Corrupt police | Checkpoint
Colombia
Details
- Verified:
- 7 months ago
- GPS:
- 10.97240, -74.41195
- Altitude:
- 7.1 masl
- Contributor:
-
thesouthamericanroadtrip.wordpress.com
Amenities
Something not right?
Description
This road seems to be famous for corrupt police. We drove down from Santa Marta towards Cartagena. Police stopped us because we crossed a double line - yes we made a mistake. But when they told us how little they earned as policemen, I told them we respect the work they are doing and we are happy to pay a fine, but we are not ok with paying on the spot to these two - meaning no bribery with us, but fine no problem. All in different words and politely, so after short discussions they let us go with a warning. Obey the rules on this road especially!
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Latest Check-Ins
We passed on Saturday at 13:15h and now Police around.
IG:naturwunderer_ & photografnix
Report Check-InVery unfortunate to read this. However, no issues for us here when we drove by around 10:00am.
Report Check-InNo problems during our transit today (Sunday morning at 10am). We stayed under the speed limit, especially when we passed two police checkpoints, were not directed to pull over.
Report Check-InUnfortunately, we also endured an attempted shakedown on this stretch of road today. We were pulled over by two police on a motorcycle on the out skirts of Barranquilla heading towards Santa Marta. When we began with the “no entiendo” one cop immediately pulled out his phone to translate his requests. He said we had been pulled over for “bad driving” and then later said that we had sped past a school (there was no school). He said our vehicle would be impounded for 3 days and the fine would be “one Colombian salary”. No joke. We asked what that meant and he decided it would be $300USD or 600,000 pesos. We apologized for our infraction and said we would pay the fine but we needed to take the ticket to the bank. He started writing a hilariously bogus ticket on a note pad and asked us to withdraw cash from the nearby gas station. We continued to play “no entiendo” and politely insist that we had to take the ticket to the bank. After 45 minutes of this ridiculous exchange he took a croissant that my son offered him, said “buen viaje” and they drove away.
We tried very hard to remember the officers full name but can only recall that his first name might have been Yarmar.
Good luck!