One of the basics of law enforcement is the ability to identify any person who comes to the attention of the police. In the past, this has been a gray area. The police have had the power to demand to see a person's face in any criminal investigation, but that was not extended to civil policing, such as stopping a car to give the driver a breath test.
As usually happens with the law, a celebrated incident brought the matter into public notice when a woman driver refused to remove her burqa for police identification when her car was pulled over. Later, a burqa clad woman attended a police station and lodged an official complaint that an officer had forcible tried to remove her burqa - and that this constituted assault.
If proven, such an assault would have serious consequences on that police officer's career status and could see a fine - or even dismissal from the police force imposed. On the other hand, making an untrue statutory declaration is also a crime - and could result in a gaol term.
Two interesting events then followed. The " forcible removal " claim was utterly destroyed when video surveillance from the police vehicle recorded the entire incident - and proved that the claimant was lying. This woman was then charged with making a false claim - and appeared in court.
The prosecution failed - because the woman who attended the police station after the event was wearing a burqa - and it could not be proved that the driver of the car and the woman who made the complaint were the same person - because the police saw neither woman's face for identification.
The state government has amended the law so that uncertainty has been removed. The police have the right to demand to see a persons face for identification purposes - at all times and for any reason.
This is not specifically aimed at the burqa. It simply requires a reasonable request for facial identification to be met by anyone of either gender - and that includes doctors wearing surgical masks, motor cyclists wearing full face helmets - or carnival workers in costume.
A former gray area - is now clearly black and white !
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