Questionable Conduct
I have a great aversion to doing admin tasks like filling out tax forms or renewing vehicle licenses. In the case of vehicle licenses it involves driving to the local traffic department, standing in a queue for a couple of hours and dealing with staff who would rather be somewhere else. After a previous road accident my windscreen was replaced and I never quite got around to replacing the license disc that by law needs to be on it at all times. This alone voids any qualifications I might have as an upright road using citizen and I know I must get around to getting a new license disc as soon as possible.
Last Friday night while driving home from work in Johannesburg, however, I got pulled over by the Metro Police for a spot check. It didn’t take the officer on duty long to discover that my windscreen was free of any obstruction including the required disc. After his discovery he immediately informed me of my failure to comply with the laws of the road that will result in a hefty fine and termination of my driving license as consequence. I commented that the punishment seems pretty severe considering that my only crime was not replacing the disc immediately after the accident to which he responded that the road laws are changing and that they are getting rather strict on road users. He then asked me if I wanted him to “help” me. Not sure what he meant and hoping for some leniency I responded that I might need some help. He continued to ask how much money I had on me. Realizing what he was after, I told him that I thought it would be better if he wrote the fine. Agitated he replied that he was trying to help me asking again how much money I had on me. I countered that I made the mistake deserving of a fine and that what he was suggesting is illegal. Not pleased with my ungratefulness for his offer to “help” he ordered me to go.
He wanted me to bribe him of course which seems to be an increasing phenomenon on the roads before Christmas. If I did, I would have fueled the corruption within the police force which seriously undermines our justice system. The reason why the officer let me go when he realized I would not illegally pay my way out of trouble is because he suspected that I would report him. It makes one wonder how Brett Keble’s car got “lost” so easily.
November 22nd, 2006 at 3:16 pm
i commend you for your actions, if I were in your position I probably would have bribed him and driven home a corrupt man.
However, I have been pulled over a couple of times where a bribe would have saved me a lot of hassle and jail time.
November 23rd, 2006 at 5:56 pm
Villy, it wasn’t purely righteousness that spurred me to behave the way I did. I saw the mere fact that he suggested I bribe him as a get-out-of-trouble-free card. He knew that I could get him into trouble as soon as he uttered the words – I could have recorded the dialogue with my phone for example. Cognisant of this I took a gamble that he would let me go. But that’s not the point…
The point, and response to your second sentence, is that as soon as a trusted enforcer of the law’s integrity is for sale, you put the responsibility on him/her as to where they draw the line. In your case, the offences where fairly minor, but the same officer you could have hypothetically bribed for smaller things might take bribes for more serious crimes at a higher premium later. What if that same person gets a promotion one day? What if he gets pretty high up the ranks and gets a lucrative sum for merely making evidence disappear for say a murder or rape trial?
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Maybe he even ends up being the Commissioner for the police force…
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Indeed, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised.