THE Bar Council of the Bar Association of Guyana, though imploring its members to uphold the noble profession, fell short of publicly reprimanding its member, Attorney-at-Law Ryan Crawford, who verbally abused a traffic rank after being stopped for a ‘routine’ check.
In a statement on Saturday, the Bar Council said it has taken note of a video currently being circulated on social media, involving a member of the association.

“The Bar Council holds its members to the highest standards of ethics and conduct and implores them to conduct themselves, at all times, in a manner befitting that of our most noble and esteemed profession,” it said.

Though not naming Crawford, the Bar Council said it took note of a report published in the September 14, 2018 edition of the Guyana Chronicle newspaper that the matter at issue is under investigation. As such, it declined to comment on the incident. “We trust that the said investigation will include the circumstances surrounding the recording, publication and sharing of the video,” the Bar Council said.

On Thursday, while driving on the East Coast Demerara (ECD) Public Road, Crawford was stopped for a routine check of his driver’s documents by a rank, but this seemed to have incensed him. He proceeded to ask the policeman why he was stopped and made it clear that he was not going to comply when asked to produce his driver’s licence, and to wind up his windows for a test of the tint level on his vehicle.

In his almost four minutes of profanity-laced defiance of the traffic rank, Crawford declared: “You can go and tell each and every one of the commanders, the President and the vice-president, you go and tell whoever you want…” He then drove off.

Since the video went viral on Thursday, there has been much debate on whether the traffic rank erred in stopping Crawford.

The Bar Council, in its statement, weighed in on the issue. “We take this opportunity to inform the general public, that a motorist can only be stopped by a uniformed police officer for due cause if he has formed the reasonable suspicion in his mind that an offence has been committed. That is, the police officer must have formed a reasonable suspicion in his mind of an offence, prior to stopping the motorist,” the Bar Council explained.

It noted that the officer is duty-bound to identify himself and inform the motorist of the alleged offence, in accordance with established guidelines made public by the Guyana Police Force.

“A motorist is entitled to know the name, rank and identification number of the police officer and must comply with all lawful directions of the officer, the aforesaid duty being already discharged,” it added.

The Bar Council also used the opportunity to put the general public on notice that the sharing and posting of such recordings on social media or in any such domain could give rise to the issue of publication and sensationalism of obscene material, for which they could be held liable.

The incident involving Crawford and the traffic rank is being investigated by the police.