Traffic cops in Mexico are not always the wrongdoers
http://www.mexidata.info/id559.html
By Nancy Conroy
August 1, 2005
Many who have lived in Baja California, or visited Mexico by car, have paid off a cop at one time or another. Usually the gringos complain that the
cop shook them down and extorted money. Although the practice doubtlessly occurs, Mexicans and longtime American residents are often baffled when
tourists complain about ?mordida? payoffs.
The Mexicans frequently become quite angry, saying gringos are the problem because they are the ones offering the bribes. And while no one denies
there are corrupt cops out there, who shake down tourists and falsify accusations, in many cases the gringo is guilty, he offers the cop a bribe, and
then cries ?extortion.?
To justify the extortion claim, the gringo usually says the cop threatened him, or insinuated a bribe was necessary. In many cases, the supposed
?threat? or ?insinuation? is actually the result of the visitor not knowing what happens during a routine Mexican traffic stop, along with a
misunderstanding of what the policeman is actually saying.
Step one is to determine whether you actually did what the cop is accusing you of doing. If you ran a red light, were speeding, or passed in a
no-pass zone, then the policeman was justified in pulling you over.
Paradoxically, if you are guilty of a minor infraction you are now in a safer situation. The fact that you are guilty means this is a routine traffic
stop, and there is no evidence (so far) that your cop is crooked.
If you did not commit the infraction, then yes you could be dealing with a bad cop.
But assuming you are guilty, the next thing that usually happens is the cop states you must now go to the police station or appear before a judge.
Most gringos interpret this as a threat, like you are being arrested.
Terrifying images of Mexican jails, beatings and impounded cars immediately dance through the motorist?s mind. However, the statement that you must
go to the station to pay the fine is actually not a threat at all. The cop is correctly telling you the next step in the traffic stop procedure, and
by informing the motorist of this fact he is doing his job properly.
Besides imagined threats, tourists often misinterpret statements as threats or insinuations. A Baja California tourist complained on a website about
Mexican police saying, ?Just to the north of Loreto, while heading south, I was stopped and informed I'd be facing a ?passing in a no-passing zone.?
Mixed in the first few sentences was the fact that I'd have to pay the fine in Santa Rosalia, now 115 miles to the north. This was the obvious
?mordida? come-on.?
Not necessarily.
If he was stopped on the open road, out in the vast expanses of the Baja California peninsula, it is possible that the nearest district police station
was indeed located in Santa Rosalia. So this may have been another case of interpreting a routine statement as a bribery hint.
But even if it was a ?come-on,? one should refuse to take the bait.
As the sequence usually goes, the gringo next asks, ?How much will the fine be?? The cop may mumble he doesn?t know, or say that the judge will
decide, or he quotes an amount.
Now here?s the critical part.
The cop will almost never ask outright for a bribe. He might stall, stammer or describe possible horrific consequences for your traffic offense.
Usually the offender interprets this hemming and hawing as a bribe insinuation, and offers to pay the fine on the spot or slips the cop some cash.
But in Mexico this is called suborning a police officer and it is illegal.
If you would not offer cash to a policeman in the U.S., then why do values change when you cross the border? As well, it is illogical to claim
extortion when it was you who offered to pay.
Correctly one should be polite to the cop, apologize for the infraction, ask for the ticket, and agree to accompany him to the police station to
process the fine. Write down the officer?s name and badge number, in case there are any irregularities in treatment. And if you are terrified, when
possible call someone to accompany you.
While going to the police station may be frightening and inconvenient, it is the correct thing to do. At the station a prescribed fine will be
imposed (that a judge might reduce), with whichever amount probably totaling less than the bribe you would have paid.
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