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Udo
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6364
Registered: 4-26-2008
Location: Black Hills, SD/Ensenada/San Felipe
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Mood: TEQUILA!
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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!
Udo
Youth is wasted on the young!
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John M
Super Nomad
Posts: 1924
Registered: 9-3-2003
Location: California High Desert
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T J cop story
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]
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ArroyoTaxi
Junior Nomad
Posts: 88
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Los Barriles
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Osprey - do you mind explaining oonapafa for those of us who spend less time on this board? thx
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larryC
Super Nomad
Posts: 1499
Registered: 8-11-2008
Location: BoLA
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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
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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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).
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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| 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.
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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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.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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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.
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DENNIS
Platinum Nomad
Posts: 29510
Registered: 9-2-2006
Location: Punta Banda
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| 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.
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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.
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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| 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.
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tripledigitken
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4848
Registered: 9-27-2006
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| 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
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JESSE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3370
Registered: 11-5-2002
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OONAPAFA = Not want to pay Taxes
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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| 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.
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Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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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.
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tripledigitken
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4848
Registered: 9-27-2006
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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.
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arrowhead
Banned
Posts: 912
Registered: 5-5-2009
Member Is Offline
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| 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.
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