First Haitian Ticket

by Jimmy

So we decided to go hiking with the cool MountainTop Meadows before they join us on the hot, stifling plain in a couple of weeks. Things started early, as we decided to try to beat Petionville Saturday traffic. We shot for 7:15 and left at 7:42. My how having a baby changes timing. Anyway, we made excellent time up to the Meadows, and left promptly at 9:00. Halfway up the mountain, I was flagged by a man in a long sleeve sweater to stop. I was just about to ignore him, when it occurred to me that cops do that. On closer inspection underneath the sweater lay a Haitian National Police uniform. So I stopped.

The police officer of course did not smile, and on my telling him I did not speak Kreyol, he of course asked if I could speak French. That failing, he wrote me a ticket, informing me that out of the 4 existing stickers on the windshield, I did not have one. Apparently I needed five. Of course that was in sign language.

He pointed out the infraction, #31, and the penalty, 1000 HTG, (US $25), and told me to go to the police station up the road to pay the fine, along with a few other things I did not understand. Fortunately he did not insist on me paying him the fine, since I have decided to refuse to pay any kind of bribe. He did however keep my American Drivers License. Had he not kept my license, I would have seriously considered not going to the police headquarters, as it is pretty easy to figure out that they have no way to keep track of that one ticket in my name with an American Drivers License Number. I probably would not have gone, so that is one thing I have to work on... doing the right thing regardless.

I did go to the headquarters, and met two very helpful American UN police officers. One felt that my DL should not have been kept, and had the original officer bring it back up to me. He also said that the ticket would be taken care of, that I did not have to travel to another department to pay the fine. Just to get the sticker.

All in all, I fared much better than some of the other Hatian Police stories I have heard. About an hour took care of the ticket, which could have ended up a whole day affair. We were a little late in starting our hike, but the cool mountain air stayed with us all day. I highly recommend Kenscoff and Wynne Farms, as an awesome place to get away from the city. Just be sure to have all the stickers you need.