Posted by El_Cochino on December 05, 2000 at 10:17:02:
In Reply to: My first police shakedown...a funny story posted by Swadi on December 03, 2000 at 22:02:56:
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Swadi, I also got ticketed Sunday Morning about 9 AM. I was in a bad part of town northwest of Adelita's about 1 mile. I was suppose to meet a chica at her apartment and when she failed to show I went to another chica's apartment and found her in the room with a girl friend. I don't think she is bi I just think her friend needed a place to stay. That explains why I was in this part of town in the morning. Anyway as I was driving back to my hotel, I make a wrong turn on a one way street and immediately realize my mistake and make a quick U turn to correct the situation. As I am making the turn I see a police car and he sees me. He turns the redlights on and follows me. I get pulled over and I try and explain in spanglese that I know I made a mistake. Right away I think its shakedown when he tells me he must write a ticket and I will have to follow him and his partner to the station. I don't ask him if there is anyway possible I can pay the fine to him and eliminate going to the police station - I had time and I wanted to see what the cost would be of the ticket. While the older cop goes back to the car to write the ticket,I am talking to his partner. He keeps asking me why I am in this bad part of Tijuana - this is after asking me twenty times if I am drinking or have drugs. I tell them I was looking to buy a newspaper - which I really was just not on that street. The partner tells me that the neighborhood I am in is full of drugs and ratteros and it is very dangerous. When the partner comes back I sign the ticket and the fines are listed in that back at anywhere from $15 to $50 (US dollars). There is a San Yasidro address to mail the ticket to if I desire. Instead of me driving to the police station with them the police just leave me there. When I look at the ticket to see the type of infraction it is so I can determine the dollar amount I see it has not been checked. In order to find out what I owe I go to the police station on 8th and Constitution. After about 20 minutes of confusion a police officer leaves me with the clerk. At first I am told the fine is $46 - I give the clerk my money and then he tells me $28. I got a receipt just in case. The confusion I was told is that the tickets say $15 to $50 depending on the five types of infractions. The clerk told me that the fines are now much higher, but that they do not have new ticket forms that show the price. I don't know what would have happened if I had mailed in $15 for my fine to the San Yasidro address. Now that I have an idea of the prices I probably will ask the cop next time if I can pay the ticket with him. If the cop tells me $20 and I will probably try and give him the money.
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