Policia

I had an intersting encounter with the police yesterday which I would like to share with the board, maybe get some advice from other Expats living here on how I could better deal with the situation when (not if) it happens again. I was driving on 27 de Febrero in front of Centro de Cultura de Leon Jimenez with a couple of my friends from NY when they noticed that there were two guys following and pointing at us from a motorcycle. I looked back and saw that one of them had a nice pistol in his hand. The guy with the gun told me to pull over. At this point I'm thinking that this could be the police or some criminals, but I decided to pull over right no 27 where there are a lot of people praying that its safer. One of the cops showed me his police card and asked us all to get out of the jeep and started searching my friends and my jeep for guns. He asked me to show him all the papers which I did. Luckily I had everything prepared for just such an event. Also, I know someone in the police department who is a good friend of the general's so I got him on my cell phone and passed it on to the guy. About 10 minutes later, when he couldn't find anything thing wrong with our papers I got a call from my connection who spoke to the policeman and then told me to just give him 200 pesos for "gas" so we can get going. Well I told the guy that I am sorry but I do not have any money and that I'll give it to him later or something. This is the best part....this guy then proceeds to give me his name and phone number so I can call him when I have the money! Well we all left there pretty pissed off and my friends now have a nice story to tell when they get back to NY.

So now can someone please tell me what is the best way to deal with a situation like this? This time they were the police but who knows if next time they are some carjackers? What are we supposed to do when two gun weilding, unmarked men ask you to pull over? How could I have handeled this situation better, or what do you do when this happens to you?

Thanks,
Sonny.

Well thank you for all the comments, I really appreciate them. I am sick and tired of this shakedowns, especially with the firearms out. Now I know that its only a matter of time before this happens again and I think that thanks to this board we can really do something about it. Maybe we cannot vote for a better government but I want to do SOMETHING about this. As I mentioned before I happen to know someone who is close to a General. Since my family owns a factory in a Free Zone, I also have access to other higher level officials. Now I am not saying that I can solve all the problems for everyone, but I think that if we all help each other out with our connections then maybe the police will think twice before pulling over a foreigner to extort money. I think that its a baby step in the right direction, because I am tired of being taken for a ride! Please let me know what you guys think, I know the veterans here must be sick of this also, and if we continue to take it like its normal then we are as guilty of this corruption as the people who ask us for money. We all sit here and complain about the Dominicans, I think its time we took a look in the mirror. We have power ladies and gentlemen, and we should use it or be treated like sheep. I hope that I don't offend anyone, I need your help in this....together we can do something, maybe something small but something nonetheless.

Its ok, the general met with the guy already. He gave some weak excuse that I was driving with the music loud and had 5 people in my jeep. I found this hilarious because I have a stock system in my jeep and most people drive with the speakers of Madison Square Garden in their cars. Regardless, you are correct Aftab, you have to have protection over here, also its always good to keep your head down along with your music. Hey how about some Biryani....KC should be arriving today.