Post: #1

A police officer told a man to buy 3 tickets to a police event for $30 to avoid having his car taken away for being unregistered.

If this is legit, it's sad. I instantly think of Latin American people I've known here who have often been surprised that you don't give cops bribes in this country. Hope that stays the case in general...

Post: #2

I would rather pay a little bribe than deal with getting my car back and tickets.

Post: #3

(08-23-2015 08:29 PM)Brian Shima Wrote:  I would rather pay a little bribe than deal with getting my car back and tickets.

The point is you should register it, instead of first breaking the law, then breaking another law to avoid paying the consequences, then setting up a whole de-facto system where lawbreakers just pay off cops to avoid the consequences for law-breaking.

You see quite clearly what that gets you in Latin America, lots of crime with no effective policing to actually deal with it, cops roaming around looking to extract bribes rather than stop crime.

Post: #4

Thats one thing I always loved about SE Asia. Got pulled over in Chiang Mai for not having plates on my bike. 500 Baht ($15).

Sonsowey is right though. Thai beat cops don't do shit toward actually stopping any crime.

Post: #5

(08-23-2015 08:49 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  

(08-23-2015 08:29 PM)Brian Shima Wrote:  I would rather pay a little bribe than deal with getting my car back and tickets.

The point is you should register it, instead of first breaking the law, then breaking another law to avoid paying the consequences, then setting up a whole de-facto system where lawbreakers just pay off cops to avoid the consequences for law-breaking.

You see quite clearly what that gets you in Latin America, lots of crime with no effective policing to actually deal with it, cops roaming around looking to extract bribes rather than stop crime.

This is a rare incident in America. Dont worry.

Post: #6

(08-23-2015 09:26 PM)Brian Shima Wrote:  

(08-23-2015 08:49 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  

(08-23-2015 08:29 PM)Brian Shima Wrote:  I would rather pay a little bribe than deal with getting my car back and tickets.

The point is you should register it, instead of first breaking the law, then breaking another law to avoid paying the consequences, then setting up a whole de-facto system where lawbreakers just pay off cops to avoid the consequences for law-breaking.

You see quite clearly what that gets you in Latin America, lots of crime with no effective policing to actually deal with it, cops roaming around looking to extract bribes rather than stop crime.

This is a rare incident in America. Dont worry.

Is that like how divorce used to be rare?

Post: #7

The moment written law becomes optional is the moment a society fails.

If you only have to follow "certain" laws, the whole system collapses.

Post: #8

I hope this sort of thing doesn't increase, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. If cops can't do their jobs dealing with violent criminals without catching a ton of flak for it from the media they'll fall back on revenue-making schemes and leave everyone else twisting in the wind.

Already you have that detective who let himself get pistol whipped since he didn't want to shoot an unarmed youth. He knew if he did his life would be destroyed by the media.

Things are getting interesting.

Post: #9

(08-23-2015 08:10 PM)Sonsowey Wrote:  If this is legit, it's sad. I instantly think of Latin American people I've known here who have often been surprised that you don't give cops bribes in this country. Hope that stays the case in general...

It is legit. This happened in Philadelphia, the investigation is on-going but the cop hasn't been named yet.

So the driver got out of getting his car impounded and he turned the footage into Internal Affairs and got the cop in deep shit, haha.

Re: bribery, I'm indifferent if the bribes are only for traffic/parking offensives; most of those infractions are just ways for municipalities to raise revenues without raising taxes. 20 MPH over the posted limit is about $290 where I live...I'd happily pay a cop $100 or $150 to make that ticket disappear.

Post: #10

I have no problem with this. It's a very honest interaction. Taking money for victimless crimes is just robbery, and the state is robbery outfit. The cop was offering him a discount, for mutual gain to both parties. Otherwise the driver would have suffered an even larger robbery. The driver thinks he's done good here but he hasn't. This will just reduce the chances of policemen offering these robbery discounts in the future, hurting citizens and police alike.

Post: #11

(08-24-2015 01:12 AM)Phoenix Wrote:  I have no problem with this. It's a very honest interaction. Taking money for victimless crimes is just robbery, and the state is robbery outfit. The cop was offering him a discount, for mutual gain to both parties. Otherwise the driver would have suffered an even larger robbery. The driver thinks he's done good here but he hasn't. This will just reduce the chances of policemen offering these robbery discounts in the future, hurting citizens and police alike.

I agree. This cop has an asshole personality but I think he's also giving this guy a break...aka getting off with a warning. He gave the guy the options of $30 for charity or a couple hundred and time to get his car back. I think this is fine and I want police to have discretion.

Don't get me wrong though, police can abuse discretion. I know of a cop in Canada (brother of a guy I know) that would purposely target speeders around lunch time...and then give them the option of buying him lunch, or getting the ticket. Thats police corruption, and I would be 'outraged' if the cop in this video just pocketed the money vs. tickets.

Post: #12

I'm torn on this, this shouldn't be happening and this is corruption, but the dude got lucky and paid 30 instead of paying fines and getting his car out of the yard.

The cop was another douche bag on the beat.

Hilariously - the cop got fucked and the dude got away scott free.


The dude should've registered his car, that's his bad.