Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Hot Topic: An Easy Way Out?

Try to bribe a police officer in the United States and you will find yourself in jail pretty damn quick. Failure to bribe a cop in some parts of the world will see you in bracelets, on your way to a festering detention center faster than you can say “let me go you corrupt asshole”.

It is not uncommon in poorer nations for police service funds to be badly managed and as a result the uniformed officers on the streets are paid a pittance. What they do have in the way of compensation though, is a uniform, a gun and the power position in the cat and mouse game. The cat and mouse game being you, the rich foreigner cast as the mouse and the poorly paid cop playing the cat.

You have committed a real or fictitious driving infraction somewhere in South America and you are now in your car at eye level with a 9mm, double action, semi-automatic pistol which is dangling from the belt of a cop with a bad attitude. You roll the window down and hand over your documents in accordance with the not so polite request from the law enforcement officer. If the cop didn’t already know, your passport has now confirmed you as a foreigner and you are thereby perceived as a mobile ATM.

So the game begins. He takes a long time looking over your documents. He looks at you, your car, your wife. It’s getting uncomfortable. You want a quick solution to this problem, the cop wants a fast buck. However, if you have misread the situation and start flashing your cash and you happen to be in the presence of an honest cop then you are in trouble. So what do you do? Try smiling, be very genial and look dumb and this will often frustrate the officer in to handing you back your papers and waving you on your way.

If this doesn’t work and you think there is no way of avoiding payment one widely used method of figuring things out is to ask if there is a fine to pay for your infraction and if so can you pay it here and now . This gives the officer an opportunity to give you an amount that will work for him and you the chance to pay and be on your way. Negotiation is not out of the question if you think the amount is high. Respond with “I only have this much” while showing a note you are prepared to hand over and see what happens. If this fails you can always remember the extra note you keep hidden under the floor mat.

Now, if you are outraged by the thought of having to pay a bribe to a cop you should be. It is corrupt, it is wrong and by participating you are endorsing and encouraging it and making it worse by placing a target mark on other foreigners. However, some would argue that paying a bribe buys you out of a whole world of hassle if you accused of a wrong doing. No ticket, no court appearance, an easy fix and you are on your way and the recipient is happy. At the end of the day, it’s you in the sticky situation, it’s your conscience , it’s your call. Your payment could be feeding a child or a drug habit, you will never know.

Just for a moment put the boot on the other foot. You are in a rotten job. Poorly paid, if indeed you have been paid in the last 6 months and here comes a source of cash. What are you going to do? Sure as hell, you are going to take it.

What are your thoughts on this? Is is ever OK to bribe a cop to get out of a sticky situation or is it sometimes simply unavoidable? Does paying a bribe make it worse for other foreign travelers or is it just an accepted practice that makes things easier for everyone? Would you ever pay a bribe, have you paid a bribe? Have you as a cop taken a bribe? Be sure to leave your comments

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Posted by Expat Daily News at 4:10 PM

10 comments:

  1. I've had this experience in Mexico and Thailand and they were completely different situations. The police in Mexico will stop you simply for having American license plates on your car, accuse you of something you both know did not happen and demand money. It simply Robbery under color of authority. Thailand is the best of both Worlds; I've never been stopped or bothered by the police here for something I did not do, but a small fine paid on the spot makes most traffic violations go away. None of the pettiness of America, no "points" no court, no problems. I'm very careful to obey the law in foreign Countries so I am only talking about minor traffic violations, which are inevitable.
    ReplyDelete
  2. well, I am no expert, but...
    first there's no such thing as a double action semi-automatic pistol... only revolvers are double action...
    But anyhow, as a Texan friend who lives in northern Honduras told me, "what you need to know around here is that corruption is endemic, but it's affordable." She went on to say how a bit of respect and situational awareness can keep things cool. If a cop at a roadblock stops you, it's blistering hot out, and you just say how much you appreciate the hard work and offer a cold Pepsi and a bag of chips, sometimes that will work...
    ReplyDelete
  3. When you pay fines in the first world it gets wasted or stolen anyway. A taste given to the roadside cop in the third world at least benefits someone directly. When I travelled in Venezuela I stumped up a bit here and there to the officers at the military checkpoints. However I also took their names and addresses and told them if they were ever in Canada they were welcome to come and visit me. This helped me a great deal because in one major shakedown in El Tigre where I was accosted in the bus station for wearing short pants and thoroughly searched I called a senior army officer I knew. After he raised hell I was immediately let go and shown every courtesy. It pays (no pun intended) to have powerful friends. If you must pay a small bribe, make sure you can get some potential credit for it. One favour deserves another.....Godfather style!
    ReplyDelete
  4. Charles TurecekSep 17, 2009 03:42 AM
    My experience with police "corruption" in Ghana tells me that is far less odious than the unconscionable "fines" and "surcharges" paid for traffic tickets and parking infractions in the small speed trap towns in upstate New York. i would rather pay a $5 or $10 bribe to a police who really needs it than to pour my money into the rat hole where my New York State "taxes" go, thence to be divvied up by rapacious public officials. Corruption? Tall me about it.
    ReplyDelete
  5. "First there is no such thing as a double action semi automatic pistol."

    You sure don't much about fire arms. Smith and Wesson for one is manufacturing at least 3rd generation double action autos. Probably 4th by now. As long as there ia a round in the chamber you simply pull the trigger to fire without havint to manually cock the weapon.
    ReplyDelete
  6. "well, I am no expert, but...first there's no such thing as a double action semi-automatic pistol... only revolvers are double action... "

    You're right. You're no expert.

    Beretta 91 - double-action, semi-auto
    S&W .40 - double-action, semi-auto
    Glocks of all calibers - double-action only
    I could go on and on, but I won't.

    Double-action means that pulling the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. The Beretta and the Smith mentioned are usually single or double action capable, but double-action-only versions are also available (some law enforcement agencies require it for safety reasons).

    And to the subject: Sure, I've bribed cops and would do it again.
    ReplyDelete
  7. At the end of the day, it's a small price to pay for the freedoms! You pay a little, you go. In the states you get pulled over constantly and you can bet your gonna pay hundreds, even thousands. I live in a small town in AZ where we have a heavily armed and some-what corrupt police force who have a tendency to use excessive force. They want everyone in the system from city counsel members to the guy working the counter at circle K. One of the new favorites is the DUI's, which if your lucky you may pay a minimum of $10,000 for the experience. The system is not set up to help people or rehabilitate them. It's strictly accounting, the more you have, the more they can take. One mistake and they can ruin your life. The system is just as corrupt as these so-called third world countries. So much for Serve and Protect. At least in a foreign country you stand a better chance of being treated fairly from an accounting perspective.
    ReplyDelete
  8. BIGUNS
    I have had the problem in the past and found out that offering to pay the fine on the spot solves the problem quickley so you can just go on and enjoy the rest of your trip.
    But most recently during my travel I was nabbed by a road block of foot and bicycle police looking for a bit of cash which I handled differently. I started out quite friendly explaining to the officers that if it was not for me vacationing in their country they would not have any money at all since this particular country was supported by tourism. But they did not really want to hear that and continued to try to hand me a summons. Well to make a long story short after just continually laughing at them and re telling them about the tourism I finally just drove away laughing at them. Looking in the mirror I could see them not knowing what to do and also a few of them laughing also. I am not sure if I would recommend this since I think that since I got biguns I was just lucky enough to pull it off. I really would hate to have seen the trouble I could have ended up with shuld they have attempted to chase me down with their bicycles.
    One last thing, it was mentioned that in our country you would find yourself in jail if you attempted to bribe a cop, well that is only of recent times thanks to the video systems keeping close watch on the officers, remember in the past it was quite easy to bribe especially if you were a good looking woman.
    ReplyDelete
  9. Actually, Glocks are only semi-double-automatics. The hammer is only partially cocked when a round is chambered, but not fully (not enough to cause a misfire in case of malfunction).

    The others are true double-actions, but there's a big disadvantage to double-action semi-auto handguns: the first round fired requires much more force on the trigger than the subsequent rounds, which is bad for accuracy. They also have an extra lever, a decocking lever, to deal with.

    I recommend the Springfield XD instead. It's a true single-action handgun, so all trigger pulls are the same (and not too heavy). The controls are simple, just the slide lock and takedown lever. There's a chamber loaded indicator and a striker cocked indicator, both of which can be felt in the dark. And finally, there's three safeties: a trigger safety (like the Glock's), a grip safety (like on a 1911), and an internal drop safety.
    ReplyDelete
  10. While with an American friend who lives in Russia we were stopped for who knows what. Our friend told the 'officer' that we had only $10 US Dollars. The officer said he would accompany us to the nearest ATM to retrieve enough money to pay his fine. He literally got in his vehicle and followed us to the ATM!
    ReplyDelete

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