The Police in Sonoita are out of control!

[Stuart]

I've given up on Sonoita. It's simply a gringo tax you have to pay in order to get to Penasco. They know that, we know that.

What can you do about it? Not much. I have cam with audio and have for awhile now. It's literally the only thing you can do to challenge the blatant money grab. Doesn’t always work because a school of sharks seldom eats one of its own.

Be careful out there. Seriously.

 

[VegasDude]

Came northbound yesterday around 1pm, Was filming the entire time. Did the "crawl" at 30k thru town. 3 count at the stop signs. Wife filmed everything. Not sure if it would make a difference but not much else to do. A whole bunch of cars behind me. Oh well.

Seems the Red cross stop isn't there anymore. In its place is a medical donation stop and they moved that closer to town. The new donation stop is very near the intersection with September 16 street. Also, there appears to be a new speed limit posted at/near that new stop. Coming northbound into Sonoita speed limit goes from 90k, to 80k, to 40k and then at the new stop it goes down to 20K. Saw two cop cars. One near the September 16 street and the other on the final stretch to the border.

Saw one Guardia Nacional patrol car on the way nb. At the border, saw a whole bunch,(too many to count) of Guardia Nacional. (black and cam uniforms) .

Nobody stopped us. US border patrol said hi and about 30 seconds later, we moved on.

 

[ernesto]

I know an old timer that spent a week in jail in Nogales for half a box of shotgun shells he forgot about in a cubby hole of his cabover camper. Incredible that they don't have the ability to reason what is a serious security threat to their country.

 

[brokenwave]

Drove thru Sonoyta today at 10:30am, we had a line with 25 cars, they were checking every 3rd car. We got the green light.
The Marines 100 feet south of the agent station had 4 cars pulled over checking them over, most were college aged girls.
Just before the curve, a police truck had a Mercedes convertible from Nevada pulled over, a woman had her hand out the window
with a bunch of $20's handing them over to the crooked Policia's. There were 3 more cop cars waiting for people, further south.
We just passed a slow truck and were going almost 85MPH when we passed just past the 2 bridges. And on our tail was 15 cars and trucks going easily 100MPH, all passed us and some passing each other, crazy times for sure.
Oh well.
Gas in Penasco is now over 21 pesos per liter. Cool and breezy today

 

[Idyllwild]

Headed south mid afternoon yesterday. The line to get into Mexico was two miles long. Once I was in, no problem. Saw one trap lurking a half mile in. Took the bypass across the bridge. As I was approaching the main road, I saw a car go by, obviously speeding, with an illuminated cop car in pursuit. On the way out of town I saw the speeder stopped on the side but otherwise no traps on that side of town. Almost no one heading north.

 

[brokenwave]

We saw lot's of RV's, Trucks hauling trailers and trucks/SUV's hauling side by sides heading north on Friday before noon.

 

[dirtsurfer]

40% of Mexico's police are not officially certified and shouldn't be working

Almost half of Mexico's municipal and state police are not officially certified as required while the numbers are worse at the federal level.

mexiconewsdaily.com

Not sure what the writer meant but generally I think any officer that is not municipal or border is assumed to be a
“Federale ” be they marines or Federal police. Four more of my vriends received bogus tickets in Sonoyta over the weekend. Two were 100% parked at a stop sign and an officer walked up and said you did not stop. Utter bullshirt! Dashcams and cell phone videos help. My wife argued vociferously and very angrily with a Sonoyta officer and he finally relented and let her go-so did she break the law and the officer is not doing his job or was it just another bogus stop that was too much of a hassle to extort money from innocent people? Once again, we need the contact information for the chief of police and the Mayor, also good newspaper contacts (although they kill reporters regularly in Mexico).

 

[dirtsurfer]

I've given up on Sonoita. It's simply a gringo tax you have to pay in order to get to Penasco. They know that, we know that.

What can you do about it? Not much. I have cam with audio and have for awhile now. It's literally the only thing you can do to challenge the blatant money grab. Doesn’t always work because a school of sharks seldom eats one of its own.

Be careful out there. Seriously.

We call it the Mexico tax also but it is infuriating and now the scumbag “officers” want $150.

 

[brokenwave]

One solution is to get a duplicate drivers license and tell them you'll pay at the station, then hand them the extra license and drive to Penasco or head to the border. Remember to only keep $20-40 in your wallet with any other cash and cards hidden well. If pressed the Policia will take what you have in your wallet.
Yes they are scumbags doing this.

 

[rplarry]

Does anybody here have a connection to someone in local media? Either Tucson or Phoenix. ?
TV would be preferable and most compelling.

It seems a story like this would be a great notch in an investigative journalists hat. They could set up in a van or in an suv adjacent to one of the fraudulent ticketing hotspots, and could videotape the shakedowns and theft. And then they could go onto Facebook or this site and ask for people to give personal experiences, and weave together a pretty compelling news story.

My thinking is that the more that this gets made public, and distributed widely, the more pressure those police, who are on the take, would be exposed. As well as the mayor and the local governing authorities who are obviously allowing this to happen.

Any thoughts ?

 

[richwi]

The thought of TV dong a story is a good idea but I seriously doubt it would change anything. No one on the Mexico side really cares. People can say they will refuse to come to Penasco until things change but unless you could get thousands doing that it wont have an effect. It really gets to my sense of right and justice but I really can't see anything changing it since there is no incentive for it to change.

 

[playavader]

Does anybody here have a connection to someone in local media? Either Tucson or Phoenix. ?
TV would be preferable and most compelling.

It seems a story like this would be a great notch in an investigative journalists hat. They could set up in a van or in an suv adjacent to one of the fraudulent ticketing hotspots, and could videotape the shakedowns and theft. And then they could go onto Facebook or this site and ask for people to give personal experiences, and weave together a pretty compelling news story.

My thinking is that the more that this gets made public, and distributed widely, the more pressure those police, who are on the take, would be exposed. As well as the mayor and the local governing authorities who are obviously allowing this to happen.

Any thoughts ?

KVOA Tucson and FOX 10 Phoenix are probably afraid that they will get bogusly fined while driving down there to report LOL

 

[playavader]

I've given up on Sonoita. It's simply a gringo tax you have to pay in order to get to Penasco. They know that, we know that.

What can you do about it? Not much. I have cam with audio and have for awhile now. It's literally the only thing you can do to challenge the blatant money grab. Doesn’t always work because a school of sharks seldom eats one of its own.

Be careful out there. Seriously.

I used to go to Penasco through Magdalena and Caborca back when things were safe along that route because my wife at the time didn't have a visa to cross into the US. I would rather deal with Sonoyta cops then go through Altar/Pitiquito/Caborca and get our car taken from us by some Narco or worse get hit by a stray bullet being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[Mexico Joe]

Been in Rocky Point for a month now. Camo guys southbound at the border have confiscated two small knifes from two of our friends. They were not over 4 inches. Camo guys just wanted them. 4 of our fellow rver's have been stopped and "fined". Yesterday our friends became victim. This last one was for "speeding" northbound heading toward the Red Cross stop. I was not there, so I don't know what their speed was. $180 gone. Reports of another rv near the Red Cross stop, same thing. There are more.
All of these folks are rver's and are retired and as a habit do not speed and obey traffic laws. We are not in a hurry to get anywhere and not their first time to Rocky point.

My point is, yes, they could have been over the speed limit, but none of these folks made it to the court house. They all paid their "fine" to the cop. At least one says that they could not pay a fine until the next day if they wanted to go to the station. I believe that's part of the scam.

So I agree. Were gonna do what we've been doing for 16 years here. 10k under the speed limit. 3 count at the stop signs. (my buddy says stop and say the lords prayer, then go)

Got the truck camera on the windshield going and now were also gonna have the wife filming on her iPhone the whole time.

You can be my wing man anytime!

 

[Mexico Joe]

I've given up on Sonoita. It's simply a gringo tax you have to pay in order to get to Penasco. They know that, we know that.

What can you do about it? Not much. I have cam with audio and have for awhile now. It's literally the only thing you can do to challenge the blatant money grab. Doesn’t always work because a school of sharks seldom eats one of its own.

Be careful out there. Seriously.

It's hard to accept regardless but it's one thing if these tickets were $20 but $150?! GTFOH. $150 bogus ticket is a bad taste in your mouth. I would argue the people you need to persuade are business owners in Rocky Point. Or if anyone is cartel connected and we can ask the DON for his blessing to stop this madness... It's honestly ridiculous. It's a real tough pill to swallow when you watch MF'rs drive on the wrong side of the road but 38km in 40km zone is speeding!!!!! HUH. STFU. You're telling me that KIKO MUNRO doesn't give a F if this is happening? The problem is that the police are connected so there really isn't anything that can be done because if you remember.... CORRUPTION IS CANCER.

 

[PeterW]

The google Playstore has a free app called Droid Dashcam that turns your cellphone into a dashcam. It has quite a few more options than simply using your phone's video recorder. I hear that using the "I have it all recorded, we can watch it here or at the courthouse" line works pretty well to end up with a warning.

Droid Dashcam - Video Recorder - Apps on Google Play

High Performance & Lightweight Video Recorder App with Hardcoded Subtitles

play.google.com

 

[PeterW]

I have been through Sonoyta dozens and dozens of times. I drive about 23mph with locals and zonies usually on my ass. Never been pulled over. I have seen lots and lots of Arizona plated vehicle flying through Sonoyta. While there may be 'some' police corruption, from what I have seen, most of the speeders got what they deserved.

 

[ernesto]

Downloaded the phone dashcam. Great idea as it records video and speed on a loop.

 

[Queen of Kings]

It's funny how people complain. They freely admit to doing 85 mph and being passed my most others going 100 mph+ but can't understand why they get stopped and ticketed by the police. Same law breakers complaining about enforcement in Mexico as in the US. As you get older, most people come to realize there is no rush. Speed kills, in Mexico and in the US.

 

[PeterW]

It's funny how people complain. They freely admit to doing 85 mph and being passed my most others going 100 mph+ but can't understand why they get stopped and ticketed by the police. Same law breakers complaining about enforcement in Mexico as in the US. As you get older, most people come to realize there is no rush. Speed kills, in Mexico and in the US.

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