r/nextfuckinglevel • u/bendubberley_ • 1d ago

A police officer in Mexico prevents someone's suicide attempt, on a bridge, with no safety equipment.

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u/WeAreTotallyFucked 1d ago

Definitely not the case in Mexico..

Lived in Tijuana 5 years and I was WAY more afraid of the police than the cartel or any local gangs.

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u/ChooChoo9321 1d ago

Was there a few weeks ago. Some corrupt Mexican police officers robbed me while frisking me on the street

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u/Dry_Presentation_197 1d ago

Cops in the US do this too, civil forfeiture. Maybe not necessarily >while frisking< someone, but its literally a process where even if a person is not being charged with any crime, anything they own can be taken by police and never given back. The most common tactic literally is just extortion. They'll pull someone over, claim they smell weed or alcohol or whatever, illegally search the car and anything that "could" be linked to crime can be taken. Including jewelry and cash. They have the person sign a waiver saying "I agree to never contest this asset seizure, in exchange for not being charged with a crime." And are told by the cops that if they don't sign, they're going to prison and will have their kids taken away.

It's been happening more and more in the last 40yrs, going from just under $100m seized in 1987 (adjusted), to $2.5 billion in 2013. Another $20billion since then.

They even have it set up so they don't ever have to show evidence you did anything wrong. They file a lawsuit AGAINST THE PIECE OF PROPERTY, which has no constitutional rights, therefore presumption of innocence doesn't apply and it's up to the victim to prove the item/s in question weren't used for criminal activity. Which ofc, is impossible.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_forfeiture_in_the_United_States

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/08/12/taken

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u/ProtectionLeast6783 1d ago

Civil forfeiture sucks ass but its not robbery, the person that it happens to can get their cash reimbursed if they establish a paper trail.

It's obviously a huge inconvenience because you have to go through the legal process but in countries where the cops just outright rob you there's no recourse, the person that takes it just stuffs it into their pocket.

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u/Dry_Presentation_197 20h ago

Nah, it's robbery. The link I provided has several points about it, and there's plenty more on Google. Why do you think they coerce/threaten people into signing shit saying they won't contest it?

AND "prove cash wasn't used in a crime" is literally impossible. The "legal process" for this specifically is "guilty until proven innocent", and it's impossible to prove that cash was not used in a crime.

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u/Da_Question 16h ago

I mean technically you can get your money back from thieves, either via law enforcement or force. Different method, same principle.

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u/OkComplaint6736 1d ago

That also describes the police in the NW suburbs of Chicago.

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u/SpadoCochi 1d ago

As a black guy from Chicago and currently living in Mexico—it’s honestly not even close. Mexican police are scary in the wrong area

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u/Tough-Appeal-8879 1d ago

NW? What, is the Palatine PD shaking you down everyday? I think you need to travel more lol..as someone from that area, you should def be more afraid of the gangs…

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u/OkComplaint6736 21h ago

As a truck driver, I'm putting a huge target on my back every time I get in the cab of my truck. Cops love to hate truck drivers and seem to see us as rolling piggy banks to fund their pensions.

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u/Tough-Appeal-8879 21h ago

Well I agree with you there. I briefly worked with a retired Indiana state trooper and his opinion was that truck drivers were more morally corrupt than drug dealers..

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u/Universal_Contrarian 17h ago

I used to work in Lake Zurich, and would constantly be made late because the police set up an impromptu weigh-station on a local highway.

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u/only_positive90 1d ago

the wealthy part of Chicago where nothing happens?

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u/Adept_Energy_230 1d ago

💯👏🏻

I honestly am forced to doubt whether that person has ever even been to Chicago much less lives there.

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u/venbrx 1d ago

Chicago? That's a neighborhood in Brooklyn right?

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u/Adept_Energy_230 1d ago

Chicago Park, California

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u/thealmightyzfactor 1d ago

That's not true! People around here leave their cars unlocked with the keys in them overnight and then wonder how they could have possibly been stolen.

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u/ArmyofThalia 1d ago

Sorry the officer gave you a hard time in Park Ridge. I'm sure you'll manage

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u/Adept_Energy_230 1d ago

Ohhh yeaaahhh Evanston PD are just terrifying, last time I visited my cousins there one of them even stopped me to ask if I was OK while I was clearly lost carrying heavy bags.

then he gave me a fucking lift to my cousin’s house

I’m still scarred /s

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u/BangkokRios 1d ago

Suburban Chicago police are notorious for not being as helpful to brown people walking the suburbs.

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u/unnecessaryCamelCase 1d ago

Don’t be fucking ridiculous lol. In the US they don’t even accept a bribe. In Mexico they purposefully squeeze you out of money, and that’s the start.

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u/OkComplaint6736 1d ago

I wish the police accepted bribes here to look the other way so I can keep shit off my driving record.

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u/Bladesnake_______ 1d ago

Bullshit unless you are gang adjacent yourself. Before yall downvote read the other replies from people that live there.

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u/Inevitable_Road_7636 1d ago

Definitely not the case in Mexico..

Ahh, Mexico had to completely reform their federal police department cause it was so corrupt that literally there was no point in it. Also, it should be pointed out that one time mexican police caught a criminal, and the gang the criminal was linked to told police "release him or will kill you till you do' after multiple murders police released him. If that shit was done in the US, the Marshals would be dragging those gang members out "hubbled"/hog tied and you will see why they are known as the blood hounds of American law enforcement. So, while maybe one or two police officers are good, the entire thing is the last place we should ever take an example from on how a police department is ran.

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u/Bladesnake_______ 1d ago

funny because who are the police afraid of???

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u/icerom 20h ago

That's what's frustrating about Mexican news is Reddit. The reactions are always like the thing were happening in the US. When the whole Supreme Court got fired people celebrated as if the US SC had been fired, as if it weren't a completely different situation with terrible consequences for Mexican democracy.

As for the subject at hand, it depends on the part of the country. The Mexico City police is pretty hands off most of the time, as far as extorting or robbing regular citizens, but they're hardly helpful, either. The impunity rates are close to 100% and they don't help old ladies with their cats, either.

Making out the police as worse than the cartels, though... bold statement. It's not the police that is murdering over 100,000 per presidential term, let's leave it at that.

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u/WeAreTotallyFucked 20h ago edited 20h ago

I should have put a qualifier of sorts when I made that comment..

I was more afraid of the police because they were much more likely to just completely fuck me over for no reason other than being American.

The Cartel, on the other hand, didn't fuck with Americans unless you gave them a reason to.

So, admittedly, that's clearly a position that isn't shared between Mexican citizens and American citizens alike. On a general level, of course, the cartel is objectively much more dangerous. But I found that becoming fluent in Spanish plus always doing business in good faith earned a level of respect with the cartel that I could never have achieved with the police, no matter what I did to try to foster a relationship.

At one point, I was basically given a free pass amongst all the local police, ONLY because the local gang that ran the local cartel 'operations' had basically told them "Yeah, you're not allowed to fuck with this gringo anymore."

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u/icerom 20h ago

That's very interesting. Yes, I suppose it makes sense that your nationality would be to your advantage with one group and to your disadvantage with another. The only person I know who's been mugged by the police over here in many years is European.

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u/Comprehensive-Chard9 19h ago

Well… you a dealer, yo.

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u/Thicc-slices 13h ago

TJ cops less likely than American cops to shoot you tho