Dickie Says, “SOE Does Not Wash Away Your Rights”
For the next thirty days, thousands of residents will live under extraordinary police powers, but the declaration of a State of Emergency does not erase the Constitution. Attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley says police may temporarily restrict certain freedoms, but residents still have rights and legal protections. As people adjust to increased patrols, searches and possible detention, Bradley explains what authorities can legally do, where their powers end and what residents should know in the weeks ahead.
Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney-at-Law
“Although a state of emergency restricts certain rights, it does not wash away your rights. The law still applies in relation to how you navigate a state of emergency. So, we are dealing with a lawless police department because they don’t have no respect. Can you tell me they have five lawyers and no know Section 5-3 of the constitution? If they could do this with no SOE, they could do it year after year. If they could do this in the face of judges of the Supreme Court, now the High Court, making others that the police were completely unlawful in their behavior and the order that they pay the people in who have been locked up. We need more people to sue. Where is the solution? Okay, you announce that you’re going to have a state of emergency, which you know in your heart is not going to work and will not do anything. It’s a pause you want to claim. Well, it’s a pause so you can give me a chance. A chance for what, to go talk to Bukele? The solution lies in the social and economic problems, in family problems, and in the lack of church. This is a serious matter, so let me say the court of appeal has looked scrupulously, comprehensively, at this matter of SOE law, and they’re saying that you can’t take a state of emergency and use it as a crime-fighting tool. The constitution is very clear: a state of emergency is for earthquake, hurricane, war and insurgency, where daily life is disrupted to a state where you can’t go to the shop.”
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