JEDDAH, 29 April 2004 — After the May bombings in Riyadh last year, dozens of checkpoints were set up all over the Kingdom. The checkpoints have justified their existence in a variety of ways, having led to the arrest of several terrorists as well as some common criminals.
Most recently, last Wednesday, police at the Tahlia Street checkpoint attempted to stop a car that had been reported in another part of the city as being one used by terrorists. When the suspected vehicle reached the checkpoint, the driver did not stop. The car chase that followed led police directly to the apartment where the terrorists were hiding. After an intense gunbattle between authorities and the terrorists, a large cache of arms was seized and the three terrorists were killed.
In this case, the checkpoint had indeed served its purpose. Had the terrorists studied the roads around the checkpoint, however, they would have found that they could have easily avoided it.
Most drivers have nothing to hide and accept these checkpoints as part of everyday life, but those who wish to avoid the police or simply the bother of being stuck at the checkpoints can quite easily circumvent them. Arab News took to the streets of Jeddah yesterday to see how easy it was to avoid checkpoints.
We drove from the north of Jeddah to the south and from east to west for several hours during day and night — and managed to avoid every single checkpoint. Many of the checkpoints’ locations do not change. The officers at the checkpoint often change, but the location remains the same. For example, many people know that there are checkpoints off every major exit leading into Jeddah from the Makkah Expressway. Smaller exits, however, including the one at King Abdul Aziz University have no checkpoints. Those wishing to avoid them simply take the smaller exits and drive down the back streets.
Last Wednesday night, we used this method of avoiding a checkpoint and were able to get within 100 meters of the building where terrorists were battling security forces, despite the fact that the entire area was sealed off by hundreds of police officers on foot and in cars.
One of the easiest ways to avoid checkpoints on the road is to remember the location as that rarely changes. When surprised by a checkpoint ahead, making a simple left or right turn before reaching it, then driving down the parallel street allowed us to miss 70 percent of the checkpoints. Had the police placed a patrol car and officers on each of the parallel streets, the checkpoint would have been more effective and would also have netted those trying to avoid the checkpoint, for whatever reason.
If police were to create random impromptu checkpoints throughout the city at different times of the day and night, the checkpoints would be more effective. One checkpoint in particular that surprises many is actually on a Madinah Road service lane. Drivers coming from Sary Street who turn right to travel south on Madinah Road are faced with this checkpoint. As it is located around a corner, it is invisible until one actually makes the turn and finds himself at it. Once the turn is made, there is no escape and no way to miss it as there are no openings allowing a left or right turn. This kind of checkpoint has proven to be effective. However, like other checkpoints, drivers have come to memorize where it is and therefore can avoid it.
Setting up checkpoints around corners and out of sight will make them harder to avoid as drivers will have no warning of their existence; however locations need to be changed. Changing the locations of checkpoints at random and placing police units in streets parallel to them would make the whole arrangement much more effective.
