- Thread starter drisforme
- Start date
Stopped this afternoon by 2 cops at Sosua for money
Driving while gringo can be serious here, but a couple of Canadians I know were staying here for the first time this year after spending many winters in Costa Rica. They were stopped while driving a rental car in Santiago and were expecting to have to pay the "toll". However, before doing so, the gringo quickly asked the police for directions to where he wanted to go. It was difficult to understand due to the language barrier, so eventually the cop got in the car and drove with them to their destination with his colleague following. After that, the Canadians were happy to pay a propina!
When I get pulled over in my home country and get a big fine... it’s because I did something wrong. Fair enough.
I’ve also received a ticket here for a wrong turn. Fair enough.
But when stopped for having done nothing wrong and asked for a “propina” o “refresco”.... it’s a power play on their part, not an act that’s in any way proper. It’s thuggery.
Sorry, gorgon. There’s nothing moral or right about that. And should be grounds for immediate termination if caught.
i have been here probably as long as you have, and i have never been ordered to pay a propina. it has always been a suggestion, and nobody is going to do anything to you if you make it known that you only have fifty pesos.
i will take that any day over being pulled over by a cop in NYC who has a quota to fill, and who gives me a ticket for something i did not do. and, guess what? irony of ironies, but Dominicans in places like the Heights get more bogus tickets than anybody else..
maybe i need spiritual salvation, but i just cannot get to the level where i consider a broke ass cop hustling for a dollar to be this major moral issue.
They won't remember you when you need them and this is like negotiating with terrorists
maybe they won't remember you, but when i got into a spat with two Santiago blackshirts, i called a guy in POP ,who had given me his card, and told the storm trooper guy to talk with him. i was out of there in 30 seconds.
There is always a reason when I get pulled over in my home country and it is not for a shakedown, but something I did wrong. But the cops in the states are not paid well either but they know when they take the job it will be tight.
Justifying theft is not going to help them. When they decide need a new iPhone they won't be satisfied with $2.
A mugger with a weapon politely suggests you hand over your wallet or purse.
Your boss suggests that jeans are not appropriate of the office environment and suggests slacks.
A teacher or other authority figure compliments you on your appearance and suggests engaging in sex.
A DR official standing but a few feet from you explains it is hot and he is thirsty and hungry. He suggests you give him something to address those problems.
Do you see any difference? Suggestion or command, polite or not, all are people in power over you (perhaps only for a short while) whose suggestions could be interpreted as something more than a suggestion and one's freedom to make a choice is probably not really unfettered. In the moment most will see the negatives of not complying and without due consideration or the real ability to decline without implied consequence, feel that they really have only one choice they can make and that choice is not of their own volition.
Wrong is wrong. It is a slippery slope when we attempt to justify inappropriate conduct by people in authority because doing so is easier, more advantageous or not just not worth the risk of saying no.
Your boss suggests that jeans are not appropriate of the office environment and suggests slacks.
A teacher or other authority figure compliments you on your appearance and suggests engaging in sex.
A DR official standing but a few feet from you explains it is hot and he is thirsty and hungry. He suggests you give him something to address those problems.
Do you see any difference? Suggestion or command, polite or not, all are people in power over you (perhaps only for a short while) whose suggestions could be interpreted as something more than a suggestion and one's freedom to make a choice is probably not really unfettered. In the moment most will see the negatives of not complying and without due consideration or the real ability to decline without implied consequence, feel that they really have only one choice they can make and that choice is not of their own volition.
Wrong is wrong. It is a slippery slope when we attempt to justify inappropriate conduct by people in authority because doing so is easier, more advantageous or not just not worth the risk of saying no.
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Do not feed the stray dogs. Do not feed the corrupt police. Any advice to pay them a few bucks is terrible. They took the job knowing the pay. Any comparison to paying a ticket in USA is BS. Last ticket in USA was year 1999. I was guilty. Paid none in DR also. 2 accidents with motos running into my car with one a very bad one in La Vega. Had insurance and everyone was compensated. So if you are pulled over for a document check be legal and do not feed the strays.... Now if I want to visit the local Colonel and drop off a bottle of Johnny Black and a carton of smokes then that is my choice. Stand your ground. You get more respect that way...
Locking your car doors while driving...
Those who have not had an issue, will do whatever they feel comfortable doing.
Those who have had a squeegee person open their driver's door when payment for service refused was not immediately forthcoming, had the PN hop into your car to have a chat or having your purse/package removed from the back seat while at a red light are usually the ones who hence forth lock their doors.
Those who have not had an issue, will do whatever they feel comfortable doing.
Those who have had a squeegee person open their driver's door when payment for service refused was not immediately forthcoming, had the PN hop into your car to have a chat or having your purse/package removed from the back seat while at a red light are usually the ones who hence forth lock their doors.
Because they know what they are doing is something they can get punished or fired over.
cops in the states are not paid well? really? go buy yourself some back issues of Star Ledger, and see the kind of money the big earners at the Port Authority are making, with overtime. add to that the amount that is made unofficially, such as drug dealer money, in the form of tipoff money, and pocketing money from seizures, and you will see they do just fine.
ask Canadian cops why it is that they love to work the areas in Toronto with all the caribbean guys...
then we can start the moralizing, all over again. 200 pesos here, 100k dollars there.
So maybe it's best to go to the Comandante and offer him $100 dólares to get his phone number and hope he will answer every time you need a favor? I wonder if you can call him for every shakedown too ?
Wolves single out and prey on the weak. Sharks select prey that mostly likely will not result in receiving an injury. The PN assume foreigners are good targets for graft because most are here for a short period and will not make a fuss because they do not wish to spend a lot of time in the company of the police and because most foreigners know that they cannot adequately deal with ongoing malfeasance in the time they have left or with the money they have readily available.
it does not work like that. i actually have the business card of a Comandante, with whom i play dominoes on a regular basis. we are not friends, because to me friendship is made of sterner stuff. however, i will stop by his house in the afternoon, and shoot the breeze with him. i am a guest at his house for things like his birthday party. we have a kinship, based on the fact that we are caribbean people. i do not have to buy friendship in this part of the world. if i do not show up for the game for 3 days, people are at my house checking to see if i am ok.
The risk of being fired doesn't stop some people from doing the wrong thing? I'm done here, I hope this is the silliest thing I see today.
there are people in this life who do not care about consequences of their actions. if they did, there would be no correctional facilities anywhere on earth.