Unlawful: Police not allowed to demand motorists' cell phone passwords

 

National Security Minister Dr. Horace Chang and Police Commissioner Dr. Kevin Blake have declared that it is unlawful for the police to demand a citizen's cell phone password during a random stop. 

 

The declaration comes amid reports of cops confiscating mobile phones during operations and demanding that citizens provide their passwords. 

 

Speaking at Wednesday's post-Cabinet at press briefing, Dr. Chang admitted that the practice is illegal. He pointed out that the police often engage in the practice during lottery scamming investigations. 

 

But the police commissioner is urging police personnel to desist from the practice.

 

"There is a process, and the process certainly is not coercing someone on that scene to give up their password. There is a process and it is a court order that has to be made. And so it is not right; it's not legal. Let me just say that clearly. And we have since communicated to our members when that came to our attention that that has been a practice."

 

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Blake has called for the police to stop issuing tickets to motorists whose vehicles are affixed with the daytime running lights.

 

"We have also communicated regarding the ticketing of running lights. If you look at the strict literature of the law itself, it allows certain things to happen except the fact that these are lights that came with the vehicle and not necessarily placed on the vehicle. And so there is a little gray area there. And so what we have done, we have sent our communication to our members to desist from doing that. It's something that we need to look at in the legislation itself, but for the time being we have instructed our members not to continue that practice. It's unfair to the motorists," he admitted. 

 

The police commissioner was speaking at Wednesday's post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.