My girlfriend, Coral is Dominican. She owns a hair salon in Pedregal, a low/middle class area of Panama City. Her brother, Alfonso, works at the barber shop right next door which is owned by a Panamanian police officer. I have known Coral and her family for almost two years. They are simple, hard-working people who came to Panama to pursue a better life than they had in the Dominican Republic. They have their proper documents to be in Panama, don´t commit crimes, do drugs, etc.
I found out last night that Alfonso was arrested and taken to jail, again. Long story short what is happening is the police in this neighborhood have decided that the Dominicans, Colombians, other poor foreigners that live in this area, have to pay their extortion fees otherwise they spend the night in jail. I asked Coral how many times this has happened to Alfonso, since she tries hard not to bother me with her family problems. She tells me this is happening a lot more recently. Last night the police literally came right up to the barber shop, confronted Alfonso, who has been working there for over a year, and, without cause, frisked him. Even though he had his documents in order and was not under suspicion for any crime, they arrested him anyway.
Why would the Panama police do this?, you ask. Simple: because they can. Who is going to report it? A poor 20-year old Dominican with no contacts in Panama but his older sister who runs a small hair salon? In contrast, I am a US citizen living in Panama for two years. I am financially rich by any Panamanian standard. I have been stopped, mostly while riding my motorcycle, about 40 times in two years. This is only because the Panamanian police profile motorcyclists. I can almost understand why. Lots of motorcycles are not registered, stolen, used to commit crimes, etc. In those 40-odd times I was stopped, I was only once very subtly, very indirectly asked to pay a bribe to settle a minor traffic infraction. I paid 20 bucks. No problem. The other times I can objectively say that as long as I had my proper documents in order, the Panama police always just let me go, even if there was a traffic violation involved.
In my opinion, what is happening is that if you are a rich gringo, like me, the Police have been told to lay off. We are the country´s bread and butter (beyond the Canal). They don´t want to get a reputation like Mexico where the police are robbing the tourists more than the criminals. The political powers that be have probably told the police that if they get any negative news about gringo shake-downs they will fire the cops perpetrating the extortion and their bosses. As far as the poor Dominican and Colombian immigrants are concerned, there is no political or financial incentive to protect them from police-officer extortion. The victims, like Alfonso, have no outlet to file a report or protect themselves from evil cops who target the weak.
What is the solution to this problem? I have many, but only some are legal. After all, if the police do not have to play by the rules, then why should their victims? One legal solution I offered Alfonso and his friends that are now under constant attack by these cop-thieves is to always have a smart phone camera ready to roll with video/audio. Record who the officers are, ask them what the stop and frisk is for, and get them to talk. If these corrupt cops begin to understand that their dirty maneuvers are being recorded and possibly sent to their superiors, the media, etc, I believe that this would be a deterrant; they will select another target rather than pursue the clever guys who have the resources to expose their evil ways.
What do you think is the best solution for this problem?
I found out last night that Alfonso was arrested and taken to jail, again. Long story short what is happening is the police in this neighborhood have decided that the Dominicans, Colombians, other poor foreigners that live in this area, have to pay their extortion fees otherwise they spend the night in jail. I asked Coral how many times this has happened to Alfonso, since she tries hard not to bother me with her family problems. She tells me this is happening a lot more recently. Last night the police literally came right up to the barber shop, confronted Alfonso, who has been working there for over a year, and, without cause, frisked him. Even though he had his documents in order and was not under suspicion for any crime, they arrested him anyway.
Why would the Panama police do this?, you ask. Simple: because they can. Who is going to report it? A poor 20-year old Dominican with no contacts in Panama but his older sister who runs a small hair salon? In contrast, I am a US citizen living in Panama for two years. I am financially rich by any Panamanian standard. I have been stopped, mostly while riding my motorcycle, about 40 times in two years. This is only because the Panamanian police profile motorcyclists. I can almost understand why. Lots of motorcycles are not registered, stolen, used to commit crimes, etc. In those 40-odd times I was stopped, I was only once very subtly, very indirectly asked to pay a bribe to settle a minor traffic infraction. I paid 20 bucks. No problem. The other times I can objectively say that as long as I had my proper documents in order, the Panama police always just let me go, even if there was a traffic violation involved.
In my opinion, what is happening is that if you are a rich gringo, like me, the Police have been told to lay off. We are the country´s bread and butter (beyond the Canal). They don´t want to get a reputation like Mexico where the police are robbing the tourists more than the criminals. The political powers that be have probably told the police that if they get any negative news about gringo shake-downs they will fire the cops perpetrating the extortion and their bosses. As far as the poor Dominican and Colombian immigrants are concerned, there is no political or financial incentive to protect them from police-officer extortion. The victims, like Alfonso, have no outlet to file a report or protect themselves from evil cops who target the weak.
What is the solution to this problem? I have many, but only some are legal. After all, if the police do not have to play by the rules, then why should their victims? One legal solution I offered Alfonso and his friends that are now under constant attack by these cop-thieves is to always have a smart phone camera ready to roll with video/audio. Record who the officers are, ask them what the stop and frisk is for, and get them to talk. If these corrupt cops begin to understand that their dirty maneuvers are being recorded and possibly sent to their superiors, the media, etc, I believe that this would be a deterrant; they will select another target rather than pursue the clever guys who have the resources to expose their evil ways.
What do you think is the best solution for this problem?
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