Although the act's provision for stop and search requires that it be based on 'reasonable grounds,' compliance with this criterion cannot be monitored in cases where no charges are brought, and evidence obtained illegally in stops and searches is not likely to be ruled inadmissible by the courts. The police thus have no effective incentive to conduct nonabusive stops and searches. The act permits road checks to ascertain whether a vehicle contains a person unlawfully at large or who has committed or is intending to commit a serious arrestable offense or is a witness to one. An arrestable offense is serious, as defined by the act, if it has led to 'serious financial loss to any person.' This permits road checks for suspects in a wide range of offenses. Arrest procedures specified under the act permit police arrests for something so minor as an officer's belief that a person has given the wrong name. The fact of an arrest for an 'arrestable' offense also gives police power to conduct a warrantless search of the arrestee's premises. Arrest can then become a means to circumvent the requirement for a search warrant. Any safeguards in the act designed to protect citizens from police abuses are likely to prove illusory in practice. 14 notes.