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Published: December 2nd 2006
Hi everyone
I hope you're all safe and sound and happy that the holidays are coming. I know I am!
So the newest episode in the adventure is pretty exciting. I had my first meaningful encounter with the police. Now, the police here are actually the army, so they all have really giant guns and are pretty much to be avoided as much as possible. They almost always look unpleasant and you have to know that there's no accountability so if you say the wrong thing you could wind up in jail for no reason. It's not pretty. So the other day I'm driving back from the doctor's office (trying to figure out where my sleepiness is coming from) and as I'm driving around a roundabout the cop is at the other side flagging down cars. Now, there were about 3 cars in front of me who all drove past, but I stopped. This was the first big mistake on my part.
So the cop comes over to my window and asks me if I knew I ran a red light. I was like "what light? There's no light at that intersection". Apparently, in his world there is. And I ran it. So he's giving me a hard time about this when he asks to see my lisence. So I rifle through my small purse and it's not there. It's still in my bigger purse from when I was in Canada. Crap. So I'm actually driving without a lisence. This was the second big mistake on my part.
So the cop says this is unacceptable and wants the car's registration and insurance papers. I find them after rummaging through the glovebox for what seemed like an eternity. Did I mention they carry really big guns? Anyway, he takes the papers and says they're now confiscated until I go to the station and pay the ticket for running a red light and failing to show a drivers lisence. So I ask where the police station is so I can pay, and it happens to be conveniently located about 100 meters behind me. Apparently the cops here don't like to travel to give traffic tickets...
So I get to the little window to pay my ticket and they say I need my car's papers to be processed. But they've been confiscated by the cop. And he won't give them back until I pay. I tell them this, and they call the cop and get him to walk the 100m to the station which of course is on "African Time". By the time he arrives, they decide they don't want to process me because it's closing time. I'll have to come back tomorrow. They'll keep my papers until then.
This is obviously unacceptable to me, as I know that if I let those papers out of my sight I'll probably never see them again. So the old bargaining skills come out, and I wrangle with the authorities until they agree to process me. NOW. This of course was done as tactfully as possible because I knew at any moment they could decide they were fed up and throw me in jail for no reason. Thankfully my diplomatic skills are finely honed!
In the end, I paid about $50 for my traffic violations and walked out of there unscathed and grateful that I got out of there in one piece. Is there a lesson to be learned here? Of course.
If the cops flag you down, don't stop.
xo
-Brownie
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Jackie Oh!
non-member comment
OMG!
Linds, if you would have been thrown in jail....could you imagine?! Your parents would have had to go over, we would have had to get the Canadian Embassy involved...lawyers...I can see it now! We could have made the whole fiasco into a TV movie! The Lindsey Brown Story. Way to keep your butt out of jail! Glad you've come out unscathed, girl... Love and big hugs, Jackie Oh!