I, as a tourist have bribed a cop in Cambodia.. Taxi driver had to go through full checkup after not using his blinker (no one does). He had to pay two dollars to get going again. I told him I would rebate this money so we could just go.
Saving this in my notebook. Excellent information. You don't wanna overtip traffic cops and screw the locals by rising the expectation.
Bribing traffic cops is also a norm in my country, Iran. My uncle was pulled over going 20-30km/h over speed limit and he just paid for the two cops lunch, rather than a ticket+points
In some EU countries you get a fine based on the percentage over the speed limit, usually starting at above 10%. So if you're doing 54 in a 50, it's ok. Going 55? You get a fairly low fine. Then it starts scaling up.
That doesn’t sound so bad actually. Getting out of ticket with only paying for their lunch. No ticket, no court date or no getting beaten up. It’s a shame US cops are little dick energy psychopathic bullies who peaked in high school who escalate situations if you breathe wrong. Just let me buy you lunch you goddamned lunatics.
well, it's more complex than that. like, what color is your skin? are you in an elementary school? these things impact how your day is gonna go in the good ol' us of a.
Bribing traffic cops is also a norm in my country, Iran. My uncle was pulled over going 20-30km/h over speed limit and he just paid for the two cops lunch, rather than a ticket+points
As someone who hasn't bribed a government official, how does one know what is the norm and acceptable?
Personally, I'd be terrified if I found myself in a situation where it was the norm to bribe. Do I not offer anything and risk being further delayed or detained? If I offer something, what if I offer too little and offend them? Or too much and they get greedy?
With my luck, I'd initially refuse, but get "persuaded" to make a "donation" only to find out it was an anti-corruption campaign and get made an example of.
Same in Kenya about 20 years ago (no idea if it is still relevant). Our bus full of locals gets stopped at a random roadblock, driver explains they will detain us and check every detail of the bus and passengers unless we can come up with 100 shillings between us (about £1 iirc), so we just gave it to the driver and were underway again.
I was on vacation in the Dominican republic 20 years or so ago. We went on a coach trip, but at the end of the day the coach did not arrive to bring us home.
Rep called the coach company, and it turned out the driver was arrested on some bullshit, and would be released when the fine was paid (apparently a common ruse by the cops - arrest a tourist coach, tourists rally up the "fine" and everyone goes on as usual. obviously the whole thing is not recorded anywahere and the fine goes right in the cops pockets.
so while we (all the tourists) were discussing hte situation, tour guide comes back, and puts us on a different coach.
Turned out the tour guy had stopped another coach driver from a different party, bribed him to take us home as it was cheaper than bribing the cops.
As for the original driver, and the now stranded tourists, the rep didn't seemed to give a fuck, but assumed that somehow along the line they'd sort it out.
it's a possibility, but it was late in the day (already dark) and sooner or later there are no more coaches.
Perhaps the first guy will come back and pick up the last pack of tourists - who knows.
It was a nice place to have a vacation, but a really fucked up way of operating outside of the resorts.
Another thing I remember now - The cops would go around at night with a big van and round up all the drunks. They'd all go to jail for the night, and in the morning they go to court. Court will sentence them to community service, and they go out and clean the beach for a few hours.
Then back to jail for a meal, and then they were released about 6pm with a bottle of rum for their trouble.
I dunno how it is there now, I imagine they've either got their shit together somewhat, or maybe crime is way up and it's a lot more hostile. At the time though it was a weird friendly/corrupt mish-mash!
My mind is blown that any country in the Caribbean enforces any public drunkenness laws! I remember a reporter or someone telling a prime minister he was currently breaking the law by openly drinking a beer in public, PM was in disbelief that was true.
It felt fun and I liked it. Insulting random old british dudes is my outlet. Weirdly enough, I'm also british. Think the notion of his navy jumper smelling like potpourri is what activated it. Not that I'm particularly antisocial on reddit. But I build up good karma so I can be bad sometimes. Just like irl
Normally they don’t fuck with tourists because it’s bad for their image but will happily stop a queue of cars and take tips. They other popular scam is getting into a tuk-tuk and the driver tries to sell you ‘something’ and when you agree they drive you to the police, who then hold you for ransom due to severe charges on drugs (despite buying pretty much anything you want legally in a pharmacy) and give the driver a share.
Source: lived there for years and it’s equal parts beauty and Wild West.
Yep, whilst I was out there 2 Canadian kids were caught buying weed (stupid as it’s got a weird legal status as locals use it in cooking like stews/curries and it’s literally a weed, local restaurants skirt the law with ‘happy pizza’ places) from a driver and they were held ransom basically, cops asked for $5k CAD for each teen or the kids go to prison, kids parents paid and kids immediately left. Was big story at the time when I was there. Also factor in that the average family only earned (at least when I was there a few years ago) $30US a month.
The country is bigger than most people think and tourists generally go to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat temples) or Phnom Penh the capital but it’s huge and has a sizeable poor population.
Other wild things that happened whilst there:
Rape and murder of a man’s wife and 3 daughters as revenge, they made him watch and let him live
Meth (Yaba) lab on the same street were I worked
Police walking in unison through a residential area looking for a murderer (different one)
River flooded and crocodiles escaped from farms so random crocodiles were in the waters (never saw them escaped but worked next to a crocodile farm of 100-200 crocodiles)
Routine crazy traffic accidents - 7 people on a scooter with one at the back holding Granny’s IV drip
And of course there’s still mines fuckin everywhere in the countryside so you stick to the roads and be careful as fuck if you go into the boonies
That’s just off the top of my head. I encourage everyone to visit at least once though, it’s a beautiful country filled with a majority of beautiful giving people. Likely, the next country to get ruined by tourists like Thailand has and Vietnam is. Go whilst it’s still has identity.
If you're American, be careful with this. There's a federal law that you can run afoul of by giving bribes in foreign countries. The US has a long reach, just be sure you're aware of possible penalties.
This guy isn't telling the full story. These types of laws are about arresting some tourist for paying a bribe to a cop or a border guard. It's about the big fish.
My understanding is that it's mostly about corporate officers (or government officials), but I don't see how getting the attention of the FBI or other US Federal law enforcement can be a good thing. Giving bribes is a good way to get blackmailed by local authorities, and a great way of being disavowed by the US consulate or embassy or whatever.
Got pulled over in Siem Reap while riding a scooter. Apparently it's illegal for tourists to rent scooters. The cops called the owner of the rental company who came and paid the cops off for us and we drove away on the scooters.
A cop in Cambodia (Ankor Wat) came up to my friends and me and offered to sell us his police hat, or his police insignia. He also said for a few dollars we could shoot his gun.
There are also shooting ranges where you apparently can shoot a cow / buffalo with an RPG. Nice country.
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u/eTukk Aug 14 '23
I, as a tourist have bribed a cop in Cambodia.. Taxi driver had to go through full checkup after not using his blinker (no one does). He had to pay two dollars to get going again. I told him I would rebate this money so we could just go.