Latest update October 21st, 2026 10:30 AM
Jun 17, 2026 Dem Boys Seh, Features / Columnists
(Kaieteur News) – De other day a man get stop by de police and start behaving like he just graduate from Law School, pass de Bar Exam, and get appoint Chief Justice all in one afternoon.
As soon as de rank walk up to de vehicle, de man announce, “Officer, ah notice yuh body camera ain’t on.”
De policeman seh, “Sir, licence and registration please.”
De man seh, “Not until de camera come on.”
Dem boys seh by de time de man finish quoting Facebook legal advice, YouTube constitutional experts and three WhatsApp messages from Auntie Cheryl, he was sounding like he know more law than de police, de courts, and every lawyer from Georgetown to Lethem combined.
Now hear de thing. Body cameras are important. Dem boys support dem. They help protect de public and de police. But de use of body cameras is a police regulation and operating procedure. It is not some magical legal shield that turns every citizen into a traffic-stop superhero.
Some people carrying on as if de law say, “No camera, no compliance.”
Dem boys search high and low and can’t find that section in any Act of Parliament.
If a rank gives a lawful instruction, de fact that he or she forgot to switch on a body camera does not suddenly transform you into a constitutional freedom fighter.
You can make a complaint afterwards. You can report that de camera was not activated. You can ask questions. You can seek accountability.
But standing up by de roadside declaring, “I refuse to cooperate until de red-light blinking,” is a strategy that could carry yuh from traffic stop straight into de lockups.
Dem boys seh Guyana got a growing population of roadside attorneys. Every traffic stop turns into a courtroom. Every cell phone owner becomes a legal scholar. Every Facebook commenter suddenly has twenty years constitutional experience.
At de end of de day, knowing yuh rights is good. But inventing rights as yuh go along is a dangerous hobby.
Because sometimes de loudest legal expert on de roadside is de very same person who gettin’ de law completely wrong.
Talk half. Leff half.
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