A foreign tourist identified as Nathan “N” has shared his troubling experience of alleged police corruption in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico. In a Facebook group, Nathan recounted how he and his wife were detained by a local police officer on charges of speeding, and the officer demanded 6,800 pesos to pay the fine on the spot.
Nathan described the incident, saying, “My wife and I just finished a trip to Baja. We loved it here… with one exception. We had rented a car and had several run-ins with the police in La Paz. This officer saw us traveling in the wrong direction and almost broke his neck trying to see inside our vehicle. He turned around, caught up to us, and claimed we were speeding (we weren’t).”
While driving at the speed limit, an officer pulled them over and asked for their license. Nathan’s wife began recording the encounter, prompting the officer to threaten to take Nathan to jail for recording an officer on duty, which the officer claimed was illegal in Mexico. Nathan’s wife sent the footage to a friend and deleted it from her phone, but the officer insisted on checking the deleted photos folder.
“My wife sent the photo to a friend, and she deleted it from her phone. He insisted that I check the deleted photos folder to be sure. We sat there awkwardly for a moment when he offered that I could pay my fine right there on the side of the road. He told me that my “fine” was 6,800 pesos. I said that I didn’t have that much cash on me, but that I would be more than happy to go to the station to pay my “fine.” He didn’t respond to that,” Nathan recounted.
Nathan refused to pay the bribe, insisting on official documentation to pay at the police station. Another driver then pulled over and began yelling at the officer, who eventually drove off without issuing any fine.
Nathan concluded his account by expressing gratitude for the kind people they met during their trip but questioned whether police corruption is a systemic problem in Mexico. He asked if reporting such incidents serves any purpose and received mixed responses from other users, some of whom shared similar experiences and recommended reporting to the proper authorities.
“At this point, other vehicles had passed by and could tell what was happening. Another vehicle was going in the other direction and stopped. The driver leaned out of the window and began yelling at the officer and informed him that he was taking pictures. The officer remained silent and got into his vehicle with his partner and told me to leave,” Nathan concluded.
Source: BCS Noticias
