Police Corruption in Kyrgyzstan

[Road Hog]

There were some posts about the corruption in Kyrgyzstan and I wanted to expand on that a bit with some advice on how to keep from paying. It has been a month or more but I am sure they are still up to their game.

The standard ploy is to set up a speed camera on a nice piece of road with a corner to hide behind. There may or may not be a "60" sign, or it may be obscured with brush. Once they pull you over they want your documents and then tell you they have to keep them and send them to the address on the documents. So what are you going to do, they have your drivers license and bike papers. Most pay them off and grumble on to the next trap.
I was unprepared on the first stop which is why I wanted to write this with my solution. First have a supply of fake documents. I always carry a couple of real nice copies of my drivers license and I have one old one that I was able to keep when I renewed. Does not matter if they are perfect because they do not know that they should look like. Then have copies of your bike papers that look as real as possible. If they want your passport, tell them it is at the hotel and hand them a copy. Give them nothing you can not do without. Then you just keep telling them to go ahead and write the ticket, keep the documents. Take pictures of them and any paperwork they show you. Three times I was stopped after the first, (I was riding with care, looking for speed signs), three times they gave up and gave me back my papers, no ticket.

You just need to be prepared with a plan. Then stick to it.

If others have ways to get through Kyrgyzstan without paying the police off lets post them here so others can take what they think will work for them.



The trick of fake documents I learned before riding Peru, it you go there take lots of drivers licenses. Each set of corrupt police have a different scam but they tend to be the same in the country.



Bob