Wynn said:
As noted, the actual police can be a more common issue. Mexico, Mozambique…
True, usually if you’re an obvious white foreigner, they leave you alone though.
Wynn said:
As noted, the actual police can be a more common issue. Mexico, Mozambique…
True, usually if you’re an obvious white foreigner, they leave you alone though.
In plenty of places, being an obvious foreigner from a first-world country is what paints a target on your back instead. They won’t leave you alone until you pay them off.
@Orion
That has been my experience in both Mexico and Mozambique. Both are notorious for corrupt police who prey on tourists. Usually just after a bribe - payment of a made-up ‘fine’. There is sort of a sliding scale of corruption and need (many police are poorly paid if at all) and approaches to revenue generation. Zimbabwe police had ad-hoc $1 roadblocks for years. There’s apparently one rogue cop in Namibia (surely dealt with by now) who enforces some laws (like headlamps must be on in daytime) but only on tourists, whom he then ‘fines’. But then, the police in many small towns in the USA are essentially revenue-generating speed traps. Councils (local government) in the UK will create Catch-22 traffic systems that use cameras and then fine thousands of motorists a day for infractions that are almost impossible to avoid at busy times (bus lanes, yellow box intersections, etc.) Most of this is focused on drivers - since by definition they have money.
Challenge the ‘police officers’ to come arrest you. Call their bluff.
Blair said:
Challenge the ‘police officers’ to come arrest you. Call their bluff.
Ok, I am now in Egyptian jail, what’s the next step?
Blair said:
Challenge the ‘police officers’ to come arrest you. Call their bluff.
Ok, I am now in Egyptian jail, what’s the next step?
Don’t bend over for the soap.
Drive away.
Stop looking like an easy mark.