My wife and I are considering an anniversary trip to Cancun next Fall. We just saw a news story of a local family that had two twenty-something sons taken from the hotel area during the day by the local police. They were held for six hours at the police station and the police demanded &quot;hundreds of dollars&quot; and &quot;roughed them up&quot;. They were then transfered to a local prison for an additional 14 hours.<BR><BR>Has anybody had any experience with this? We are seriously reconsidering our plans. Thanks for your help.

Which News Story. Do you have a channel or link to a web page. what City?<BR><BR>Corrupt Cops are part of Mexican culture. They are paying Mayor Guiliani 4 million dollars to help clean up Mexico City where it is real bad. Most cops are in league or payroll with the Drug Dealers. There are set up and scams in Mexico. Cabo is notorious for the ATM shake downs on the tourist. <BR><BR>Most times they hit up single guys or the young guys as they can be targeted for having a beer on the street or carrying an open bottle of liquour.

A friend of mine was rolling a cigarette in a restaurant after a meal and the cops turned up. They confiscated his Rizlas (rolling papers) and his rolling tobacco and asked him to come down to the station. By the time they arrived at the station some marijuana had mysteriously appeared inside his rolling tobacco and the police told him he would either have to pay up or face the consequences of possession of a reasonable amount of dope in Mexico. They indicated that this would be a stint in a prison. They relieved him of US$1000 and let him go that evening. This happened in Oaxaca.<BR><BR>I was also fined US$50 and had my marijuana confiscated in Puerto Vallarta when I was caught on the beach smoking in the evening but then I was breaking the law and so no doubt deserved it.

Four years ago we traveled to Cancun with 2 17 year olds. We stayed in a wonderful Hotel. Gorgeous. The kids went off on there own, against our wishes. They were walking on the beach, with a bottle of beer, (so the story goes) and 2 &quot;cops&quot; asked for I.D. and insisited they give them money on the spot or they would take them to jail. They were scared and gave them $100.00. Another woman in the hotel had a son in a similar situation. She had to go to the police station and pay hundreds of dollars to get her son out of the jail. if you travel to mexico with teens, you must keep your eyes on them every minute and enforce them to stay with you at all times. This is my feelings on it. They are conditioned in the country to know &quot;rich&quot; people are traveling there with young adults. I think they are 'targeted.&quot; It is a wonderful place, but just watch your teens.

A very similar thing happened to me there when I was 26. (I'm now 37) Long story short, was on the beach with a friend and was taken away and had to pay them off. (I only gave them $15 - told them I was leaving the next day and that's all I had - lie, of course). It was a long, scary experience. Now that I'm older, even though I did absolutely nothing wrong to deserve it, I realize they really look for young people who may be drinking, isolated, whatever to take advantage of them. Believe it or not, I went back there last year by myself and had absolutely no problems. I'm sure the cops won't look twice at you.

We haven't had a bad experience with Cancun police, but we had a bad experience with one in Cozumel--he was insisting that he take us for a tour, in unform and all; we turned to walk away and he grabbed my friend and kept insisting. We managed to get away but it was unnerving.

the average wage for a cop in Mexico is $300 a month. They have to buy their own uniform and gun. Training is not so great.<BR><BR>The Mordida works like this. The traffic cop who gets the best location for stopping vechicles and taking bribes not to ticket has to give a bigger portion of his bribes to the chief who let him have that location. The Chief in turn passes a cut up to his senior and all the way to the top. Back in the early 80's they had one police chief who was call &quot;El Negro&quot; the black one. He was earning $45,000 a year as annual pay yet managed in a short five years to build a mansion in acapulco for himself, a mansion in Mexico city an imitation of the Parathon of Greece, a race track for his dogs, and amass real estate holdings. He was worth in the millions all due to his contacts and corruption. He was deported back to Mexico from Costa Rica where he was hold up in after his term was up. He was to do a number of years in Jail but due to health problems was let off early and retired to his mansion in Acapulco where he died of cancer. <BR><BR>

I wouldn't worry about the cops much as you go about the tourist thing. The bite is just a part of Mexican life as mentioned above. The vast majority of tourists are never bothered. I have been to Mexico, all over the country, literally hundreds of times by myself and with my family. I chat with cops and soldiers, I know some cops in Oaxaca City and its just not a problem. Don't walk around with booze where you shouldn't, don't smoke dope, don't flaunt wealth, and don't worry.

No you shouldn't smoke dope as it is illegal and you shouldn't smoke roll up cigearettes in less developed countries as most people in less developed countries can't understand why someone would want to roll his/her own cigarette when you can buy a ready rolled packet. The papers therefore regularly cause suspiscion.