The top police commander in the central state of Mexico acknowledged that officers extorted money from motorists and said he understood why in a video released Monday by the Reforma newspaper.
State Security Agency, or ASE, director Rogelio Cortes Cruz said his only concern was that officers not commit “excesses.”
“I’m not appalled if they grab a peso or two pesos. It’s their problem, but the day they grab them, that dude and you, you’re going to the slammer,” the chief said in a secretly taped conversation with police officers.
Cortes Cruz admitted that some officers carried altered ticket books that showed fines up to 600 times larger than the law allowed, Reforma reported on Sunday.
Noting that some cops demand as much as 15,000 pesos ($1,270) for an infraction, he said: “Then that’s an excess.”
That is the kind of behavior that harms the agency because it draws attention to corrupt practices, Cortes Cruz said.
“I’m waiting with a machete to see which dude falls,” the chief said.
The ASE commander said he was aware that police salaries were low and hard to live on, making it understandable that officers would squeeze motorists for bribes.
Cortes Cruz, a career police officer, has been in charge of the ASE since last year and has held numerous command posts since 1998.
Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, is one of the regions most affected by drug cartels and other organized crime groups, security experts say.
Motorists in Mexico state and other parts of the country are used to being stopped by police officers looking to pocket some money.
Officers try to conceal their intentions, sometimes stopping a vehicle for 20-30 minutes until the driver pays some money to avoid a larger fine.
The non-governmental organization Transparencia Mexicana estimates that 197 million bribes totaling more than $2 billion were paid in Mexico in 2007.
Source: EFE
El Tardo
ReplyDeleteLOLOLOLOLO
ReplyDeleteThat is like telling your children that is ok to steal a dime but you will bust their butts if they steal a dollar.
Yes its a common practice, no, don't go public with it. Dumb ass!!!!!!!
TRC
FYI, I got lost in Juarez in a very bad neighborhood one night and a police officer pulled me over. He ask me what in the hell was I doing there, then escorted me back to my friends restaurant on Juarez Avenue. I tried to give him $20 and he refused it. I was very impressed.
In my opinion Mexico is beyond the point of no return and might as well just come out and publicly claim "Failed State" status and appoint the United nations to come in and take over control and try and salvage what ever can be salvaged for the good people of Mexico... The rampant corruption that is pervasive throughout the very institutions that are supposed to police against such acts has created a n atmosphere of hopelessness!
ReplyDeleteMexico has sold its soul for a few pesos...
People might realize now that Mexicos problem is....ta dam...Mexico!!!Their culture is 100 years behind and compared to our standard, corrupt as hell.
ReplyDeleteStart there and in about 100 years they'll catch up, the people needs to wipe out their leaders first.
State Security Agency, or ASE, director Rogelio Cortes Cruz said his only concern was that officers not commit “excesses.”
ReplyDelete“I’m not appalled if they grab a peso or two pesos. It’s their problem, but the day they grab them, that dude and you, you’re going to the slammer,” the chief said in a secretly taped conversation with police officers.
FIRE THIS FUCKHEAD!
On a recent vacation, my hotel room overlooked a main street just down from the clubs. It was intriguing to watch the local cops shake down the drunks walking home from the clubs every morning. It was the americans who were detained the longest because they didn't understand what was transpiring. It was humurous to watch the cops call in other cops and then finally give up and drive away empty handed. The mexicans were instinctively reaching into their pockets as soon as a cop approached and were outta there in 2 minutes or less!
ReplyDeleteWhat a focked up country!
That was a statement to ruin the reputation of every law enforcement officer that's trying to make up for the others lack of morels, pay the people a living salary and corruption is no longer a necessity.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mexico can't figure out why the country is a sordid mess,integrity and honesty are foreign concepts,how can anybody respect or trust poilce,but what choice do you have. Can you even IMAGINE a internal affairs division in Mexican local police depts. This conduct is normal in Mexico,hoards of unprofessional idiots scavenging the public for whatever money they can extort,AND IT IS SANCTIONED BY MANAGMENT,now that is true leadership.
ReplyDeleteNo, what a LAZY country. Mexicans are for the most part a lazy breed of people. Americans have their share of lazy people as well, but Mexicans can be so bad they they`ll actually eat where they sh!t because they are too lazy too clean it up. and with that attitude, they DON`T want the "drug war" to end. Let me re-phrase that, they want the war to end, just not the drug part. It`s easy money instead of working, just sitting around the corner waiting to call someone who calls someone who calls someone..................and on and on till drugs are ready to be moved.
ReplyDeletejajajajaa...these cops were a little slow on the uptake ...when they rob you in Monterrey they just dig into your pockets and take all your money... right away
ReplyDeletepinches ratas policia de mexico todo corrupto
Let me get this straight, so its ok for a low level cop to get a small bribe.. Then it is logical for someone higher in command to get a slightly bigger bribe? Then by the time you get to someone like Garcia Luna it is ok to get a couple of million dollars a year in bribes? Wow that is just disgusting...
ReplyDeletePor eso estamos jodidos, por chilangos rateros que nomas les importa agarrar dinero rapido....
having lived and worked in Monterrey for the past 11 years, I get hustled for money by the police regularly.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I drive back to Texas for meetings, I get hit up. I have taken to hiding my money before I get in the car and leaving $40 US in my wallet. I usually get stopped just north of Mty and they seem to want $100. I now immediately offer $40 saying that is all I have and they take it every time and I am on my way within a couple of minutes.
Sad, but it happens all the time. Same thing at customs. Put a $20 bill in with your passport and that new TV and laptop and suitcase full of new clothes makes it through without inspection.
@anon 8:11am I don't know who you been working with or what Mexicans you know but I would work circles around you
ReplyDeleteOoopa sorry, don't know how I missed that, it was meant to read "1,286"
ReplyDeletemil 286 ciudades en nueve regiones. It has been corrected.
http://www.diario.com.mx/notas.php?f=2011/04/11&id=602257627483b79887cae1695182b1c2
anonidiota April 12, 2011 8:11 AM
ReplyDeleteyou are a major baboso...Mexicans are anything but lazy...opportunistic, greedy avaricious ,corrupt and unprincipled ...maybe...some certainly are ..
but not lazy...and also don't ever take Mexicans for being stupid...if there are any thing Mexicans are not ..it is stupid and lazy
you sound like you have NO experience with Mexicans
El Nayaloense,
ReplyDeleteThank you, I was wondering if anyone was going to catch the bullshit stated by the dumb ass that replied anonymously. It wasn't my place to respond tho cuz I'm gringo. LOL. Sound like some of that old crap my grandfather would have said about 40 years ago. I wonder who mows his lawn?
TRC
I can not believe that the government would allow someone so high up the foodchain to publicly state that your money WILL be stolen from you by the police. Add this to the list of evidence the US will place in front of the UN when demanding there is an invasion of Mexico in order to protect their own country.
ReplyDeleteHe is saying that its OK to take small bribes because he feels guilty about all the blood money he is pocketing himself... What a pathetic piece of work, he is a disgrace to Mexico and to every law enforcement officer on the planet, Calderon should have him hung in front of Mexicos capital building...
ReplyDeleteMexico just doesn't get it.
ReplyDeleteWhy should Mexican citizens pay any bribes at all to people that should be protecting them according to the Mexican constitution?
It's supposedly the Estados Unidos Mexicanos. A federal republic democracy, not a dictatorship. Mexicans elect their leaders into office via the ballotbox, just as Americans and Europeans do.
Mexico will never have any semblance of government integrity nor law and order if their own executive branch of government and government paid police forces are constantly on the take from Mexican citizens, I dont' care if it's 2 centavos or 1 mil pesos.
Govt officials in Mexico just can't get this kindergarten idea through their skulls for some reason. WTF?
The only policy about police bribes is zero tolerance. Otherwise, it's instantly out of control and the citizens lose everything, protection, service, justice and equality.
One big problem is the apathy and acceptance by Mexican citizens about bribe-paying. The truth is that Mexican citizens feel that don't have any skin in this game. Some pay income taxes, but a massive number of Mexicans pay zero income taxes so there's no ideal about holding elected leaders accountable whatsoever for services provided. Mexico's government get's its wealth from oil, minerals, agriculture and tourism. It doesn't have an effective, corruption-free method to tax it's citizens with any teeth.
To all of you who can't believe what this crook said I have a one word answer - IMPUNITY. If you haven't figured that out by now you are dumber than you look/seem. He thinks he is untouchable and you can bet your fucking rent money he has been collecting his porcentage over his entire career. As you move up in the organization the % gets smaller but the base gets bigger because you collect from all your subordinates AND for any deals you have with criminal organizations.
ReplyDeleteStopped in San Fernando for running a non functional red light. Cop waved us through, then blew his whistel. Wanted $50 US, I asked for a recipt, he replied, $60. Some welcome to MX.
ReplyDelete"That is the kind of behavior that harms the agency because it draws attention to corrupt practices, Cortes Cruz said."
ReplyDeleteNotice that he did not fault the behavior as being wrong, just that is draws attention to corruption.
You Mexicans need to wake up and realize that this is just an extension of the socialist ideoligies your current government was founded upon. Socialists make the same rationalization when they say it is OK to steal your money through taxes to fund their social programs. But what is excessive? Who defines that? Either become a country of laws, not men, or remain slaves. It is that simple.
@12:17, WTF are you talking about? this is not socialism, this is just plain old corruption..
ReplyDelete@ 12:17 you are twisting this to make it fit your own political agenda. Just because you don't like what the govt does with your taxes does not make it extortion.
ReplyDeleteThat guy should be relieved immediately. Even if their policy is to overlook small bribes, you don't announce it at the level he's at. They will only combat these issues by cutting down corruption from the top down making people like him an example.
ReplyDeleteya valio berga todo, mexico ya se undio......
ReplyDeleteI once paid "mordida" twice in less than an hour in Guadalajara. I was damn near catatonic with anger at first but then I thought maybe that is the best way to handle it, if the cop can be so barefaced about shake down what will a judge be like? After paying the last time one of the cops taped me on the shoulder, told me what a smart fellow I was and gave me good directions on how to get out of town.
ReplyDelete8:55 is right about the way to handle these encounters.A Mexican had told me this before but until it happened I had failed to prepare for it in advance.
The same trip,near Pozo Rico on the main eastbound 4 lane I came on a non-functioning traffic light.Very light traffic so carefully looking for other cars I proceeded on without stopping.In the middle of the intersection I saw a cop on the far left of the road standing by a light that must have been for pedestrians and it was working.The cop was blowing his whistle and waving his arms Well, thinks I, he's afoot and I'm not.Damned if I stop. He flagged down a taxi and caught me in less than two miles. He made me haul him back to his post and in spite of his rage I paid less on this mordida than I did in either of the ones in Guadalajara. Aye,Mexico. no hay dos.
another little corruption story
ReplyDeletehttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110412/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_drug_war_mexico_mayors
I've been robbed by police and military inside Mexico several times for less than $20 each time. I find it hard to get too indignant when US politicians rob us of $100s of billions and give it all away to the super rich all the time. It's the difference between being bit by a gnat and being hit by a sledge hammer these 2 forms of robbery by public officials.
ReplyDeletehave lived in mexico for fifteen years...getting out now...pemex is collapsing because the leftists in congress won't provide capital and won't allow non-mexicans with capital to invest in exploration..tourism is finished...no one is going to come into a country where you can't drive down the highway without fearing for your life...bad enough that you can't drink the water, and you have to save your shitty toilet paper in a wastepaper can...good people but they won't turn in cousin juan who is a narco and they won't demand the death penalty and the right to bear arms...a totally failed country nearing collapse.
ReplyDelete@Ardent
ReplyDeleteIf you dislike the U.S. so much, why don't you move your ass over to Mexico? Yea, that's what I thought, good enough to criticize not bad enough to leave..typical bigot!
@April 12, 2011-10:35 PM
ReplyDeleteAmen, to that..there's a reason why straight up criminals flee to Mexico.
"The top police commander in the central state of Mexico acknowledged that officers extorted money from motorists and said he understood why in a video released Monday by the Reforma newspaper."
ReplyDeleteWTF!