Thread: Heavy Duty Police Presence

Is it me or has there been a REALLY BIG police presence lately? I was on a side street in Pedasi and got stopped by police and immigration. Immigration spent 15 minutes with my passport, came back to the car, and was ready to haul me away. Heck, it took another 2-3 minutes of explaining to re-examine my passport and see the April stamp from Costa Rica. Finally somebody noticed "oh yeah, he is here legally". I have to admit the amount of police looking over everybody's shoulder is kinda unnerving.

I was driving over the canal bridge last week, and they were stopping traffic! It just added more time to the already backed up traffic. They asked me for my drivers license (I am obviously an american woman - blonde, blue eyes), glanced at it, then waved me on. WTH?

It certainly has it's ups and downs and it's ebbs and flows. Sometimes they'll beef up the presence for a few weeks, other times it's more sparse. As a general rule, I prefer having them around as long as they don't hassle me for no reason. Sounds like they hassled you for no reason

Matt

It's been pretty weird on the Azuero recently with the amount of police being everywhere. The area they stopped me in is probably the last place I would have expected it. A taxi told me the police presence has been because of drugs. The police actually arrested a couple of locals, 17 yr olds, Panamanian, no ID. The police even came into my gf's school as well.

They stopped me only once, christmas day 2009, at the corner of Balboa Avenue and Federico Boyd in front of banco Pichincha.
After checking my papers and finding nothing wrong, he still indirectly asked for a bribe telling me that he had a few little children and that it was christmas. I was speechless for a few seconds, then told him that next time I saw him , I would give some gifts for his children. He answered that he wasn't always stationed at that location, but I wished him a nice day and left. Hope he doesn't see me one day without the gifts I promissed or else I'm in deep trouble. LOL.

Three times in the last 2 weeks. Twice they waved us through though.

Wow, that is surprising about Pedasi. When we were down in March we were stopped 3 times between Divisa & Pedasi on our way there. After that, the only police we saw was the Pedasi police chief sitting at the restaurant at the Sports Club BS'ing with the girls. We were also a bit surprised that we never ran across any type of drugs...even in Venao with all the surfers.

I actually talked with an owner down at the Azuero Lofts today. He got hassled on the same day as me. The poor guy even called his attorney to try to get the immigration lady to understand whats up. This guy did not have his passport, wound up grabbing his ID back from the same immigration lady and took off. Immigration was chasing him around the Azuero. Things got straightened out but holy cow. Supposedly there had been a shoot out with Colombian Narcos somewhere between Playa Venao and Cambutal (I think?). Police, including undercover, are all over the place down here.

I talked to my "Pedasi insider" this morning... Here's what he said:

A few weeks ago, there was some heavy investors in town so they decided to bring a bus with 40 Columbian ladies to "join the party". And I guess local immigration kind of snapped and initiated some serious vibes since then.

As far as illicit substances go -- I guess a guy found an "epic bail" of something special. He got nailed when he went to the bank to deposit 30K in cash... the cops raided his car and found more "special stuff". He's now in prison. LOL.

Matt

P.S. I guess Chuck Norris was at Playa Venao a few weeks ago. That instantly quadrupled the value of the land.

With LOTS of serious investors you require good kitchen help, WTH? No doubt Santa Claus accidentally dropped a package in the wrong place (he also carries an AK). Interesting to hear Chuck Norris was down this way.

(side note: Colombia does not have a "U" in it, SNAP!!)

I was in Playa Blanca last week ,Had a rental car got stopped 4 times ,2 times going into PC , one time by Coronado ,One time for speeding near Gorgona , all the time on the PanAmerican Highway ,they just wanted to see ID , on speeding they just gave me a warning .Now i look for them, they hide on the side of the road with their radar gun. You,re doing 120kph then the speed drops to 40kph when you reach small towns, the signs are so small you don,t notice them , but I look for them now .
this was my 3rd time in Playa Blanca ,never got stopped before ,I had no problem just asked for ID .......they are out there I guess for our protection ,if you aren't doing anythig wong you don't have to worry...........

Generally I would agree although I know somebody else from the expat community that just got stopped as well. Seems like the police were looking for "coffee money", lol. The guy they bothered has been here a long time and he did not give in. Finally the police got bored and let him go.

Lol, this sounds familiar. I was one of the people they let go. I met Douglas last Friday and I also know Nahik. Neither of these guys are bums and all three of us have spent A LOT of money here in Panama (especially Douglas and Nahik). Let's hope immigration does not continue on this path.

http://www.panama-guide.com/article....00609160755657

The country goes through ebbs and flows -- sometimes they tighten things up way to hard and somethings things are way too loose. Let's hope they loosen things up a bit...

Matt

I just arrived in Panama last Thursday and was on my way to PTY for the first time in a bus. The entire bus was pulled over just before PTY and everyone was checked. Two policemen checked IDs and put info into a little hand held computer. They read over my passport like it was a juicy novel. End the end they exited the bus and wished everyone a good afternoon.