Back in Mexico. Flew into Cancun and drove down to Bacalar last night. Got jacked around by local Policia in Felipe Carrillo Puerto when we got pulled over for who-knows-what (Gringo in a no-gringo zone probably) and the overly-friendly officer told us that we were speeding even though we were driving most reasonably and his truck lacked radar but it was ok because we could just pay him the 1200 peso “fine” (about $60USD) right there and go on our way. But having learned from past experience, we told him to just write the ticket and we’d come back to take care of it in court. He tried a few times to get us to just hand the cash to him but when we kept insisting that he just write the ticket he finally told us to drive slower and left. No idea how fast he was even pretending that we were going but I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t a 1200 peso fine regardless. And had we given him the cash the court would never have seen even a bit of it.
The corruption is still problematic here but if you stand up to them they usually drop it because if their bosses find out they can get fired now and lose that lucrative income stream.
There are different beats. Some are more lucrative than others and the Mexican municipal police bid for them and 'buy them'. It's not an officially recognized practice but it happens. Transito de Estado is usually more professional and more honest.
ReplyDeleteUntil you get one that gets pissed and caps your ass for NOT paying you... sigh
ReplyDeleteYou tip your servers in the restaurant, don't you? I suspect the same logic applies here. Waiters don't make enough in wages to survive, they rely on tips. Nobody in Mexico makes a decent wage, so of course they are going to seek out any kind of supplementary income.
ReplyDelete