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JUBILATION JOHN
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Posted: Fri Apr 17th, 2009 11:49 pm |
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I was driving the bypass by the prison on Tuesday morning following a string of trucks. Two policemen standing by their cruiser on the shoulder waved me over. One of them came up to the car and advised me that I had been speeding through a school zone. I told him I had not seen any signs about a school zone and that I couldn't have been speeding because I was behind all of the trucks. He just smiled and said it is a grande school zone. He then informed me he was going to write me a ticket for $1,200.00 Pesos. I told him to go ahead and then I would follow them to the police station to pay it. He then said he needed my driver's license to write the ticket. Then he walked over and talked to the other officer and came back and told me that there was a problem. He then said that the guy at the police station who you pay the fines to was sick and might not be back for a few days and if they wrote me a ticket I would have to stay in Hermosillo until the fellow came back to work and no one else was authorized to take the payment at the station. He stood around for awhile and then asked me if I was headed home to Colorado and I replied that I was. The next comment was that he had friends who worked in Colorado and I seemed like a good guy so he would give me my license back and I could pay him the $1,200.00 pesos and he would give it to the guy at the police when he came back from being sick. I paid him the money and left.
Both of the officers had tape over the lower half of their badge so there were no badge numbers to see. Anyone else had this happen? How else can you handle an incident like this? Just curious.
John
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Susan C
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| Joined: | Wed Oct 26th, 2005 |
| Location: | San Carlos, Mexico |
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Posted: Sat Apr 18th, 2009 12:37 am |
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Hand them your license and get a replacement license while back in Colorado.
Or wait them out. Demand to follow them to the station. They are not going to take you.....and will eventually let you go.
By paying them you have encouraged this type of harassment towards foreigners.
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ballenagris
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Posted: Sat Apr 18th, 2009 02:05 am |
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| Once I was asked for my DL. I rolled the car window up leaving only a small opening. Then I placed my drivers license against the window on the inside so the officer could see it. The incident quickly ended.
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JUBILATION JOHN
Member
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Posted: Sat Apr 18th, 2009 04:26 am |
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All good advice. What happens if for some reason you get stopped in the U. S. on your way on home? I can assure you the guys on the north side of the border are not interested in mordida or what happened to you in Mexico. They just want to know why you are driving without a valid driver's license. I also had a friend who stayed overnight in Hermosillo to collect his driver's license the next day and when he went out to get in his vehicle the next morning at the hotel the vehicle was empty. No easy answers to this problem.
John
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windy
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Posted: Sat Apr 18th, 2009 12:11 pm |
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| I have no idea if this is still possible, but back when, I got duplicate laminated licenses made in Puerto Vallarta, at a print shop. Check it out, nothing to lose.
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azkellie
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Posted: Sat Apr 18th, 2009 11:58 pm |
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Not sure about other states, but In AZ you can order a duplicate license via the internet. Although it comes to your home address, i'm sure if you called Motor Vehicles Dept. and explained, you could ask it to be sent to a US post office at the border. At least for those of us here, if you're on your way into SC, and have access to a computer, you can at least print out the info showing you applied for a duplicate.
We always keep a photocopy of our license & passport on us, but in a seperate place, in case we 'lose' the original.
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Rudy S.
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Posted: Thu Apr 23rd, 2009 01:32 am |
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| Why didn't you ask them to take the tape off and then write down the numbers? Come to think of it, I don't recall ever seeing numbers on Mexican badges.
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gatorboy
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Posted: Thu Apr 23rd, 2009 04:12 pm |
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| OK, if nobody else will, I'll say it..."Badges? Badges? We doan need no stinking Badges!"
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JUBILATION JOHN
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Posted: Thu Apr 23rd, 2009 04:24 pm |
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You may be correct about their being no numbers on the badges. All I know is there was tape on the bottom maybe in honor of a fallen friend. One thing I have learned in my 68+ years is that an old grey haired gringo traveling alone in any foreign country probably doesn't have much negotiating or demanding strength against two armed police officers. So I guess I took the easy way out and decided discretion was the better part of valour.
John
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Alibi
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Posted: Fri May 15th, 2009 10:16 pm |
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I have insight to US law Enforcement. The cops arent going to stop you just to see if you have a license. If you get pulled over for a violation the officer will listen to your tale .you will most likely have other id like a passport. A quick computer check by the officer will give him the information that you in fact have a valid drivers lic. and the number of the license.
I think most officers will not site you just for the lic. violation. The law in Calif lets you drive to the dmv to get a temp. license within 10 days. If you do end up with the lic. not in possession cite in most states it is a sign off violation where you just take your new lic. to any officer along with the ticket and they will look at the lic. and sign off the ticket for you to mail in.
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Sat May 16th, 2009 12:45 am |
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That is not a new trick it is an old one and I feel you made a rather large mistake in paying them. You should have insisted on going to the station, if you would have stood your ground then they would have let you go, there is no way they would want you to go to the station since that would have meant that they would have gained nothing and lost a lot of time. By paying them you empowered them to do it again to someone else. Also I should mention I have left licenses all over the country when they tell me they need my licence i just let them have it and if they like they can just keep it. I photo copy them and laminate them so I have a whole bunch of extras.
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AlanSonora
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Posted: Wed Jun 3rd, 2009 07:51 am |
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A friend shared with me that Tuesday afternoon, June 2 she was driving her U.S. plated vehicle southbound on the Periferico Oriente (the bypass) just south of the PEMEX plant when she was flagged over by two police officers standing near their police car. They simultaneously stopped another vehicle.
The friend was told that she was speeding and the officer repeated several times in a mixture of Spanish and broken English that the ticket would cost $50 and would require a trip to the station. He kept repeating $50 in English. She felt that he was clearly indicating that he would accept the $50 in cash.
Finally my friend (who speaks a little Spanish) just began to speak in all English and told the officer to go ahead and write the ticket. He became frustrated with her and just waved her on. No ticket and no "mordida" paid.
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Stuart
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Posted: Wed Jun 3rd, 2009 11:30 pm |
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Last trip to Puerto Penasco, just outside Sonoita, there was an unmarked, brand new, F-150 pickup that came screaming up behind me with police lights on the dashboard. We had passed him on the other side of the road, he had a car pulled over. He turned around and came up behind us. I ignored him for a moment because the vehicle was completely unmarked. He went around us and pulled over the Mexican car in front of us. Saw the same deal on the way home, but a different-colored brand new unmarked F-150 with a Mexican van and family pulled over.
Have no idea what the deal is, but frankly, with all the bad press these days I *ain't* pulling over for what looks like a civilian vehicle with a cheesy set of cop lights on the dashboard! I'm sure I'm not the only one.
As far as the driver's license, I have the following printed out and sealed with clear tape on the back of my license:
SINDICATURA del Gobierno Municipal
Tijuana (665) 688-2810, 973-7770, 973-7759
Ensenada (646) 617-1561, 176-2222
Mexicali (686) 558-1600 x 1661
Penasco - CPTN Rene Barranco (638) 383-2626 x 105
http://www.sindicatura.gob.mx/
If I had the numbers for Hermisillo, I add them too! It's a small stupid thing, really, but it immediately let's the Mexican cops know that *you* know how the game is played. It's been said mentioning Sindicatura to a crooked cop is akin to showing a cross to a vampire!
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azkellie
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 12:29 am |
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Well this is not good news, as we are heading to SC in two weeks. Normally I wouldnt care, but since its just my sister, my son and myself, im a tad concerned. I do have this info:
Hermosillo: Avenida Monterrey 141, telephone (52)(662) 289-3500. http://hermosillo.usconsulate.gov.
and will maybe print it along with a map to the US Consulate, and put it on my dashboard.
The thing that worries me is how many people does this happen to that dont post or check this forum?
I dont have a laptop, so I have no way of communicating any incident we encounter. We'll just keep our fingers crossed.
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Vince Radice
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 01:36 am |
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The odds of you getting stopped and harassed are very low, simply follow the advise on this forum, refuse to pay a bribe if you have done nothing wrong and don't freak out about driving to Mexico. I have driven all the way to panama and back and have never had a major problem, Sonora is ridiculously easy to travel in and through.
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azkellie
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 01:44 am |
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I know this, as I've been coming to SC for almost 4 years now and NEVER had a problem. This forum has always provided helpful and useful info and i'm thankful for it! 
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mmaarrzz
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 02:06 am |
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Just tell them you are in the "no hassle zone" and they should let you go...
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Dom
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 03:03 am |
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azkellie wrote: Well this is not good news, as we are heading to SC in two weeks. Normally I wouldnt care, but since its just my sister, my son and myself, im a tad concerned. I do have this info:
Hermosillo: Avenida Monterrey 141, telephone (52)(662) 289-3500. http://hermosillo.usconsulate.gov.
and will maybe print it along with a map to the US Consulate, and put it on my dashboard.
The thing that worries me is how many people does this happen to that dont post or check this forum?
I dont have a laptop, so I have no way of communicating any incident we encounter. We'll just keep our fingers crossed.
I think that is a GREAT idea! What we need here are the numbers for
Nogales
Hermosillo
Guaymas
if numbers are available in these cities...anyone know them?
Dom
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Bill Peszka
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 04:41 am |
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Hermosillo
SINDICATURA MUNICIPAL
Palacio Municipal Blvd. Hidalgo y Comonfort, planta baja, Colonia Centro.
Teléfonos: 289-3015 Ext. 3101.
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Dom
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Posted: Thu Jun 4th, 2009 05:55 am |
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Bill Peszka wrote: Hermosillo
SINDICATURA MUNICIPAL
Palacio Municipal Blvd. Hidalgo y Comonfort, planta baja, Colonia Centro.
Teléfonos: 289-3015 Ext. 3101.
Thanks Bill!
Dom
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