Corrupt Police: Usually The Real Criminals

August 2, 2007

Bargaining and keeping a close eye on your money is always a challenging affair while traveling in developing countries.

Chris at Nomad4Ever writes a great piece on how to avoid being scammed by Police in Bali. His principals can be applied to most developing countries.

I remember hearing a story of a foreigner in Cambodia who was quite down and critical of the country. While his friends when out for “Happy” Pizza, he was robbed at gun point of his money and passport.

Frantically, he went to the police station to make a report. The police were asleep in the cells, but did reluctantly put on their pants to make a report. The catch was they demanded $50 payment to begin the investigation. After handing over the bill, the police offered to drive him to his hotel, but not before pulling into a gas station and forcing the foreigner to fill up the tank.

The next morning a group of officers showed up at the hotel demanding another $100 to continue searching for the “unknown” thief. Finally wisening up to the scam the foreigner refused payment and instead was going to take a bus that afternoon to the capital to apply for a new passport.

Like clockwork, just as the foreigner was boarding the bus the police showed up, dangling his passport and demanding another $200 to “close the investigation” and turn over his documents.

So any guesses as to who was behind the robbery?