VivirLatino

In Mexico City, a bribe paid to a cop can get you out of the stickiest situations. But local government is looking to change all that by keeping an eye on police who blackmail motorists into coughing up the cash. A tough job indeed, but the tactics being employed are even more curious: they are paying cops to keep an eye on cops:

For 100 days, inspectors from local police will make sure that police behave with honorable conduct in the streets when ticketing traffic violations, and that they don’t ask for nor accept “mordidas” (bribes).

It’s a case of good cop, bad cop. But who’s to say that a good cop won’t go bad? I’ve said before that one of the reasons why corruption exists in the Mexico City police force is the incredibly low salary (between 400 to 500 USD per month). They get paid so little that it’s awfully cheap to make them go bad.

A testament to that is the fact that this program says it will reward “good cops” with boxes of food and a shot at a promotion.

Via / Diario de Yucatan

Image via Ed Fladung’s Flickr page