Police stop . . . take my stero please
Replies: 16 - Last Post: Nov 21, 2012 6:59 PM Last Post By: michoacan
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Police stop . . . take my stero please
As a registered nurse I do alot of volunteer work for various free clinics in AZ and Mexico. A friend of mine invited me to a clinic in Rocky Point that a local church was giving. I arrived Friday night (last weekend) and we had the clinic from 8am to 6pm Saturday. Sunday morning I went to church, to be part of the group (I'm not really a regular church person) . . .anyway I ran into one of my patients and asked her if she would like to have lunch with me . . . so we are going to lunch and the city police pulls us over. He tells me it is a $200 fine for speeding and another $100 for the girl. He doesn't take credit cards . . . the girl is crying and he says to me, "How long will it take you to take that stereo out of your car?" Needless to say my four hour drive home back to AZ was without music. Nice place Mexico.1
You mean US$300, or $pesos? Either way, the first couple of demands are just opening offers in what is expected to be an elaborate negotiation, full of wild claims and plenty of smiles and declarations of eternal friendship. I don't know how it works so close to the border, but I'd assume it's not too far out of whack from everywhere else: speeding ought to cost five or ten bucks unless you were going really, really fast, were drunk or high, or the girl was under age....or maybe all three.Talk to some of your native Mexican friends about the going rates before you head down there next time. It sure isn't as expensive as what you paid.
Mark
PS: Not to butt into your business, but it's worth wondering whether the girl was part of the scam. Just saying.
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Sorry to hear that. Definitely a frustrating thing about Mexico.5
Well, I suppose it could have been worse, an official could have asked to see your visa for working in Mexico.7
Just ask for a ticket and pay it at the police station. These cops are mainly in areas with lots of foreigners - near the U.S. border and in resort towns. I have had such encounters in Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco and Cancun but not in Central Mexico where I have spent 99% of my time.8
Well, let me give an example of the other side of "cop stop" stories. Two years ago we were in Mazatlan and on New Year's Eve I ran a red light on the main drag. There was a traffic cop right behind me and he, rightfully, pulled me over and wrote me a ticket for $200MN. As is customary, he was going to yank my Driver's License and I could retrieve it the next day by paying the fine at the police station. We were leaving for the states the next morning so I asked him if I could just pay him the 200 pesos. He refused, and after 20 minutes of "negotiating," he finally agreed--and I gave him the 200 (with nothing extra as a bribe/service charge) and went on my way. I have no idea if the traffic cop turned in the money at the station, but the point is: I ran a red light; I deserved a ticket; the fine was reasonable; the cop did me a big favor at no additional charge.Edited by: dlglidden
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#8: No corrupt police in Puerto Vallarta??? Tell that to my two friends who were shaken down by the police in P.V.12
Last year I was stopped by motorway police "hovering" just before the Cancun airport entry where you return hire cars They pulled me over and claimed I was speeding. One officer stayed in their car whilst the other took my licence then posed one hand on his cars roof the other on his pistol butt.The fine was 200US$
I then told him what my travel company had said to say which was I had to phone the British Embassy. This produced a noticable shake of the policecar roof. I made a non existant call suposedly to the Embassy and the fine dropped to 100US$.
I then held the phone out to the policeman and said thhey wanted to talk to him.
The fine dropped to 20US$ which I paid just to get going.
As we pulled away there were three other rental cars pulled over all "in negotiation" with traffic police.
On return to the UK I wrote to the Mexican Ambassador in London pointing out the bad effect these policemen have on tourism as its a good dinner party "story"
Needless to say I didn't get a reply.
I would add ,though, in all our travels around the Yucatan right down to the Guatemala border no other policeman asked for a backhander and were like the army checkpoint soldiers all polite and very helpfull even if as at one point I was travelling the wrong way down a one way street!
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#17 not only saved some money, but got a better story out of the deal.The remaining question involves how eagerly the police sprang at your twenty bucks. If eager, that means you're still paying way over the odds. I'm still guessing that they would have taken US$5, but I've not driven a rental car in Cancun--just motorcycles almost everywhere else you could think of.
Mark
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I gotta admit after spending decades "hearing" about traffic stops and mordida in México yours is the very first to not detail the circumstance or file a denial of the charge.Mind doing me a favor? Thanks.
What kind of vehicle and color was the cop driving? Color of uniform? It would help others to positively not repeat your odyssey.
