Road traffic officers have no right to confiscate licence: Salle

ROAD Traffic Authority (RTA) officers conducting checkpoints do not have the right to confiscate licences from drivers, according to a senior traffic police officer.
Officer-in-charge of the Boroko Traffic police Insp Joseph Salle said RTA officers and policemen or women should not take away the driver’s licence and then tell them to drive without licence which was against the law.
“It has come to my attention that some RTA officers conducting roadblocks are confiscating the driver’s licences and also crew permits from PMV crew and the drivers and keep it for more than 24 hours without doing anything,” Insp Salle said.
“They do not have the power to charge the traffic offenders but can only issue Traffic Infringement Notices (TIN) if they find them committing any traffic offences.”
Insp Salle said the RTA officers should not organise checkpoints on their own but must ask the police to be with them so they could help when the public go against what they are doing.
He said some people would respect what they were doing on the road but some would not so when there was police presence they would all cooperate.
Insp Salle said it was good for both the police and RTA to work together to avoid foul play during their operation on the road. He said many things had gone wrong and the public were complaining about policemen and women and the RTA officers taking away licences of drivers and not returning them.