India’s “people’s car”, the Tata Nano, is proving a major draw at the auto show for its price.
At just US$2,500, it is the cheapest four-seater around and a potential threat as a result, especially once Tata Motors turns its sights on exports.
France’s Renault is among the European companies which said it is considering building a rival model.
Chinese maker BYD Co has its eyes on the electric car market with its F3 DM (Dual Mode) model on display at the auto show.
The company says it expects to do battle with plug-in hybrid models being developed by Toyota and General Motors.
“All cars will become electric one way or another,” Carl-Peter Forster, president of General Motors Europe, said.
“But we don’t know yet the road towards that destination.
“It’s time we stop discussing how to get there and let’s get on with it.”
Meanwhile, Nissan’s bubble-shaped Pivo concept car is also electric but its design is even more radical, with a cockpit that spins, doing away with ever having to back up.
Switzerland’s Rinspeed also has a two-seater concept car with electric power on display, the sQuba, which as the name suggests is capable of driving under water like James Bond’s white Lotus Esprit in the film The Spy Who Loved Me.
Buyers beware, however, as the Rinspeed has an open roof.
Britain’s Morgan is also displaying a model that shows environmentally friendly cars need not be boring.
Its gun-metal gray LifeCar prototype conceals a pollution-free hydrogen fuel cell and offers a 21st-century revamp of Morgan’s traditional open roadster styling, which is little changed since the 1940s.
“The LifeCar’s purpose is
to demonstrate that a zero emission vehicle can also be fun to
drive,” the company says on its website.
For environmentalist group Greenpeace, automakers cannot change fast enough.
“For a century the car industry has sold us a dream of faster, bigger, heavier automobiles,” campaigner Helen Perivier said.
“The climate crisis means the new century requires a new dream of cars.” – Reuters
Editorial