Now the flashing lights aren't really a bad sign here. The police here always have their lights flashing, so I was hoping that maybe it was just a coincidence that they were behind us. But when they got on the loudspeaker and asked us to pull over, I knew it wasn't so.
The police made my friend get out of his car and checked his license and registration. In the next 20 minutes the policeman proceeded to search the trunk of the car and continued to talk with my friend. I had no idea what to do. Should I get out of the car, should I stay in. The police here aren't really the most trustworthy and they are quite intimidating in their bulletproof vests with their large guns, so I decided to stay put.
My friend came back to the car and told me that we needed to get money, which he had none of at the time. I racked my purse and came up with 100 pesos (which is only the equivalent of about $7). He payed the policeman and we were free to go. I'm not exactly sure what we were paying to get out of - other than driving down the street at night, but it was a lot less hassle to just give the man money and not have to worry anymore.
This brings me to the point of this post: the reason why Mexico has so many problems with crime. Why would you be afraid of doing something bad as long as you have the money to pay off the cop if you got caught? If the people enforcing the laws are more crooked than those they stop, how are you going to find justice?
Its a weird, messed up system but thats the way life is right now.
My Lesson of the Day: Never leave home without enough money to pay off the cop.
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1 comment:
Hi, mi first comment in your blog.
I agree with most of your comments and experiences but you are not telling what was the infraction commited by your friend.
I have been pull over by the police several times, some with justification some not, but in any of those cases I have to pay anything.
When I was wrong, I received a ticket and had to pay the sanction at the office of government.
in other ocasions, the police stopped me at night because I passed a red light, but they were saying a had drink alcohol (it is prohibited to drink alcohol and drive here in merida, that is very usual with boys here) well, I said: Proved it, the have to let me go with a ticket only, they had no way to prove that I was drinking alcohol, I was drinking "horchata" :).
I have never had to pay bribes, if a made a mistake I must recibe a punishment, in the other hand it should never be a problem being stoped by the police.
The problem with the corruption with the police is the people getting away just giving money.
I think your friend should be ashamed for what he did.
That is not a good way of behaving here in Mexico.
Well, just my 6 cents. :)
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