Police Report

Okay, first of all I admit up front that I ran the stop sign and therefore broke the law. Having said that you must know that 1) I didn’t see the stop sign that was a good twenty feet from the corner and 2) I didn’t go through the red traffic light. So, when the bus made a wide turn on the narrow corner he almost hit us. There was room for him to get around, but the bad news was that there was a Transito (traffic policeman) on the corner watching it all unfold.

The events that followed are long and tedious but... I was then directed to pull over where my driver’s license was checked. I was told I would have to come to the office the next day to pay my fine as well as retrieve my original license. I informed him that wasn’t possible because my license is property of the U.S and I couldn’t leave it with him but that I would be willing to pay the fine today.

That brought another police officer to the scene who directed me out and to the back of the car to talk about my infraction with the instruction to follow them to the office. We drove about two blocks, got out of our vehicles, and were joined by two more officers. “This is getting a little crazy,” I’m thinking. They asked to see the title for the van. We produced a copy but were told we needed to have the original title with us (we learned later this isn’t true). At this point they gave back my license but informed us that the office was closed and we would have a long wait before it opened.

We played dumb (which wasn’t very hard) telling them that we didn’t mind waiting since we were close to some restaurants, “My family and friends could eat while I wait.” They insisted the office was closed; I insisted I didn’t mind the wait. To this point there has not been a fine given to us or even written. Someone then decides there is another office we can go to so we jump in the van to follow them – somewhere.

When we arrived we were met outside the office by a superior office who spoke English and we rehashed all the details. I admitted to running the stop sign again (but not the traffic light). They wanted my driver’s license again (which I refused to give them citing the property of the U.S. argument) and they tell us again that we need the original title. At this point a new twist comes into play. Our friend Ray has been taking pictures (which we have actually been encouraged to do) and they want him to erase them. My idea is – we erase the photos and they’ll erase the slate. I oblige by going to the van to bring everyone over to erase any incriminating evidence (which we did but leave it to Ray to have two sets of pictures). I’m thinking at this point the ordeal is over but…no.

The superior officer then directs Diana and I to step away from everyone and asks us if we can help him out by giving some money to the two original officers. Continuing to be dumb and not knowing how long this was going to go on, I told him I needed to call one of our team leaders. While I am on the phone, he told Diana we needed to give him our license or they would take our van (which is also foreign property and illegal to take) – just a little friendly pressure on the wife.
After the phone call, I asked the superior officer to please write out my fine and I would go in the office and pay it. He didn’t write the ticket but he did take us inside the office. Approaching the front desk with another whole set of officers I make the announcement, “I want to pay my fine!” That took everyone off guard with quizzical looks and one shrugging his shoulders as if to say, “What’s this about?” Obviously we weren’t playing by the rules.

Eventually we were led into a side office to meet and speak with the commanding officer. I asked for permission to bring the girls in and went out to find them. Upon my return he heard a brief explanation from the superior officer, looked at our papers, and said, “In the future you need to obey the traffic signs. Goodbye.” That was it. It was over; we were free to go.

Such is life. Some days you make a breakthrough, and others you just try to stay out of trouble.