It's OK to extort $ from drivers in Mexico

The only thing surprising about a Mexican police commander saying it's okay to hold up drivers for bribes is that he said it.

At least he's honest. But the U.S. Department of Transportation isn't.

DOT  claims that it can track Mexican drivers' safety records, and therefore should be allowed to open the border to a raging drug war Mexican trucks. We dispute the claim that Mexican safety records are accurate, given a police commander's admission that the police are corrupt.

Thanks to our friends at Borderland Beat, we have this story:

The top police commander in the central state of Mexico acknowledged that officers extorted money from motorists and said he understood why in a video released Monday by the Reforma newspaper.

State Security Agency, or ASE, director Rogelio Cortes Cruz said his only concern was that officers not commit “excesses.”

“I’m not appalled if they grab a peso or two pesos. It’s their problem...Cortes Cruz admitted that some officers carried altered ticket books that showed fines up to 600 times larger than the law allowed, Reforma reported on Sunday...The ASE commander said he was aware that police salaries were low and hard to live on, making it understandable that officers would squeeze motorists for bribes.