Police issues guidelines on ‘spotting’ operations

To fully protect the privacy and rights of car owners, the Western Police District (WPD) is implementing a set of guidelines for conduct of "spotting" operation or the inspection of suspected stolen vehicles.

Police are trained to be on the lookout for questionable vehicles such as those without license plates, those sporting improvised plates or fake stickers, those with no LTO stickers for the current year, haphazardly painted, and those whose plate numbers do not correspond with the year and model. Vehicles with expired commemorative plates and those using illegal blinkers and sirens are also suspect.

In a directive issued to police operatives, Superintendent Co Yee Co, chief of the WPD’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit, stressed that searches made during spotting operations shall be limited to visual inspections. An extensive search may be allowed only if the police find evidence that the vehicle is involved in a crime and there is no sufficient time to secure a search warrant.

Megaphones or police siren shall be used during the pursuit of suspected vehicles but no warning shot should be fired. Reasonable force may be employed in case the occupants of the vehicle fire at the pursuing lawmen.

During the actual search, the plate number of the vehicle should be immediately relayed to the District Tactical Operations Center (DTOC) to prevent the driver of the vehicle from eluding arrest.

Co emphasized that the conduct of searches, seizure and arrest in spotting operations should be done with civility and with due respect to the innocent passersby, commuters and bystanders. Any police operative who violates the guidelines shall be dealt with criminally and administratively as evidence warrants, according to Co. — Nestor Etolle