So I paid JMPD a bribe

[Stefanmuller]

The cops who are baiting for a bribe over inflates the fine, thus kind of forcing you to rather take the bribe. I mean, stopping you for a minor offence and then saying the fine is R1500, or R200 cash when the actual fine should be R300 is also not right to the driver. I usually just take the fine and forget about it.

 

[supersunbird]

First the hacking and now this... geez!

Should just have taken the fine, you did wrong.

 

[biometrics]

Not my proudest moment and the lead-up to it was the drive home last night from Bryanston towards Fourways on Main Rd with the intention of turning left into Witkoppen Rd. If you commute this area, you will know that filing into the turning lane for Witkoppen requires you on a busy day to file into the emergency lane 300-400 metres before Witkoppen. Last night traffic was busier than usual and I could not file in, nor would anyone give me a gap - so I proceeded straight and turned left into Witkoppen from the straight lane on Main.

Yes, according to AARTO I was at fault: "Failed to comply with the directions conveyed by a road traffic sign by not proceeding straight as indicated by the arrow"

The female JMPD officer saw it the same way and pulled four cars over. She started with the Merc, Beemer and Audi behind me and after a 1/2 minute discussion with each driver she let them go. My turn came and I was outright told "I am going to write you a fine for R1200 because you turned on a straight". I questioned the the actual violation and the fine but then was told, that she can make it easy or difficult for me.

I admitted that it was my fault and I expected to be let off with a verbal warning, since the other 3 cars behind me also did not get a fine. Then she just outright said "I made a deal with the others, and can do the same with you. How much can you afford?". So I put 200 bucks into my ID-book and got a friendly "thank you" and continued my commute home.

Not quite happy about this as friends had similar experiences, reported the cops and subsequently had a hell of a time with harassment from fellow JMPD staff. None of the corrupt officials ever got disciplined.

While others say "Damn, you could have gotten away for 100 bucks" and some say "You should have reported her" and others "The right thing would have been to accept the fine", I just felt, that why should I waste my time to fight against corrupt cops or contest an insanely high fine (she wanted to charge me R1200, whereas I argued that this would not be more than R500 bucks before the discount according to AARTO).

I guess the time has come where I have recalibrated my moral compass with our president. I guess if I run into the same situation again, I will push them to give me a fine and settle. I doubt it would be worthwhile reporting cops for asking for bribes as this would clearly go no-where. Any thoughts / suggestions?

Sounds so easy to catch them in the act if someone wanted to.

I lived in Joburg for a year in the mid 90's. On picking up my housemate (who just moved up as well) from the station I drove around the CBD to show her what's going on. In one of the multi-lane one ways you were supposed to turn right at a robot if in the right lane. I went over. Got stopped by a pair of cops (a white and a black guy incidentally). Got spinned the story. I said quite spontaneously "no problem but I need a receipt so I can claim it back from my company" ... after a bit of eye balling he let me go.



Welcome to Joburg.

 

[Necuno]

Gunning for no1 corrupt position in RSA?

Not my proudest moment and the lead-up to it was the drive home last night from Bryanston towards Fourways on Main Rd with the intention of turning left into Witkoppen Rd. If you commute this area, you will know that filing into the turning lane for Witkoppen requires you on a busy day to file into the emergency lane 300-400 metres before Witkoppen. Last night traffic was busier than usual and I could not file in, nor would anyone give me a gap - so I proceeded straight and turned left into Witkoppen from the straight lane on Main.

Yes, according to AARTO I was at fault: "Failed to comply with the directions conveyed by a road traffic sign by not proceeding straight as indicated by the arrow"

The female JMPD officer saw it the same way and pulled four cars over. She started with the Merc, Beemer and Audi behind me and after a 1/2 minute discussion with each driver she let them go. My turn came and I was outright told "I am going to write you a fine for R1200 because you turned on a straight". I questioned the the actual violation and the fine but then was told, that she can make it easy or difficult for me.

I admitted that it was my fault and I expected to be let off with a verbal warning, since the other 3 cars behind me also did not get a fine. Then she just outright said "I made a deal with the others, and can do the same with you. How much can you afford?". So I put 200 bucks into my ID-book and got a friendly "thank you" and continued my commute home.

Not quite happy about this as friends had similar experiences, reported the cops and subsequently had a hell of a time with harassment from fellow JMPD staff. None of the corrupt officials ever got disciplined.

While others say "Damn, you could have gotten away for 100 bucks" and some say "You should have reported her" and others "The right thing would have been to accept the fine", I just felt, that why should I waste my time to fight against corrupt cops or contest an insanely high fine (she wanted to charge me R1200, whereas I argued that this would not be more than R500 bucks before the discount according to AARTO).

I guess the time has come where I have recalibrated my moral compass with our president. I guess if I run into the same situation again, I will push them to give me a fine and settle. I doubt it would be worthwhile reporting cops for asking for bribes as this would clearly go no-where. Any thoughts / suggestions?

 

[HavocXphere]

Friend of a friend said he had no cash and the cop suggested a FNB to FNB instant cashless transfer thingie (not sure...sounds like paypal but cellphone based). Said person asked the cop what now seeing how I've now got your details & proof...cop replies fine but you paid a bribe as well so now guilty too...totally chilled about it. Seems so accepted that I suspect it shows up on their payslips...

Anyway...if they need to write a ticket then just do it. Bribing someone is potentially career ending for me, so I'd rather pay the 1k or whatever and get it over with.

Only tickets I have a problem with a those fu.ck'd up admission of guilt ones where you get a criminal record for being an upstanding citizen that pays their fines. Still can't wrap my head around that concept...

 

[NeonNinja]

Sister eWalleted a JMPD guy...

So walk me through the dynamics of bribing and getting into hot water?

 

[Foxhound5366]

I'm wondering ... anybody with a dashcam think it would be useful in a case like this, where you discreetly twist it around to face the driver's window while the cop is doing the slow swagger over to the car?

 

[Brieuse]

i did just that. I explained that I could not file in and that me turning was done in a safe/non-hazardous way (after all, I turned from the straight into the outer lane - so no obstruction etc). She was in for the bribe and did not want to hear anything else. TBH, if it wasn't for a long/exhausting day, I would have done it differently and just asked her to write out the fine. Lesson learned, glad to see that others have more moral fibre in this situation.

So you deliberately broke the law twice... Don't blame the long day.