The Traffic Chief gave his word; I will hold him to it

Jan 23, 2016 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

On Thursday morning, I rang the Traffic Chief after reading a public statement put out by the police administration that traffic personnel are not permitted to conduct routine stop of drivers and demand to see their documents. They are under instructions to stop a vehicle only if they observe a violation has occurred.
I will come to what the Traffic Chief told me but it is important to note what the Commissioner of Police said in March 2015. He made two serious pronouncements. A roadblock must be in the vicinity of a police station. If it is not and it is late into the night, the driver is advised not to stop.
The Commissioner also stipulated that routine traffic stops constitute harassment and are discontinued. The very day the Stabroek News published those edicts by the Commissioner, I encountered a nocturnal roadblock on the Railway Embankment and it was nowhere near a police station.
It was conducted by Inspector Dass who professionally accepted what I showed him from the Stabroek News (see my March 24, 2015 column, “I saw improper police behaviour and I intervened,”). From March 2015 until what I read yesterday, the police throughout the length and breadth of this country have engaged in almost daily routine stops of drivers (see my January 10, 2016 column captioned, “The police and Lisa Smith on North Road”).
If on January 8, 2016 I saw routine intercepts, then surely logical deduction would tell you they have been going on a long time despite the March 2015 instructions by the Commissioner. One can cite two reasons for this. The Commissioner’s edicts were for public satisfaction but were never issued as a direction to the police force. Or the police ranks have been ignoring the Commissioner’s instructions.
I now return to my telephone exchange with the Traffic Chief. He said that he is aware of the January 21 proclamation and the police force will adhere to it. He said that in days to follow all traffic heads throughout Guyana will be apprised of this policy. Now here is the section of Traffic Chief Moore’s conversation with me that I will remind the entire police force. Mr. Moore said that if he is informed that any rank has ignored the policy and engage in routine checks, that rank will be disciplined.
I respect the professionalism of Mr. Moore. But I have my work to do as a media operative and human rights activists. I am cynical about police behaviour. I believe the police as soon as today will perform routine checks on the roads. I have instructed my daughter not to stop if a traffic rank pulls her in at random. I will put a photocopy of this column in her car and she is advised to show the traffic cop it. He can ignore it if he wants but my advice to my daughter is once she is driving normally and does not commit a violation the police cannot make a routine pull-over. I am advising my friends, relatives and the Guyanese people to not comply with random stops if you are just going about your business. It is improper for them to intercept you. You should not be a willing party to improper police behavior.
The word, “harassment” was used by the Commissioner when he issued his March edict. And indeed it is harassment. Why should a family driving to a picnic, a man, a woman going to their work, be held up by a rank who has absolutely no clue as to if they committed an offence but wants to see their papers?
This is an invasion of privacy and it doesn’t obtain in democratic countries. Traffic and anti-crime police act on suspicion and they are within their rights to stop and question you based on reasonable suspicion. But it is unacceptable nonsense for you to be with your spouse going to your kid’s school party and there is a policeman in the middle of the road requesting you pull over. Pull over for what?
It can be said that despite the January 21 public repeat of the March 2015 edict, citizens, who now know that the police cannot stop them at random will willingly comply. They will go to their glove compartment and meekly hand the cop their documents. As the cop takes his time to peruse the papers in his hands, a line will form behind the driver. Traffic will be held up and the police will do that for hours to come. He knows that he is dealing with sheep.

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