Be wary of the corrupt police in Puerto Vallarta, read on...

[Newyorkstateofmind51]

I am sorry to have to report this story, but this happened to me and a friend during our stay in P.V. last week. The hotels involved (where we stayed) are taking very serious action with the local Tourist Board, the mayor, and other officials. I have also involved the US Consulate through Consular Kelly Trainor in P.V. who knows all about this and is taking action with the police department and is keeping in touch with me about this horrible incident.....

It's long but important to read, and bear in mind that the bottom line is that the police were trying to extort me and my friend from our money (they succeeded with my friend), and could have possibly tried to hide drugs in our clothing or who knows what else. Many local people and tourists confirmed after the fact that they were not really checking us for drugs. Yes, police corruption in Mexico is very real- we experienced it first hand. Think twice about visiting Puerto Vallarta. After my 4th trip to Mexico, I can't think about going back at this point......
(PS- I am leaving out the names of the hotel owners/managers for their privacy.

Here is the letter I sent below......
=======================================
Dear Mr. ___________:

I am writing you at this time from my room at The Hotel Abbey where I am on vacation from January
23 - 31, 2010.

This is a written description of the events that took place on Monday morning, January 25, 2010 around
2:10 am which you requested from me.

I was leaving by foot from Club Manana approximately 2:00 am in the morning on 1/25th with a friend who was also part of my group. He was staying at The Blue Chairs hotel.

He said he knew how to get back to the hotel by foot and that it was fairly close so we decided to walk.

We made a stop at a store called “Oxxo” near the hotel, to pick up some fruit and food. After leaving Oxxo, we weren't exactly sure which direction our hotel was in so we were crossing the street not sure if we needed to make a right or a left.

Within moments a white truck with an open back came by with two gentlemen, my friend thought they were stopping to help give us directions and I asked for directions to The Blue Chairs but I can't recall what they said and because I do not speak Spanish, I didn't grasp what they were trying to tell us. My friend thought they were asking to give us a ride in their truck to the hotel, which I wouldn't have accepted even if that were the case.

Within another minute or two a police car came from the other direction and two or three policemen came out and started to question us and go thru our possessions for no reason apparent to either of us. There were now a total of five policeman on the scene detaining us from going back to our hotels. (The white truck, mentioned in the paragraph above was not marked as a police truck to the best of my recollection but contained two policemen in uniform which was very obvious when they stepped out to join the police officers that exited the car). The police car had it's red and blue lights flaring.

I was asked for identification so I gave the officer my drivers license from my small wallet where I kept my paper money. He looked at it and I motioned for him to give it back to me and then he asked me to put my hands up on the side of the truck where he opened all of the pockets in my cargo shorts and began removing the contents partially with my assistance and also on his own. These shorts have ten pockets in total and I had items in about six of the ten pockets.

I was fearful that I would not see my drivers license again, in addition to my other property and had no idea what may occur next knowing there was absolutely reason to have been stopped and searched to begin with.

The officer took out the case for my glasses, my hotel room key, my camera, my bottle of Visine for my eyes, and then took out my wallet and counted all of the individual bills in front of me which was rather unsettling. I watched every move he made and was terrified with what was transpiring. He had no reason to stop me, let alone check my clothing , open my pockets , and feel my clothing with his hands.

I have no idea what he thought he would find, but there was nothing to find other than what I described above.

My friend was not next to me but was nearby and was receiving a similar interrogation from one of the other officers.

The officers were all were fairly short in height, and were probably in their late 20's to early 30's.

It is important to note that I was totally sober, having no alcohol, only Diet Coke from 4 :00 in the afternoon until late that evening. My speech was not incomprehensible, I was not staggering in my walk, and was totally coherent. There was absolutely no reason to be stopped and harassed in this manner.

My friend and I were detained for about 10 minutes when they finally let us go.

He walked me to the corner of my hotel, I was feeling horrified and humiliated and then he proceeded to go to his hotel, the Blue Chairs.

I told the man on duty at the desk of the Abbey what just occurred and he asked me if I had the police cars numbers or officers names. Needless to say, I had no pen, and couldn't even think straight about what was happening let alone get any identifying information. He made a report in a log book that you keep at the desk.

The next morning, (around 10:30 a.m), I came to see you to report this abusive incident.

I was never told my rights from the police officers, told why I was being searched, or given explanation at all.

I am a U.S. Citizen, and being in a foreign country and not speaking the language, I felt I had better cooperate with the police since I had no clue what may transpire next.

When I got back to my hotel room, I checked all of my possessions and realized everything was intact, including my cash as I was very careful to watch the actions of the police officer go thru all of my bills.

Today, my friend who was staying at the Blue Chairs after checking his wallet was not as lucky.

I have to say that I have lived and traveled around the world for the past 30 years and have NEVER
experienced anything quite like this in my life.

As I told you today, if I have one more incident like this, I am on the next flight back to New York, and I can tell you now (even though it is the beginning of my trip) I can't consider coming back to Puerto Vallarta again the way that I am feeling right now, as this has truly been a traumatic experience and not something I would ever anticipate happening to me on vacation.

I was made to feel like a criminal and it was embarrassing, humiliating , and possibly the worst travel experience I have had in my fifty one years of living.

This is not a good indication for future visitors to your city, nor to any of my family members or friends in New York that I may choose to tell about incident.

I also reported this to the manager of the Blue Chairs hotel.

I realized how upsetting this is and I am hoping you and the Tourist Authority will do right be me in addition to the apology you already gave me. I prefer not to take this story any further to the Mexican Consulate in New York, any of the gay hotel travel organizations, etc., but I truly feel that your hotel in conjunction with the local Tourist Authorities can figure out a way within the next few days to try to turn this situation around for me which requires more than an apology. I am very stressed about this and even though I try not to think about it, it's on my mind here all during my vacation.

It is one thing if I was doing anything wrong, but I was with another tourist in a tourist area, 3 blocks from my hotel and am the least likely candidate that should be stopped and harassed. If it is unsafe (unsafe from the police) to walk 3 blocks away from the hotel at night, I think the guests need to be told this.

Near the same street where this incident occurred there were drunken men nearby, prostitutes, and other unsavory characters that are the people you need to worry about in the vicinity of the tourists.

I look to the police for safety, protection, and guidance, and now this has completely turned my thinking upside down during my stay in Puerto Vallarta and has made this tourist paranoid of the police here. This is very wrong.

I await your prompt response,

AM
New York, NY

[navy721]

GET OVER IT. Just like the guys said on Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor.

You must have nothing better to do wtih yourself than to go around whimpering to everyone who bascially at the end of it all will just oh okay sorry bud. What do you want them to do?

You arent in the US. You should have been more careful and not cause a scene when you are walking around at 2am. PV isnt NYC and frankly you should be lucky becase of it or else they would have shot a round or two then planted a gun or drugs on you.

I may need to grow up too, but I'm not the tearful one who is upset that the police searched me because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time... as the other guy said... nothing good will come out of being on the streets 2am in a city that you do not live, in a country that you do not reside. Next time spend a buck and call a cab... or look a freaking map before you leave the bar.

[katnsocal]

Navy721,
Are you that bored? You have started three different threads on TA telling this guy what a jerk he is and all three have been closed on TA. As soon as they close one you start another one. Now you are starting it here. Give it a rest!

I too think this guys story has some major holes in it but in the grand scheme of things who really cares?

People are not stupid, they can read between the lines here without you starting a campaign on every PV board to keep the "Be wary of the corrupt PV police in the forefront". You are doing nothing but aiding this guy in his campaign to make PV look like a destination no one should want to visit.

[vexsgirl]

Thanks Kat... I wish this subject didnt have to come up on EVERY board.

Heres to everyone getting along!

Cheers!

[ronald]

Personally, I think Mogens should delete the original post, and then ban the other guy to make sure he don't keep this up.

In my opinion &#%$ happens... it was the middle of the night, you don't speak spanish, they don't speak english, it was only 10 minutes out of your life... you didn't lose any money, and it appears they treated you somewhat respectfully... and you are not back home... your rights are not transferable to Mexico (except the consulate thingy, but you weren't held).

I'm guessing there is a lot more to this story and the reason for your mad-on. In my opinion the line in the original post that says

I truly feel that your hotel in conjunction with the local Tourist Authorities can figure out a way within the next few days to try to turn this situation around for me which requires more than an apology

makes me wonder who is actually doing the shakedown.

This seems to have made it to every board I know about except Brenda's, and Freeeye's board seems to have come to the conclusion that this whole events description is overkill.. Search it out if you care... I'm not going to cut and paste anything.

[Newyorkstateofmind51]

You do not have the full story....anytime I try to explain something on ths site, people are jumping down my back like I was the one that caused this situaition! Hog wash!

As far as extortion goes, my friend lost 75% of his money, he was less aware of the goings on than me. My eyes were transfixed on the police officers.

Saying they treated me with respect is an overstatement, they didn't harm me, but it was hardly respectful what they did and how they did it.

Folks, just admit the fact you have some corrupt (not all) police in Puerto Vallarta and realize that if this isn't cleaned up and you lose the American and Canadian tourists your town is over! finished and done......

I didn't want money from my hotel or the Consulate, I wanted them to treat this item very seriously which they are doing and are continuing to follow up with emails after their meetings with the police, the mayor, the Tourist Authority etc.

I may or may not return to PV or Mexico again following this incident but I sure as hell want to do whatever I can for my fellow travelers to be warned about such an occurence in advance and hopefully find that this items will happen very infrequently in the future.

One of the key things I forgot to report when I called the US Consulate a few days after the event, the assistant to the Consular Kelly Trainor asked me off the bat if I was the same individual who called last week to report a similar problem! I was still in the US the previous week... Enough said.....you want to find out if that is true, call the US Consulate in PV- no secrets here!

[katnsocal]

Anytime I try to explain something on ths site, people are jumping down my back like I was the one that caused this situaition! Hog wash!

The concensus of opinion on all of the websites you have plastered this loooooong sob story on is "you are the one that caused this situation."

So don't come here and try to blame people here for not feeling sorry for the actions "YOU" took that caused the situation. Next time when you are sober maybe you should think twice about wandering around on dark unfamilar streets in a foreign country where you are unable to speak the language with a friend who knows his way home but is too drunk to remember.

Grow up and admit it was a really stupid thing to do and you have no one to blame but yourself. Get over it and move on, lesson learned.

Please don't keep coming back adding things you forgot to add before because the story is way too long already.

[Newyorkstateofmind51]

with your ignorance.

I am glad that I am guilty in your eyes....it's too bad I wasn't pistol whipped , beaten, and sodomized....I think that may be what you feel I deserved for walking three blocks home from a disco on my 2nd night in PV. My friend had 2 drinks- is that drunk?

What inane comments from an ignorant stupid individual that you are.

When something happens to you, and no one comes to your aid, maybe you will remember this and hope you accept full responsibility for just walking out of your house.

You are downright nasty and a fool.

[chrisnick]

I'm sure I will regret this but I'm going to jump in with my opinion.

Since none of us but Newyorktateofmind51 were there this may very well have happened as he said. There are corrupt police everywhere including PV. I wander home late at night quite often in PV and know that I should be extra careful at that time of night. Just as I would have to be if I was wandering around any other city late at night.

I appreciate what he is saying and I'm sure it is meant as just a word of caution to anyone out there to pay attention to your surroundings. We are told this time and time again and yet often get so comfortable with our surroundings that we neglect to do this.

I love PV like most of the people on this forum and negative comments should be allowed as well as positive one. He had a bad experience and he was commenting on it...enough said.

[webmaster]

I see no harm in posting his experience here, happens in Vallarta, happens in Mexico and can happen almost anywhere. I think the one complaining can and should only comment on his experience, he has no way of knowing if his friend was robbed or not, he couldn't find his way home, sure it'd be plausible that he couldn't remember his wallet's contents.

So Mr. AM, basing my opinion on your sole experience, which is the only one we have access to, you were looking suspicious in the middle of the night, you were searched, you were released and you returned to your room with all your belongings and an adrenaline overload... I really don't see much more to the experience and if I were you in Spain or in Japan and the same happened to me, I wouldn't make a fuss at all, I just think some people that come to Mexico expect too much permissiveness with tourists... and I do think tourists are normally spoiled when they come to Vallarta.

No need to erase the post Ronald.

Ah, and please avoid insulting each other, it's quite foolish coming from some full grown adults that I suppose you all are (if not, you shouldn't be posting on this forum). Calling each other stupid as if you knew each other personally, come on .

Have a nice day,

Mogens
Webmaster

[katnsocal]

Just to let you know how ignorant I am Mr NYSOM. I have been visiting PV for over 20 years (alot more than 4 visits). I own and have for over 10 years a business in PV and my business partner has lived in PV his entire life. He has given me more information and insight into what goes on in PV than you could ever know. I have walked those streets myself many times at night but I don't wander off onto dark streets. I have gotten lost/turned around in neighborhoods I didn't know, carrying an expensive camera and more money than I would have wanted to lose if something was to have happened to me. In other words I have been there and done that, but I have never given the police cause to stop me and question what I was doing.

Ya wanna know what else I know, my business partner (the one who has lived in PV his entire life) won't walk around in the area you were at night, ya wanna know why? Because every Mexican they see walking down the street after dark in that area gets stopped with the lights on, gets searched, questioned, his pockets and ID checked. The same exact thing that happened to you.

Here is a newsflash for you, every club in PV or in the U.S. has a drug scene attached to it, if you want to say it doesn't then I will have to call you ignorant. There is a high police presence in those areas late at night for that very reason. They were doing their job and nothing more.

I never called you any names, never said you were stupid. I just stated we all make choices/mistakes/do things that after the fact we say "What were were/was I thinking". Myself and at least 40 other people on various websites you have posted this story on have told you the same thing. Nothing happened to you and your "friend" isn't the one complaining to the hotel, consulate, travel agencies, or posting his story on every website he can find, maybe because he knows he made a bad choice, it's a done deal and he doesn't want to obsess about it.

Chrisnick, there is no reason to regret what you said. I agree 100%. Puerto Vallarta is not perfect but what city is?

What I don't agree with is plastering it all over every website for Vallarta and then coming back again and again to argue. All it is doing is starting arguments on every site he has posted it on.

I'm done obviously this guy has an agenda that reaches much further than warning/reminding other tourists not to walk around totally oblivious to your surroundings because they are on vacation.

[Newyorkstateofmind51]

Just to let you know how ignorant I am Mr NYSOM. I have been visiting PV for over 20 years (alot more than 4 visits). I own and have for over 10 years a business in PV and my business partner has lived in PV his entire life. He has given me more information and insight into what goes on in PV than you could ever know. I have walked those streets myself many times at night but I don't wander off onto dark streets. I have gotten lost/turned around in neighborhoods I didn't know, carrying an expensive camera and more money than I would have wanted to lose if something was to have happened to me. In other words I have been there and done that, but I have never given the police cause to stop me and question what I was doing.

>>>wake up and smell the coffee, I was not WANDERING around dark streets, I was exiting an OXXO store in the middle of Zona Romantico much earlier than all of the late nighlife clubs close, enroute to my hotel 3 BLOCKS AWAY. I gave the cops no reason to stop me or my friend. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST ADMIT THAT THERE ARE SOME CORRUPT POLICE IN PV THAT TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TOURISTS WHEN THEY THINK THEY CAN!!! IT'S ALL OVER THE INTERNET, THE HOTELS AGREE, THE US CONSULATE AGREES, are you perhaps a PV officer hiding under a different screen name?



Ya wanna know what else I know, my business partner (the one who has lived in PV his entire life) won't walk around in the area you were at night, ya wanna know why? Because every Mexican they see walking down the street after dark in that area gets stopped with the lights on, gets searched, questioned, his pockets and ID checked. The same exact thing that happened to you.

>>>Every Mexican does not get checked, trust me , you are wrong, nor should they. If that was the case the police should have been very active that night on the same street before accosting us.

Here is a newsflash for you, every club in PV or in the U.S. has a drug scene attached to it, if you want to say it doesn't then I will have to call you ignorant. There is a high police presence in those areas late at night for that very reason. They were doing their job and nothing more.

>>>I agree with you about drugs and the clubs in the US and PV. They were not doing their job, they were SHAKING US DOWN! They got my friend for about $ 200.00.....I was far too aware of what was going on and never took my eyes off the cops, they probably thought I had their names, or badge numbers, or whatever, and figured out quickly that they shouldn't ROB me....

I never called you any names, never said you were stupid. I just stated we all make choices/mistakes/do things that after the fact we say "What were were/was I thinking". Myself and at least 40 other people on various websites you have posted this story on have told you the same thing. Nothing happened to you and your "friend" isn't the one complaining to the hotel, consulate, travel agencies, or posting his story on every website he can find, maybe because he knows he made a bad choice, it's a done deal and he doesn't want to obsess about it.


>>>FYI, you are WRONG once again. My friend gave a FULL report to his hotel, the Blue Chairs, to the manager . His report was also requested by the US Consulate via me. I told them that was his business if he wanted to report it to them, I can't force him to do so. If he chooses to go on the internet to receive 40 or 400 replies (where do you come up with your numbers and why are you so concerned?), that is also his buisness.

So, I suppose the consensus of any biased PV website will prove me being innocent or guilty? That's a joke.....i guess you have had good training from some of the Mexican police.....

My friend didn't make a bad choice, YOU made a bad choice with you ill advised remarks, lack of questions to me about anything you didn't understand, and provincial thinking.



Chrisnick, there is no reason to regret what you said. I agree 100%. Puerto Vallarta is not perfect but what city is?

What I don't agree with is plastering it all over every website for Vallarta and then coming back again and again to argue. All it is doing is starting arguments on every site he has posted it on.

>>Fine by me, stop posting your silly remarks and I will not need to respond to them.

I'm done obviously this guy has an agenda that reaches much further than warning/reminding other tourists not to walk around totally oblivious to your surroundings because they are on vacation.

>>>I have no agenda at all.....it's ignorance and blind eyes to a very real corruption problem with the Mexican police that needs to be dealt with.

Enough already....
_________________
Captain's First Mate!

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 9:27 pm

[webmaster]

OK, fine, but from your report the cops did not rob you at all, they checked you gave you everything back. I insist I doubt your drinking friend had control over his life, even less of his wallet, he could have lost the money anywhere or maybe even drank it. So I give the police the benefit of the doubt.

As I can see nobody here's convincing anyone else, this thread will be locked down, people can read what's been posted and form their own opinion on the issue.

Greetings

Mogens
Webmaster