www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Ok, so tonight about 2am, I take a hot little number out of the HDR, and as I walk down the street, right in front of the colonial one those tiny blue policia cars pulls up and stops and starts to harass me.

This is virtually right in front of the HDR.

So he takes my photocopy of my passport, and entrance stamp, and calls it in.. sits on the phone for a few minutes, then comes back and says the stamp is not readable. In fact, it wasn't very readable on my passport, it was very faint and the light blue ink they are now using doesn't photocopy real well either.

So they Phuck around for about 10 mor minutes, searching me and the chica, asking questions, then they tell me i have to go down to the station for an "investigation". I ask the guy, quietly, if there was any other way, giving him a knowing look.. he says no and packs me in the back then drives off with me.. he drives around for about 15 minutes, through really bad neighborhoods, then pulls down a side street with seedly looking people standing around and then starts telling me there is a fine for not having documentation. I ask how much, and he says he doesn't know.. he gets on the phone and calls someone, and then hands me the phone..t his guy claims i have to pay a $500 ticket, but if I pay the cops $200 i can avoid it.

I know this is bullshit. But here I am, in some nasty neighborhood, and if I fight it, there's two outcomes... either they're going to take me to the station, and waste a whole day, or they're going to make me get out in this nasty neighborhood.

This was a hijacking, plain and simple. It was bullshit, but I really had little choice.. i asked him if i paid would he bring me back to the HDR, he said yes.. I tried to offer him 20,000c, but he wouldn't take it.. finally, I told him $100 or he can take me in... he agrees, reluctantly.. pretending his female partner shouldn't know anything about the transaction.. yeah, right, like she wouldn't know exactly why he suddenly decides to drop me off at the HDR... Then, he drives me 5 blocks from the HDR and tells me to get out.. 3am and he wants me to walk 5 blocks by myself.. nice.

This was right out on the street... watch your backs guys....

Wow.... That's fücked up!!!

Did you get any Identification of the cop, car plate number, etc.? We need to start reporting this kind of sh¡t to the appropiate people, including the US Embassy.

200.00!? What ever happened to the 10k bribe? Crooked bastards, I noticed the same thing last trip with the stamp, it just won't photocopy well so you can read it. Doesn't matter anyway if they decide to ROB you.

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Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

Lately the stamp date is almost always unreadable...

Last year 2008 they started using a redesigned stamp with much lighter blue ink...I have noticed on photocopies that you cant really read the date with certainty. Not surprising a few crooked cops would learn about this and play this bullshit game.

Sorry to here about the misfortune MG.

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Why settle for just one woman when you can enjoy them all?

I definitely agree completely with this. In fact, I'd go a step further. Its bad enough when we allow ourselves to be shaken down for bribes when we've actually done something wrong and the mordida is relatively minor because it only encourages more and more extreme such behavior by the police. But we at least, in such cases we can write it off as a relatively small price to pay to avoid an inconvenience. What these alleged cops did goes well beyond minor to outright extortion and robbery.

1) Are you absolutely certain they were cops? I have heard of crooks using fake or stolen uniforms, though this would be the first time I'd have heard of their also using a fake car?

2) You said he "sits on the phone for a few minutes". I've never been in a tico police car and I realize they're underfunded, but would think if they could afford the car they could also afford some sort of radio device to go with it. Did this car have a radio and was the cop actually using that or was he actually using his personal cell phone? The reason I ask is because if he was using a phone there is no way you can really be sure he was calling it in to the station rather than speaking to some other accomplice.

3) You're right that the way they stamp the passports doesn't always photocopy that well. This is why you sometimes need to photocopy it several times using darker settings each time until you come out with one that is the most readable. Besides, if the stamp isn't that strong on the original and they not only know but encourage visitors to their country to only carry around photocopies of their passports because of the horrible number of instances of passport thefts that occur there, then whose fault is that? Of course, those arguments won't do you much good out on the street when you're confronted by one of these ignorant bullies and all you have is the poorly copied version that you did, but it is an argument you could have used later with his "superiors".

4) Instead of asking the guy "quietly, if there was any other way, giving him a knowing look." you should have first suggested taking you back to your hotel where you could have showed him the original (and where you wanted to go anyway). Hinting at a bribe the way you did so quickly and easily only sets you (and everyone else) as someone that can always be shaken down. OTOH, having thought that this was only going to be one of those relatively minor a nd routine 10K or 20K shakedowns, your actions to avoid any further hassles were certainly understandable.

5) Obviously, this guy had no interest in seeing your original since he clearly knew you were really legit and just wanted a shakedown. Equally clearly, he was not going for the run of the mill shakedown but wanted to do more to scare you into shelling out some big money. WTF, why were you carrying that much money around with you out on the street at 2AM in the morning in the first place? :!::!::!: And, for that matter, if you were so foolish to have that much money on you at that hour, why were you walking down the street instead of getting directly into a cab? :!::!::!: Perhaps if you told him all you had on you was 10-20K he might have settled for that.

6) Did you have that much money on you because you had been gambling and winning a lot? That would be the only "excuse" I could imagine (though it still wouldn't explain why you didn't take a cab). Being drunk and indiscreet on top of that wouldn't have helped either (not saying that applied to you in this case but it does often apply to others). If you had that type of cash on you, I suspect that you weren't just randomly targetted for this shakedown (or that others who exercise greater care need to worry so much about such extreme events happening to them).

7) I think it is also pretty clear that, after saying you "had to go down to the station for an 'investigation'" but then driving you "around for about 15 minutes, through really bad neighborhoods," and pulling you "down a side street with seedly looking people standing around", he was never really interested in taking you down to the station, only in intimidating you. I think you should have called his bluff and ASKED him to take you to the station IMMEDIATELY. That certainly would have been a LOT better than being let off where you were then.

8 ) Not that this means anything to a rogue (or possibly fake) cop, but if the purported purpose for stopping you was crime prevention (immigration crime), then letting some defenseless tourist off in an area where he was CERTAIN to get mugged or, for that matter, NOT harassing those "seedly (sic) looking people standing around" INSTEAD, that doesn't make a lot of sense.

9) He calls in SOMEWHERE again and puts you on the phone with a guy who tells you its a $500 fine but you can bribe the cop you're with for $200? That doesn't sound like any shakedown I've ever heard of (sorry, Jazzbo). Usually, the shakedown is attempted without the superiors direct knowledge UNLESS that superior is also getting a cut. Again, I don't think you actually even were talking to his station cheif.

10) Okay, so you know this is all bullshit and you knew your choices were paying the money (or some negotiated settlement amount), being let out where you'd probably be mugged, lose all the valuables you had with and possibly be seriously injured too boot, OR have them take you in. I think you should have gone for that last option and called his bluff. Maybe they'd have held you for a while further harassing you and trying to intimidate you into "voluntarily" paying some "fine", but ultimately you had done nothing wrong and paying that much for nothing only rewards bad behavior and encourages more. As likely, this wasn't really being done with the station's knowledge and consent and, if you refused to pay and insisted on either being taken to the police station or being released at some secure location, (realizing he wasn't going to be able to get anything out of you under the pretense of a fine rather than out and out robbing you himself) the cop would have complied rather than risk being reported to his superiors.

11) I realize that my advice is easy to give sitting safely at home in my chair rather than sitting in the back of some police car in some scary barrio, but at the very least you should have tried to remember badge numbers to report the incident later after you were safe. I'm sure that this is not the type of image that the SJ municipality wants projected amongst the tourist community.

Regardless of all the above, I'm still sorry to hear about your misfortune.

Same thing happenend to me one afternoon on Calle 6. The date stamp was clearly legible but the cop said it wasn't.

I waited them out, refused to get in the car. There were lots crack ho's on the street yelling at the cops to leave me alone.

After about an hour, they finally said scre it and moved on. Both cops were little teeny tiny guys. They needed to be to get into one of those little blue clown cars.

I have read and re read and do not see where the guy says he had much money on him. He says he was searched but never said how much money he had. Am I confused ?

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Always nice to wake up and see what will happen today

Herman, he says he was shaken fown for $200 and ultimately paid $100 and even $100 is WAAAYYY too much money to be carrying around with you out on the street at that time of night.

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Luck, is right! We need to start standing up to these crooked cops or where will it all end? It all started with something minor that we thought we could just write off. After all, what is 10-20K? But that has only encouraged such shakedowns to be even more common and now, apparently, even more brazen and extreme. Phuck them, call their bluff, insist they either let you go or take you in. They don't want their superiors to know what they're doing, because that means either they'll have to cut them in on it (if they're corrupt as well) or will get in trouble themselves. Somewhere up the chain of command there will be someone who realizes the bad P/R that this type of activity brings to them and the department is not worth the small cut that they could get out of it.

Mayor Clarke is interested in cleaning up her city. Let her start with her police department. I think a big part of the problem is that the way they've been trying to deal with the crime problem is by throwing more and more bodies at it, rather than providing better pay and training for the ones they already have. As a result, you have larger numbers of inadequately paid officers, some of whom feel they need to somehow supplement (sorry again to you grammar police) their meager salaries given the "risks" they face. Further, I have to wonder whether, in the rush to hire all these new "cadets", they haven't relaxed their standards or perhaps let a few "criminally inclined" misfits through into their ranks. By reporting these guys, rather than going along, if enough complaints pile up on the worst offenders, maybe they can be thinned from their ranks. I still believe these Barney Fifes may be inept and ineffective (and in most cases unwilling to put their necks out on the line) but that most of them are just trying to do their jobs (more or less honestly) and earn an honest living.

Several months ago I Had the exact same thing happen in that particular spot to me, and I was carrying a beer on the street (I think thats legal but not sure laws change to fast)... the cops slowed down turned on their lights and I just took a left into the colonial casino and once inside quickened my pace..... and nothing happened. In general it is best to evade these guys because they will not follow you if you make it just a little difficult.... remember the first rule of Tico culture they are lazy mofos, first and foremost above all they go for low hanging fruit.

I think it was last Aug. the newspapers had some stories about gringos getting shaken down by crooked policia in SJO and the bad publicity seemed to put a stop to it, for a while anyway. Found this in one old thread-

Thanks, Paco....I just jotted down your info. May come in handy when I arrive in CR on the 6th of February. Might be a good idea for a gringo to carry a pen and a piece of paper during his walks in San Jose. It would be good to write down officer's names, badge numbers, car numbers, date and time of incident, etc. I doubt they would be willing to supply you with a pen and paper for this purpose. A little writing on the spot might quickly end the whole situation.

Excellent thought here along with a cell phone ready in hand to call the embassy or whomever that they think you are calling and you have enough of a deterent where they will move on to an easier victim

1st of all $ 100-$ 200 is nothing . More than that maybe. Most people have that in their pocket. How are you going to pay a girl $ 80- $ 100 without it in your pocket. Do you want her to see where you keep your bankroll? 2nd , this whole thing sounds fishy because the police speak little or no english. How do they tell you all of this unless you understand spanish. Being out at 2:00 am sets you up for trouble in any big city. Where was he walking to. He did not say he was staying at Colonial. Just does not add up.

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Always nice to wake up and see what will happen today

Ouch.....this is some scary stuff......doesn't sound like even if you had your actual passport on you it would have made much difference. That being said, here's what I do rather than relying on a b/w or color photo copy of the entrance stamp:

Immigration stamps my passport and then I pull out my color copy and request it be stamped as well. Now, each time (whopping 3 times...soon to be 4) I have done this, to a man jack, the Immigration person stalls stamping the copy. The last trip, the fellow, a guy perhaps in "our" age ranges (50+) kept tapping on the actual passport and telling me to keep it in a safe place. I kept telling him "Exactly. I put this in the hotel safe and then use this copy to carry with me. That's OK isn't it?" Each time, finally, the copy is stamped with a grin, but only after I've repeated myself, politely, several times. Just an idea.....*shrug*

http://sanjose.osac.gov/ is perhaps a place to make a complaint on the contact page which is here: http://sanjose.osac.gov/contact.cfm

Heck, anything is possible: Maybe the bird of the night had a deal set up with John Law? Maybe John Law was in an "off duty" capacity? Heck, I dunno....but it's scary stuff

PS: Is this a chica friendly hotel...Colonial??

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"Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand."
- Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, Ch. 16

First of all, maybe $200 or even just $100 is nothing to rich guys like you. If so, would you mind just handing it over to me the next time I'm in SJ? I could really use it for 2-4 hour long sessions with the chicas.

Secondly, if "most people have that in their pocket", particularly when out on the street in that area at 2 in the morning", then, I'm sorry, they are idiots who have little reason to complain if they wind up losing it. Frankly, I suspect that most people, around here at least, have enough sense NOT to carry that much cash because they have read about all the things that can happen and what things they can do (like only carrying what they need to spend on food and drink).

Third, "How are you going to pay a girl $ 80- $ 100 without it in your pocket." Gee, I dunno. Maybe, by taking it out of your safe at the end of you're session.

Fourth, "Do you want her to see where you keep your bankroll?" If the money is kept in the safe as everyone around here advises it should be, what difference does it make if she sees you pull it out of there? A) even the densest chica could probably figure out that is what a safe is for (sorry JB). B) She doesn't have the key or the code to get into it on her own. C) You ALWAYS pay at the END for them to LEAVE and so she is not going to have the opportunity to even try to get into your safe (or whereever else you keep your bankroll) anyway.

And fifth, I don't know, MAYBE MG speaks passable spanish or MAYBE one of these cops spoke enough english for MG to understand what he was after (apparently his partner who he was trying to shortchange did not). Or MAYBE any difficulties in communication that existed was a big factor in MG's understanding what the cop wanted or in his ability to talk his way out of it. But whatever that situation or other mistakes that MG made by walking at that hour with so much money, does NOT mean that he was lying about anything he posted or that it was sounds "fishy" and "does not add up". I was a little critical of some of MG's action, but he still has my sympathy and I'd NEVER suggest that he was just making this whole thing up.

Frankly, if I were to cast any aspersions, it would be on your post not MG's. Sure MG made a few mistakes that may have helped put him into that situation and should have known better about those. But we all sometimes slip up when we're on the ground and when we're in a tense situation like MG was it is anybody's guess how they'll react. Our posts on the other hand are made in the luxury of calm and reflection. If you've been a member around here as long as you have, IMHO, you should have known better than to suggest what you just did.