On Dec. 5, 2012 at around noon while traveling through Santiago in my rental car from Sosua on my way to the Santo Domingo airport, I was stopped by what apeared to be an armed police officer. He asked me for my drivers licence and registration. Upon seeing my California drivers licence he asked me for my passport which I also gave him. He told me he stopped me because I had run a traffic light a few lights back and he was alerted to stop me. The cop told me that because my car was not equipped with a fire extigusher it was going to be impounded and I would have to take a taxi home. He also told me that the fine would be 4000-5000 pesos. He then asked to sit in the passenger seat and we spent what seemed like a half hour dicussing what we were going to do. He repeatedly gave me a speech about how low the saleries for Policeman are in the DR. He also seemed interested in my GPS. He started grilling me about what I do for a living. He made many phone calls on a private cell phone reporting his progress with me and not the police phone strapped to his waist. Finally I told him I worked for the US Government and that I was going to call the US embassy in Santo Domingo. He then seemed willing to accept the $20 USD I had offered him earlier. I handed him the money and he returned my documents and he left the car. A few blocks ahead I observed other cops pulling what looked like rental cars over apperantly doing the same to them as what had been done to me. I missed my turn out of town and did not want to go past these corrupt cops again for fear I would be stoped again. Fortunately my ipad had loaded Santiago street maps and I took back streets out of town. I was woried this would repeat again driving through Santo Domingo. I got lost in SD but did not encounter any corrupt cops.
If I report this to the US embassy and the Santiago Police department will it serve any usefull purpose.
If I report this to the US embassy and the Santiago Police department will it serve any usefull purpose.