Having said this about police wages, even bringing the pay
up to a living wage and recruiting higher quality candidates is not going to make much of a change in the quality of policing. The poor quality policing such as CR has an
abundance of, is always systemic, running from the officer on the street, through the training department, right up to the chief of police. Remember, all the police who are currently in
the department were the same poor quality recruits at one time.

It should also be noted, that we gringos should not expect,
regardless of the wages paid or training provided, that CR police will ever live up to our standards. The Latin culture
is very strong when it comes to being laid back, being disinterested in details, and more. And, CR is their
country not ours, and for this reason, it should have the police force they desire not the police that we think they need.

I have been doing business in Costa Rica for many years and
I must say that I have never found a police officer at any level who was not willing to offer a great deal of flexibility if I presented them with the proper amount of financial incentive. CR must start somewhere, so how about paying these police officers a wage they can be proud of and working toward a more professional cadre of officers. Absent this change, CR will keep getting the results they have always gotten from their police force.