Constitution Watch 7/2019 ID Checks at Roadblocks – Are they Legal? 5th October 2019 Act] makes provision for this. But neither the Constitution nor the CP&E Act allows the Police to stop and search vehicles on the off-chance that one or two of them may be carrying something that may be connected with a crime: the Police must have a reasonable and prior ground for believing that an item of evidence concerning the commission of a known offence is likely to be in the particular vehicle they want to search. The CP&E Act certainly does not allow random searches, and section 34(2) of POSA, if it is interpreted to comply with the Constitution – and the Constitution is supreme – must be construed restrictively so as not to permit the Police to stop and search at random any vehicle and person at a roadblock. Conclusion Under section 219(1)(d) of the Constitution the Police are responsible for maintaining law and order in Zimbabwe. In carrying out that responsibility they must comply with the law because they, like all other institutions of government, are subject to the Constitution and the law. They must remember that their responsibility is not just to maintain order: it is to maintain law and order. Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied To subscribe or unsubscribe from this mailing list please email billwatch@mango.zw If you wish to contact Veritas please email veritas@mango.zw If you are requesting legislation please email veritas@mango.zw or look for it on www.veritaszim.net follow us on (+263 71 893 3633) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.