Yeah, to those who it personally hasn't happened to yet, stick around long enough and it too will happen to you. Whatever you do, I'd advise you not to take these personal tales being told in this thread too lightly. It JUST happened to me in Santo Domingo last weekend, turning left off of Expreso 27 de Febrero and Av. Maximo Gomez.
I was driving late at night coming back from Av. Venezuela, headed to my hotel in Gazcue. After waiting for the light to change to green, I calmly made my left turn onto Maximo Gomez where we ran into a police checkpoint. They already had another car pulled over. I don't recall seeing a police car, but do remember seeing a couple of police motorcycles (blue lights, etc.). We were not speeding, nor swerving, nor playing loud music. No danger to anyone, nor public nuisance. Just ready to go to bed really.
(Quick background, I speak really good Spanish (not perfect) and I have been traveling to the DR and several Latin American countries for close to a decade. This was my 3rd time driving in the DR, but I pretty much knew my way around. On this trip, I was accompanying 2 friends who live in the same US city as me, but are originally from Spain and Jamaica, respectively. They were newbies to the DR, 1st time in the country. This is what they experienced. Great PR.)
So, we are waved over to the curb by the policemen who has physically blocked advancing down Maximo Gomez. I say nothing. He asks for documents for the car. I oblige. He says that I was pulled over at 3:30 am in the night for "driving without a seatbelt and that the fine would be 2500 pesos at the police station." I say, okay let's go to the station. I immediately stop my Jamaican friend from speaking in English. The officer begins to talk to my Spanish friend, then opens the backdoor and lets himself in and tells me to drive. He stops me a few blocks down on Maximo Gomez, maybe right near the US Embassy.
The shakedown talk begins. According to him, we could just pay the "fine" to him and not have to go to the station. My 2 friends are more worried about getting busted (for nothing) than the shakedown money. I then just say, give him 1000 pesos and that's it. The police officer, I swear to God (something I usually refrain from doing), counters by saying that 1000 pesos isn't enough to split among the 4 officers, and that he needs to take back more. We give him our "final" counter of 1500 pesos or we'll just drive to the police station back down the road and settle it there. He reluctantly accepts it, returns the car's documents, and jumps out of the car, still just a few blocks away from the intersection where he pulled us over, and walks back up looking for the next unfortunate victim.
I haven't posted on this website in years, but have lurked. I figured the board would benefit from this experience. This occurred on the night of Thursday, Dec. 27th or Friday morning, the 28th at approx. 3:30 -4:00 am.
Next time, I will not stop and if they persist to chase, I will calmly continue to drive right down the malecon into the Jaragua or Intercontinental complex and handle it there. Sucks that these are decisions that have to be made when dealing with police in the DR.
Other than this, we had a great time and enjoyed the trek from Santo Domingo to Cabarete, by way of the new highway, through Nagua, Cabrera and Rio San Juan. I even ventured up into the campo to attend a baseball series played by some family friends. Sucks that this did happen, however.
Hope this helps someone.
