More crime targeting tourists reported in Mexico..

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

There is a story in the New York Post which claims that a retired NYPD detective was repeatedly strong armed by corrupt Mexican police officers while he was vacationing at at timeshare with his family.

NYPD cop robbed by Mexican cops in Cancun - NYPOST.com

[Tia Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tia]

Not good news for tourism in Mexico

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Crazy! The police are as bad as the criminals.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

The Mexican police have a long history of reputed corruption. That's part of the reason I would not rent a car there, even if it makes it back on to my "willing to go to" list.

Last time I went, the family on line in front of me was getting shaken down by Customs agents because they were traveling with a teenage friend of their son's. I'm sure it didn't cost them too much, but allowing that kind of abuse of power is a mistake for any country trying to promote tourism.

[bigfrank Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close bigfrank]

I hope it was not Scott.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

The Mexican police have a long history of reputed corruption. That's part of the reason I would not rent a car there, even if it makes it back on to my "willing to go to" list.

Last time I went, the family on line in front of me was getting shaken down by Customs agents because they were traveling with a teenage friend of their son's. I'm sure it didn't cost them too much, but allowing that kind of abuse of power is a mistake for any country trying to promote tourism.

That's just crazy, and horrible.....They won't see me vacationing there, that's for sure.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

Why don't they name the resort?

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

It is not just the tourists that get shaken down by the police. My wife is from Mexico and we lived there after we were married in Mexico. Several members of her family have been shaken down by the police and I am not talking about "la mordida" for traffic cops. A common practice is they force you to withdraw money from the ATM's so you are not safe just because you aren't carrying cash.

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

It is not just the tourists that get shaken down by the police. My wife is from Mexico and we lived there after we were married in Mexico. Several members of her family have been shaken down by the police and I am not talking about "la mordida" for traffic cops. A common practice is they force you to withdraw money from the ATM's so you are not safe just because you aren't carrying cash.

My grandmother always taught me to make sure I had enough money in my pocket for a junkie to get a fix. That was NYC in the 70s/80s, though

I had not heard the term La Mordida, so I looked it up. Seems more than just traffic, but the advice of asking to go to the precinct to pay the ticket seems sound. I have also heard at least one credible story about planted contraband during a traffic stop resulting in arrest, jail, and a LARGE bribe needed to get out and home safe. Was a long time ago, but I don't see how it couldn't happen in the environment of corruption and abuse over there. Not that it couldn't happen at home, too, but we do have a few more checks, balances and deterrents in place.

Anyway, here it is fwiw, I'm sure there are more:

Mordida, Bribes - Some Things in Mexico Seem To Never Change - Bribes - La Mordida in Mexico - Ensenada Retirement

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

My grandmother always taught me to make sure I had enough money in my pocket for a junkie to get a fix. That was NYC in the 70s/80s, though

I had not heard the term La Mordida, so I looked it up. Seems more than just traffic, but the advice of asking to go to the precinct to pay the ticket seems sound. I have also heard at least one credible story about planted contraband during a traffic stop resulting in arrest, jail, and a LARGE bribe needed to get out and home safe. Was a long time ago, but I don't see how it couldn't happen in the environment of corruption and abuse over there. Not that it couldn't happen at home, too, but we do have a few more checks, balances and deterrents in place.

Anyway, here it is fwiw, I'm sure there are more:

Mordida, Bribes - Some Things in Mexico Seem To Never Change - Bribes - La Mordida in Mexico - Ensenada Retirement

Yes, "la mordida" applies to any bribe. I said for traffic cops as that is what the average tourist is aware of. Paying people off to get things done is common practice. I had to pay off a state government official to get my wife's passport in her home state of Sinaloa. I was the founder of a company in Mexico and we had to payoff everybody. Look at the big Mexican WalMart scandal in the news right now about paying people bribes. It is a way of life. The only way to get things done in Mexico is to have friends or money for payoffs. Fortunately I have a lot of friends in Mexico so we get a lot of things done for free. This even applies to the timeshare resorts we visit there. For example we have many friends that work at the Grand Mayans in Riviera Maya and Nuevo Vallarta. We are not owners but exchange through SFX. At the Riviera Maya they have palapas with beds around the pool. You have to reserve them and pay by the day. You can only reserve them for that day. When we arrive for our usual 2 weeks we get the one we want reserved for the whole 2 weeks for free because we are friends with the person in charge of them. At Nuevo Vallarta, we get a lot of favors because of friends.

Bribes are standard operating procedure in many countries, especially Latin America. I lived in Venezuela where I was the manager of a computer sales and service company there. I had to pay bribes for everything from paying several hundred dollars to customs officials to pick up my computer parts at the airport ( these were bribes, not import taxes ) to $10,000 to get a phone line for our office, etc.

I could tell you a lot of stories about crooked cops, corruption, kidnapping, etc., etc., in Mexico but most people refuse to believe it. These stories are from personal experience with friends and family living in Mexico. It is much worse now then it used to be. Institutionalized corruption has always been there but there wasn't the violence that there is now. I am not talking about the drug cartels but just the general violence with assaults, robbery, kidnapping, etc. The vast majority of it is never reported nor published.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

. Bribes are standard operating procedure in many countries, especially Latin America.

.

It's not only in Latin America but also in the Caribbean. I've been stopped many times by the Dominican Republic police for "traffic violations". They will break a light on your car and then you need to "resuelve me aqui" (Take care of me right here). There is a famous song by Juan Luis Guerra "Acompania me Civil" about the problem since it's so commonplace.
Estan Arrestados AMV - YouTube
Juan Luis Guerra - Acompañeme Civil - YouTube
And these police have machine guns so you don't want to find out if it's got ammunition or not.


Sad to say that all of this bribery has made it's way to Miami's government with all the latin's just bringing their ways to our country.
I know it's probably not common knowledge about how widespread the problem is here, but some projects never get off the ground here in Miami without the practice.

And it happens with the police too but not with Americans yet. It's mostly the illegals that get stopped for driving without a license who are then bribed by the police so they're not turned into immigration. Of course they happily pay their fine and go on their way. Some are harrassed beyond the traffic stop and followed, but really what recourse do they have? It's not like they're supposed to be here anyway so they open themselves up for this type of thing. The practice just makes driving without a license rampant and forget about insurance. I've had two fender benders with illegals who have fled the scene because of this.

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

You get lots of horror stories from Mexico because it is on your doorstep and it is one of your popular holiday spots.

We get horror stories from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Vietnam, China and Cambodia because they are on our doorstep and all of them except New Guinea are popular holiday spots. There is police corruption, kidnapping, bribery, pirates, drug cartels, knives, Jemaah Islamiyah and bombs. We also get lots of horror stories about the US.

I travel, but not without educating myself first. There is a mountain of safe travel information available for anywhere you wish to go, I think it is worthwhile doing a bit of research to calculate the risks and possibly eliminate unnecessary fears.

This map of the world shows the latest corruption perception rankings -

Corruption Perceptions Index: Transparency International

[PigsDad Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close PigsDad]

You get lots of horror stories from Mexico because it is on your doorstep and it is one of your popular holiday spots.

We get horror stories from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Vietnam, China and Cambodia because they are on our doorstep and all of them except New Guinea are popular holiday spots. There is police corruption, kidnapping, bribery, pirates, drug cartels, knives, Jemaah Islamiyah and bombs. We also get lots of horror stories about the US.

I travel, but not without educating myself first. There is a mountain of safe travel information available for anywhere you wish to go, I think it is worthwhile doing a bit of research to calculate the risks and possibly eliminate unnecessary fears.

This map of the world shows the latest corruption perception rankings -

Corruption Perceptions Index: Transparency International

Excellent post, Carol. I have traveled to 26 different countries over the years, and the only places I have personally experienced any type of crime was in France and Italy. Would my experiences deter me from going to those places again? Certainly not! I would probably be a bit more careful and aware of my surroundings, though.

Any bad thing that happens in Mexico seems to be the current flavor of the week that invokes the most interest here in the US. Thanks for reminding us that there are other places that are not perfect as well.

Kurt

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

I have been traveling in Mexico for the last 9 years. I always rent a car. It always seems safe. Last year we were in 3 different resort areas of Mexico for about 6 weeks and stayed out late, drove where ever we wanted and had no problems.
There was about 190 million tourists in Mexico last year and every once in a while a story pops up about one or two people who had a bad experience.


Bill

[Rick Lasker Member Find all posts View Profile Close Rick Lasker]

Dear Readers,

Unfortunately the violence levels in mexico has increased in the last years; however the media many times overreact about criminal events in Mexico. Trust me I'm Mexican,
I have been here my whole life, it is not as the media assures.

Sincerely,