Warning against traffic police

Many reckless and daring incidents

Recently, at around 8:50 p.m. on April 19, the working group of Road Traffic Police Team No. 5 (Traffic Police Department of the Provincial Police) including Senior Lieutenant Cao Duc Dai (Team Leader), Nguyen Viet Anh, Nguyen Tuan Anh, Chu Van Hai, Nguyen Dac Nam (Team members), was on patrol duty, controlling and ensuring traffic safety and order at Km 08+850 National Highway 46A in Nghi An Commune, Vinh City when they discovered a car with license plate 37A-502.46 moving from Vinh City to Cua Lo Town violating the speed limit of 56/50 km/h.

At this time, Lieutenant Nguyen Tuan Anh signaled the vehicle to stop for inspection and handling of violations, however, the driver did not obey the command, did not reduce speed but drove straight forward. The traffic police officers avoided the roadside but the car still rushed forward, causing Lieutenant Nguyen Tuan Anh to be seriously injured. After causing the accident, the driver continued to drive away from the scene.

The car at the time of the speeding violation and after hitting Lieutenant Nguyen Tuan Anh was left at a hotel in Cua Lo town. Photo: CACC

After the incident, the Working Group quickly took comrade Nguyen Tuan Anh to the Provincial General Hospital for emergency treatment, but due to the seriousness of his injuries, he was transferred to the Viet Duc Hospital (Hanoi) for treatment. The Working Group reported the incident to the unit's leaders, and coordinated with Vinh City Police and other functional agencies to establish an initial record to handle the subject according to regulations. The subject driving vehicle 37A-502.46 was identified as Vo The Nghia (born in 1990), residing in Bac Hai block, Nghi Thu ward, Cua Lo town. After the incident, Nghia left the vehicle at a hotel in Cua Lo town and fled, and the functional forces are trying to persuade him to surrender.

Previously, at around 8:30 p.m. on July 8, 2020, the Nam Dan District Police Traffic Patrol and Control Team, while on duty at Km 335+200 QL15A, in Thuong Tan Loc Commune, Nam Dan District, discovered a young man driving a motorbike with license plate 37M1-694.42 without a helmet and driving at high speed, so they signaled him to stop for inspection.

However, the young man did not obey the order and drove straight into the working group. Captain Tran Xuan Son, an officer of the Traffic Police Team of Nam Dan District Police, was unable to avoid the collision and was seriously injured. Afterwards, his teammates took Captain Son to the emergency room. At the hospital, Captain Son was diagnosed with a chipped knee and a fractured shoulder. The identity of the young man driving the motorbike that hit Captain Son was later identified as Le Van Hoang (born in 1999), residing in Xuan Hoa Commune (Nam Dan).

Deputy Director of Nghe An Provincial Police Nguyen Duc Hai visited Captain Son during his treatment at the hospital. Photo courtesy of Minh Tam

The above are just 2 of dozens of cases related to non-compliance with inspection requests.resisting law enforcementin recent years in the area.

In the past 3 years, through patrolling, controlling and handling violations of traffic safety order, 39 cases/39 subjects were discovered who did not comply with the request to check and control documents, people and vehicles or obstructed or did not comply with the request to check alcohol concentration, check for drugs of the officers on duty; 39 cases/39 subjects were administratively handled, fined over 235 million VND, and 32 cases had their driving licenses revoked for a period of time. Also during the above period, 2 cases/2 subjects resisted the force while on duty.

According to statistics from the Provincial Traffic Police Department

Need to be handled seriously

It can be seen that the behavior of not complying with inspection requests and resisting law enforcement officers in general and traffic police in particular is becoming more and more complicated and tends to increase in severity, causing significant impacts on the performance of official duties of the traffic police force. Not only stopping at insulting and abusive words, the level of behavior is becoming more and more dangerous and reckless, such as driving cars and motorbikes into traffic police forces.

In addition to leaving serious consequences and causing public outrage, these actions also create bad precedents that make traffic participants disregard the law...

Traffic control at Dien Chau Traffic Police Station. Photo: D.C.

Talking to us, Lieutenant Colonel Le Hong Son - Deputy Head of the Provincial Traffic Police Department said that the reason for not complying with inspection requests and resisting law enforcement officers is due to the limited awareness of some traffic participants, when violating, they find ways to avoid, not cooperate, obstruct, and even oppose the traffic police force. Not to mention that some young people are hooligans or have used alcohol or beer before, so they cannot control their behavior. In addition, the sanctions for this behavior are not strong enough to deter, which is also one of the reasons leading to the increase in the level of behavior against law enforcement officers.

Sharing the same view, a lawyer said that the starting penalty of non-custodial reform is not appropriate compared to the current situation of acts of resisting law enforcement officers. For example, driving into a police force is a dangerous act that the subject knows in advance can lead to death but still deliberately commits. Therefore, this case must be handled seriously and a public mobile trial must be conducted to set an example for other subjects.

Regarding solutions to handle complicated situations and situations of resisting law enforcement officers, according to Lieutenant Colonel Le Hong Son, in addition to the general direction of the Provincial Police, in plans, topics, and peak periods to ensure traffic safety and order, and attack and suppress all types of crimes, the department always directs teams and stations to have a fuller and deeper understanding of the characteristics of the situation related to subjects resisting law enforcement officers in order to have measures to handle and prevent them.

The Provincial Traffic Safety Committee coordinated with the Department of Education and Training and the Traffic Police Department of the Provincial Police to organize a program to propagate laws on traffic order and safety at Nghi Loc 5 High School. Photo: Archive

The Provincial Traffic Police Department also presides over and coordinates with professional departments to advise the Provincial Police Department's leadership on developing a set of documents and plans to handle complex situations that occur in the work of ensuring traffic order and safety. On that basis, organize training for officers and soldiers performing the task of ensuring traffic order and safety in Nghe An Police to improve their professional qualifications and skills; behavioral skills, methods of mobilizing, persuading, and dialogue with the people for police officers and soldiers at all levels to meet work requirements, contributing to limiting the causes and conditions that give rise to crimes against people performing official duties...

According to Mr. Vo Minh Duc - Deputy Chief of Office of the Provincial Traffic Safety Committee, to limit the situation of non-compliance with inspection requests and resistance to law enforcement officers, it is necessary to first promote the role of mass media in propagating and disseminating legal regulations.road traffic law. Thereby, helping traffic participants understand the authority of the authorities, as well as what they can and cannot do when being checked...

In cases of intentional non-compliance with inspection requests, intentional resistance to law enforcement officers, and repeat offenses, strict sanctions must be imposed, as these are acts of contempt and even defiance of the law. Legal regulations need to be studied and amended to have appropriate penalties.

The crime of resisting a person performing official duties is regulated in Article 330 of the 2015 Penal Code, amended in 2017, which stipulates: Anyone who uses force, threatens to use force or uses other means to prevent a person performing official duties from performing their official duties or forces them to commit an illegal act shall be subject to non-custodial reform for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years.

Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 2 to 7 years: Organized; committing the crime 2 times or more; inciting, enticing, or provoking others to commit a crime; causing property damage of 50,000,000 VND or more; dangerous recidivism.