BajaNomad

Baja Cops

Osprey - 6-14-2009 at 11:16 AM

City Cops/Country Cops and OONAPAFA


Had to take a quick run to San Lucas yesterday and when I turned on to Mex. 1 (about 6 miles from my village) I came upon a cop needing a ride.

After he got in the car he told me he lived just down the road at Campamento but he worked in Miraflores, a few kilometers south.

We talked a little about what a drag it was not to have a car but I seemed more bummed for him than he was. There are several reasons I usually stop for cops. A lot of them don’t have cars or trucks and have to hitch to get to and from work. A lot of country people in this part of Mexico show little respect for police – they lump them with “the authorities” so there’s a fair amount of fear in just that part. Then, of course there will be locals who stay clear of them for fear of having to pay a fee or fine for some failure to meet automobile and/or traffic standards.

It’s hot out there and while that little factoid might put a smile on the face of the motorists whizzing by, the cops must feel like they’re caught in some strange warped system where they are often called to serve and protect while they are underpaid and really underloved.

I can’t help but wonder how the scheduling works. If this young cop’s shift in Miraflores starts at 8 AM, for example, and he doesn’t get a ride until 10, do they mark him down as “late for work”? If he catches the very first ride at 6:30, do they let him take a nap in the back room for an hour or so? What if he doesn’t get a ride? He can’t stand out there in the heat all day!

What else is going on in my car while he’s riding cool and early in the back seat? What he doesn’t know is that I have no insurance. Also the car is not registered – it has been in the process of registration for many years with a civil union known as OONAPAFA. My wife and I have Mexican driver’s licenses and we are not wearing our seatbelts.

So I’m driving along wondering what he would do if I got on the pedal and pushed the speed up to way over the limit. Also, he saw my OONAPAFA sticker when he got in so he’s on his own about my lack of registration if we got stopped by a highway cop. Would the highway cop just give me a pass because I was giving a cop a ride to work? The cops around here are shifted around to different offices so in the last 14 years I’ve probably given a whole lot of them rides and they remember my cars, my beard, my name maybe. I feel good about that whole scenario.

I really can’t speak about big city or highway cops except to say that country cops seem pretty laid back while I suppose any cop in TJ has to have his wits about him every moment on the job because the position, the uniform puts him in a lot of danger.

We’ve all learned a lot from Cabo Ron and Gnukid about police but a lot of those posts just added salt to open wounds about all the bad things happening in Baja California. Until we can all feel a little better about the general tenor of the Nomad board I’ll try to recount some of the good things that happen around my little place down south.

Russ - 6-14-2009 at 11:25 AM

Thanks Osprey! Always enjoy a GOOD story.

Osprey - 6-14-2009 at 12:47 PM

Well, I guess that didn't work. How about I report something local and nice about, say, kids or ponys or flowers?
Maybe I'll try just one more time. Our local cops found my dog, took my 100 pesos reward with a smile. They found my bike and brought it back, wouldn't take a reward. They chased a burglar through my yard (in the middle of the day) shooting the only pistol in town. I really didn't see them aiming the thing at him -- they might have just fired it to get him to stop but it didn't work. When they come around for collections if they have a sheet with the amount and the names I put down my name, then fill in $2,500 pesos. Whan I hand them my $100 pesos I tell them the story about the bartender and the tip glass. I'm not sure they get it. I dig country cops.

BajaGeoff - 6-14-2009 at 01:09 PM

Woooosh,

It sounds like your nephew had just bought the truck from someone else. Did he have paperwork on hand to prove the truck was in fact his and not the previous owner?

Just trying to figure out why the cops thought the truck might be stolen....

(edited because i misspelled Woooosh)

[Edited on 6-14-2009 by BajaGeoff]

Alan - 6-14-2009 at 01:14 PM

Keep on posting Osprey. I'm realizing it is pretty much the same naysayers that find something negative in every posting. I've just taken to shutting them out.

Great post on the cops. I'm still reminded of my encounter with a Rosarito cop who was moonlighting as a security guard at the dairy there. The bolts holding the axle on my boat trailer had come off on my way home from BoLA. This cop spent at least 4 hours with me and running back and forth getting tools and another jack from the dairy and helping me reinstall the axle. We got the axle back on but had to wait for morning for a tire shop to open. When he got off work in the morning he led me to the tire shop and would only take gas money since the tire shop was out of his way. The owner's of the dairy invited me and my kids to spend the rest of the night at their house. I thanked them but explained I would feel better sleeping in my camper and staying with my boat.

longlegsinlapaz - 6-14-2009 at 01:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
Well, I guess that didn't work.

Well, it STARTED OUT really good Osprey!:bounce: You get an A for effort in my book!:saint::biggrin:

DianaT - 6-14-2009 at 01:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
City Cops/Country Cops and OONAPAFA



I really can’t speak about big city or highway cops except to say that country cops seem pretty laid back while I suppose any cop in TJ has to have his wits about him every moment on the job because the position, the uniform puts him in a lot of danger.



Great Story Osprey---really liked it --as always, well thought out and well written.

---just a couple of our country cops---

Our Chief enjoying the last bike race in town



Enjoying one of the fishing tournaments



And Lere busy with official police business

Cypress - 6-14-2009 at 01:36 PM

Osprey, Enjoy your stories and take back half of the bad stuff I spouted out about you.:bounce:

Osprey - 6-14-2009 at 02:22 PM

Diane's photos made me want to highjack my own thread. Here's a little something about the pictures we didn't take.

The pictures you didn’t take.

When I talk to my Mexican friends about taking pictures I have to smile each time I say saco. When you think about it, on all the old cameras one would have to “take out the film” or “take out the snapshot” so the verb sacar fits perfectly.

Some people are very sentimental – they safeguard, store and protect mountains of memorabilia. When they see or touch these treasures, memories come flooding back in vivid detail for them to savor and cherish again and again. I envy those folks. About the best I can do is take pictures. I used to keep them in a big plastic storage bin; now they’re split between that bin, some small snapshot albums and my computer.

I must be a little sentimental too because I don’t remember throwing any of them away – that says something because I have hundreds and not all of them are photographic winners. I suppose part of the reason is they are easy to store, miniscule compared to memorabilia. I seem to remember all the people in the shots so there must have been some forethought about the setting when I took them. Maybe that just says that when I got drunk, I didn’t go looking for the camera.

Many of them are vacation-travel shots or fishing trips. The labels on the big manila envelopes tell the tall tale: People, Parties, Utah, Baja, All Fish, Animals. One might suppose a biographer could make something of the labels; say they are the sum and substance of my life. I don’t think so. Even the computer folder names like Mountains, Fishing, Flowers, Beaches, Family don’t tell the whole story even though you can easily find the mark where I retired. What I’m looking for when I walk back down memory lane are all the shots I didn’t take and why.

It’s almost as though I cherry picked my snapshot life to preserve, for some saddest of days, just the good, the grand, the days without worry or strife or guilt. Nobody could do it better – did I always have a camera at hand when I knew there were going to be snippets of balloons and ice cream and cartwheels and sleigh rides and made damn sure there were no cameras around near my jail cell, my hospital room or funerals.

Now, looking through stacks or folders I see lots of romping puppies and lively dogs – not one shot of Chipper bleeding all over the back seat of the car. Here’s Pinky and Delia, mugging for us, splashing the camera in the Lazy River at the water park; none at Delia’s interment. I wonder if these are the kinds of wafer-thin time machines the police find at the homes of those who lose it all, lose all control that fatal last time. Forensic investigators would say “These are just innocent candy for the mind. They are the guy’s Tinker Bell alter ego. He can’t show us what happened when there was no time for a camera or tell us now about all the times he would have broken any camera pointed his way.”

Maybe we are way more clever than we think. Maybe we all intuit things that happen that we don’t want to get into one of those envelopes. It wouldn’t matter much because if we did record something revealing or incriminating we would get that funny feeling about others seeing it – we would pull it out of the little pile, be done with it because we all know it never happened that way.

Woooosh - 6-14-2009 at 04:01 PM

There I deleted my post.

Cencorship by peer is no better than censorship by moderator or by gov't. Keep your heads in the sand. Support the police. Trust the police. Love the Police. They will love you right back- until they don't.

You posted a thread about the wonderful, kind, poor Mexican policeman hitch hiking you picked up while driving your illegal vehicle. How ghetto. And you mention "city cops" might be different- ya think?

[Edited on 6-14-2009 by Woooosh]

Osprey - 6-14-2009 at 04:33 PM

How Ghetto? Now I think mayber city boys are not the same as us country cousins. Seems like just a few seconds ago there wasn't much difference that I could feel thru the cyberwaves. How Ghetto? Wanna expand that little dicho?

LB - 6-14-2009 at 06:09 PM

A perfect Example of a beautiful story by Osprey (who I enjoy reading)
turned negative!!

The "Country Cops" make under $500.00 a month. I am familiar with the
Miraflores cop, often walking and hoping for a ride. His stories of his small
town might be interesting....who did he help and what has he seen.

Keep telling your stories Osprey...some of us love them!

Woooosh - 6-14-2009 at 07:56 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BajaGeoff
Woooosh,

It sounds like your nephew had just bought the truck from someone else. Did he have paperwork on hand to prove the truck was in fact his and not the previous owner?

Just trying to figure out why the cops thought the truck might be stolen....

(edited because i misspelled Woooosh)

[Edited on 6-14-2009 by BajaGeoff]


My Nephews truck was all in order. I insist on it. He had the current registration that matched his name, insurance and the truck plates.

The masked no-name tage idiots at the checkpoint said they had a "tip" about his truck from a "witness", but two of the plate numbers were different from his and the truck model was different. Even still, they arrested him and impounded the truck. With his laptop and nice clothes they thought they had caught someone else and they were celebrating. (There aren't many men in college in Mexico and they figure the smart kids work for the narcos).

He was interrogated at the station. Their "tip"went back to well before he bought the truck- so he wrote a statement. They had a newspaper reporter photograph him against that TJ police banner we see on the news.

He used his one call from Jail to call the previous owner of the truck so he could come to TJ to clear it up (next time I told him to call our lawyer and tell the lawyer who to call). The man was nice enough to drive from Mexicali the next morning. When he arrived they photographed him too and both were released with comment or apology. They didn't have the right truck to begin with.

Woooosh - 6-14-2009 at 08:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
How Ghetto? Now I think mayber city boys are not the same as us country cousins. Seems like just a few seconds ago there wasn't much difference that I could feel thru the cyberwaves. How Ghetto? Wanna expand that little dicho?


I'm so sorry. I meant "baja ghetto".

Driving an illegal vehicle while giving a cop a ride (all along hoping the cop won't find out its illegal) is ghettto. Or do you folks down there pay the mordidas and think that is cute and cultural too? You do it- you own it.

Osprey - 6-15-2009 at 05:58 AM

Your hipspeak is almost as bad as some of the pilotspeak. My car is legal. Always has been. Ju know nothing about OONAPAFA? I don't pay very much mordida because I don't get between that situation and my pocket and because I live on the thin money edge like most people in this village. I help the police when I can because they help me. You, my man, need a vacation in the country or a ticket out of your own personal real or mental Dodge. Chill (is that still innercity? Just saying...)

Pescador - 6-15-2009 at 06:07 AM

Well Osprey, again we think along similar lines. In our small village I make it a point to get to know the local police and after talking to them and finding out they make 3000 to 4000 pesos a month I know why their lifestyle is the way it is. I suppose I was being self serving in the beginning when I took fish to them and was hoping for a little extra bit of surveilence when I was not around, but later when I got to know the families and relatives, I found a genuine liking for most of them. I have relatives in the United States who became policemen because of the power that comes with the position and they wore their badge with what one could only call a "flair of authority". In Mexico, I see much less of that and while I have had the "little bite" and gamesmanship of "paying a ticket in person", I generally do not see the personalities as their stateside brothers.
So the other day a couple of peope had parked by the boat ramp in a jumble of cars and trailers, and three of these were in areas that were deemed incorrect. When I noticed them writing tickets to put on the windshield, I asked why I had not received one (not that I really wanted one, I was just trying to clarify), I was told, with a shy smile, that the others needed to learn how to park their trucks and trailers as well as I had.
Another time one of the policemen whom I had given a really big yellowtail to, came by and said that his wife had sent him over for a second one. I laughed and said then he really needed to buy a panga so that he could send his wife out and she could get her own. This particular guy was always very good at asking for lots of things but after that he took whatever was given in good spirit and never personally asked me for anything else.
The Federales, however, are much closer in stature and social position to their northern brothers, so perhaps it is buy another glimpse into a lifestyle and culture that we are able to occasioally peer into.

larryC - 6-15-2009 at 07:49 AM

We have a sinilar situation here in BoLA, the cops are not liked by the locals but are expected to do the dangerous work for little pay and no respect. So a group of us gringos had a meeting with the comandante and asked how we could help them combat the growing problem of breakins that occur around here. They suggested being more watchful of your neighbors house, call them if we saw any suspicious activity, etc etc, the normal stuff. After the meeting, I was talking to one of the officers and and I asked where they live during their 4 day shift here in Bahia, ( most are from either San Quintine, or Ensenada) so he showed me where they live and sleep during their off hours. It was depressing to say the least. 3 people sleep in an 8x10 room with no windows. Their refer had died a month or so ago so no refrigeration, one small 2 burner stove in the hallway to cook their meals on. No A/C at all so in the summer months it must really be miserable. The bathroom facilities were equally lacking, The shower consists of a pvc pipe sticking out of the wall with no hot water, not too big a deal in the summer months but in the winter must really be tough.
To make a long story short a group of us got together and started rounding up some stuff to make their living conditions better. To date we have acquired a small travel trailer with 3 beds, 2 A/C units to install in their office and in the trailer, an electric water heater, an apartment sized refer some spot lights for their vehicles, plus some cash donations so we can hire a local to install and hook up the plumbing and electical stuff.
The benefits of this showing of respect has been positive, and we hope it will continue. The police lost the respect of the people for a reason, but maybe that can be won back through kindness and caring. We'll see.
Larry

rpleger - 6-15-2009 at 09:04 AM

Osprey....thanks for this thread...I also have generally had good experiences with local police...I support the Mulegé police 100%...

Martyman - 6-15-2009 at 09:46 AM

I gave a ride to a young soldier who needed to get to a drug/gun checkpoint. He was a nice young man from Chihuahua who wanted to tell me about the ranchero music he loved. When we got to the military stop and the back door opened and he got out, all the hard burro looks went to smiles and they waved us through with a pasa adelante.

shari - 6-15-2009 at 09:51 AM

Larry, that is BRILLiANT... good for you. Lack of understanding is generally the problem and I love how you got in there and learned first hand about their living conditions which obviously will reflect in their work. We are always willing to help out with teams, under priveledged kids, schools etc. but often overlook others who may need our help.

It's a shame your cops arent local like ours. Sometimes we get a commandante from another village, but the cops are usually young folks from here who cant find work...dont want to be fishermen or waitresses. We know them, know their families and they know who is who in the town and what the problems are, who the hotheads are, who gets too drunk etc., which vehicles arent from here, who the ratas are etc. We love and respect them and help them do their job as well as treat them to something nice every once in awhile....fish, cookies, soda...whatever.

They give the visitors a break and know that they dont know where all the little stop signs are etc. so just give them a warning and usually escort them to our place. They sing to the lady visitors and love getting their pictures taken! We have their home numbers in case of emergency and they are always willing to listen to concerns and respond.

here is the smiley comandante with Shipwreck Sarah.

Udo - 6-15-2009 at 08:35 PM

Jorge y pescador, my sincerest appreciations for your heartfelt post, and to Jorge for finally posting a real life story. Yours really put a tear in my eye...really!
Cops are people too!

T J cop story

John M - 6-15-2009 at 09:16 PM

it was a few years ago, but...

My daughter & I were taken to the TJ hospital, in a TJ ambulance as the result of a traffic accident. My wife (driver of our car) got broadsided at an intersection where the stop sign had been knocked down. Clearly her fault.

Due to insurance issues (our fault) she was taken to the TJ jail.

After we had been preliminarily treated at the hospital I spotted a cop having a cup of coffee and asked him if he spoke English. He did. He then offered to take my daughter and me to the jail to figure out what to do next. He woudln't take a "tip" for his courtesy.

At the jail, another cop drove me to the body shop where I got the other guys car taken care of. Then this second cop drove me back to the jail where my wife, daughter, son, and daughter's girl friend were all waiting.

Somehow the justice system, for better or worse, seemed to work in our favor, no bribes, no threats, no untoward problems to deal with. We learned a little insurance lesson at the same time!

John M

[Edited on 6-16-2009 by John M]

ArroyoTaxi - 6-15-2009 at 09:25 PM

Osprey - do you mind explaining oonapafa for those of us who spend less time on this board? thx

larryC - 6-16-2009 at 06:10 AM

Shari
Thanks for the kind words, our villages are pretty similar to each other, I'm just not sure why none of the locals here are not recruited to do any police work. Maybe that will change in the future.
Larry

Osprey - 6-16-2009 at 06:19 AM

Taxi, it's a Mexican Civil Union, a non-governmental establishment which helps poor people in Mexico legally register cars. They (and all the rest of us), the poor Mexicans, need transportation and they face at least 3 daunting problems:
1. the cost and hassle to import
2. strange and ever changing rules about what kind of car, what year
3. where ever in Mexico they might live and work, La Systema for proper registration.
OONAPAFA helps people do that at a cost they can barely afford but they get legal plates. Mexican law enforcement would rather they go away so there is an ongoing battle about authority which often makes union members feel subject to intimidation. So it's drive an old beater, feel a little intimidation or walk (if you're not too old or infirm to get around).

Pescador - 6-16-2009 at 06:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
Taxi, it's a Mexican Civil Union, a non-governmental establishment which helps poor people in Mexico legally register cars. They (and all the rest of us), the poor Mexicans, need transportation and they face at least 3 daunting problems:
1. the cost and hassle to import
2. strange and ever changing rules about what kind of car, what year
3. where ever in Mexico they might live and work, La Systema for proper registration.
OONAPAFA helps people do that at a cost they can barely afford but they get legal plates. Mexican law enforcement would rather they go away so there is an ongoing battle about authority which often makes union members feel subject to intimidation. So it's drive an old beater, feel a little intimidation or walk (if you're not too old or infirm to get around).


When the person gets stopped on the highway they usually show their OONAPAFA license rather than their normal Mexican drivers license. Instead of plates they are issued a sticker that goes in the windshield with big OONAPAFA letters. This also works if you choose to sell a used car down here and the person can register the car and use it with the sticker as long as they can show that the title is clear. When I first heard about this, I figured there must be some real abuses to this system which is why the federales must go nuts about it.

Dave - 6-17-2009 at 03:29 AM

I've only seen one car with ONAPAFA stickers and that belongs to a white guy who just moved up here from Cabo. He says he pays 300 pesos a year. He's already been hassled by the local ratones so I'd expect they'll soon get tired of playing and impound his car.

Osprey - 6-17-2009 at 12:29 PM

Ah, Dave "The Authority" chimes in. Thanks Dave. I can never remember the sequence for the penalties: first the public humility thing, then the public caneing, then the waterboarding, the beheading, "Then" they take the car. Yeah. That's it.

DENNIS - 6-17-2009 at 01:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
Also the car is not registered – it has been in the process of registration for many years with a civil union known as OONAPAFA.



There's a similar agency up here called ANAPROMEX. My worker has two cars with old California plates that arn't imported and have the sticker on the window. The local authorities are screaming about it and threaten to get them nullified but, never do. It must be a federal permit for the needy.
It's a one time charge for the permit, 500 Ps.
That's all I know about it.

Dave - 6-17-2009 at 02:06 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
Ah, Dave "The Authority" chimes in. Thanks Dave. I can never remember the sequence for the penalties: first the public humility thing, then the public caneing, then the waterboarding, the beheading, "Then" they take the car. Yeah. That's it.


Rhapsodize all you want about your small town cops but up here it's a different world. Primo Tapia cops are pure thieving pigs. Gringos don't normally experience this as they specialize in targeting the locals. Threatening to impound a car is usually good for 100-500 pesos. The cops do whatever/whenever they want. They are terrorists.

tripledigitken - 6-17-2009 at 02:11 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Quote:
Originally posted by Osprey
Ah, Dave "The Authority" chimes in. Thanks Dave. I can never remember the sequence for the penalties: first the public humility thing, then the public caneing, then the waterboarding, the beheading, "Then" they take the car. Yeah. That's it.


Rhapsodize all you want about your small town cops but up here it's a different world. Primo Tapia cops are pure thieving pigs. Gringos don't normally experience this as they specialize in targeting the locals. Threatening to impound a car is usually good for 100-500 pesos. The cops do whatever/whenever they want. They are terrorists.


Begs the question, what is so good about life in Baja Norte to put up with that? It sure as hell isn't the lobster dinners at Puerto Nuevo.

Ken

JESSE - 6-17-2009 at 02:18 PM

OONAPAFA = Not want to pay Taxes

Dave - 6-17-2009 at 02:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by tripledigitken
Begs the question, what is so good about life in Baja Norte to put up with that? It sure as hell isn't the lobster dinners at Puerto Nuevo.

Ken


Locals means Mexicans. They have homes and families here. Where are they gonna go...La Jolla?

Now that the new mayor has declared tourists 'off limits' life is pretty good for gringos.

Osprey - 6-17-2009 at 02:46 PM

Jesse, better you should have said "Up North Here" before that statement. That's not the only reason down south. We can't just walk across the street and see a broker. Way down here it's hit and miss -- you can pay $500 dollars for a plate that's not good on highways. You can pay $1,500 and get a plate that's no good at all. At times you can't import cars with Js (japan), white cars, old cars, new cars, Bob's car, this car, that car. I start almost all my posts now with "Down South Here" for good reason -- you know rules change in a matter of blocks not kilometers. You walk around here pointing fingers at poor old Mexicans and acuse them of being cheap you'll be doing your good reputation some damage pal.

tripledigitken - 6-17-2009 at 02:48 PM

So the "thieving pig" policeman cut you some slack but still manage to make your neighbors life miserable. Still have to wonder how the positives outweigh the negatives that a few of the residents of Baja Norte complain about on a regular basis.

arrowhead - 6-17-2009 at 04:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by tripledigitken
So the "thieving pig" policeman cut you some slack but still manage to make your neighbors life miserable. Still have to wonder how the positives outweigh the negatives that a few of the residents of Baja Norte complain about on a regular basis.


Speaking of that, I just read an article in AFN today that TJ cops have set up a traffic stop at 2nd and Constitucion -- right dead center of the tourist zone -- and are pulling over gringo cars and shaking them down. According to the comments from the readers, they managed to find a spot where the surveillance cameras can't see them.

http://afntijuana.info/blog/?p=11258

Isn't there a person who posts here from TJ involved in promoting tourism? Maybe he can check it out.