There is Corruption at Transit Police, Director Admits
Anyone who has driven in Costa Rica can attest that at times they have found themselves in a position to pay a traffic fine directly to a Transit Police official.

Fines for speeding, driving under the influence, not having the 'marchamo' or documents with the vehicle to illegal parking, can cost 'officially' from a few thousand colones fine to having the license plates and vehicle confiscated.

However, the practice of giving a Transit Police official a small sum at the side of the road and look the other way has been a topic of discussion at official levels for many years. Now, high ranking authorities are accepting that corruption exists and are taking steps to curb it, according to Ignacio Sánchez, director of the Transit police.

In a public statement by Sánchez and Karla González, Vice Minister of Transport, they said they recognize the grave problem and it has to be affronted internally.

Some reports circulating at the Ministry is persons driving under the influence of alcohol and paying as much as 100.000 colones to officers to avoid having their car confiscated, to a Transit official in the Pacific zone selling raffle tickets instead of giving out tickets for traffic violations.

The director reminded publicly that any officer who is found to take a bribe can be suspended from his or her job and be put in prison from two to six years and will not be able to gain employment with the government for 10 years.

The public is being asked to help authorities to weed out corruption by reporting anomalies by the Transit Officials. A report of the incedent can be made to the PUblic Ministry or directly to the Transport Police. Authorities say they will investigate all complaints brought to them and will apply the severed of penalties to any Transit Official found to be taking a bribe.

As well, director Sánchez said that a special anti-corruption unit will be created if he permitted to hire more Transit Police officials. To that end, the Legislative Assembly needs to approve the budget proposals by the MOPT.

A Transit Police official earns an average of ¢170.000 colones or US$400. per month.



Red, Green, Stop, Go?
The Ministry of Transport and Public Works (MOPT) continues to have it's problems. A recent report published in the Spanish daily newspaper, La Nacion, it reports that the country's traffic lights have been without maintenance for more than 2 weeks.

The problems it seems, is that the MOPT is still having problems with getting it's vehicles legal for the roads. Two weeks ago, 58% of it's Transit Police patrol cars were taken off the road for not having their 'marchamo' paid - the annual payment for vehicle circulation on public roads.

Now it appears that more vehicles were affected by the problem, as maintenance vehicles have not had their marchamo paid either and thus cannot affect the necessary maintenance and repairs.

According to the report, at least 50 traffic lights most in downtown San José are not functioning do to lack of maintenance and repair. Some have light bulbs burned that need replacement, while others have more serious damages due to vehicles damaging them. The strong winds of the past week also played a role, turning angles on some traffic lights.

Faced with the problem, the MOPT borrowed a crew and equipment from the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL), the light power company, to attend to the more serious faults in their network.

The MOPT has plans to install in the Greater San José Area and intelligent system of traffic lights that will help with the flow of traffic at peak areas and points, as well as alert the system when a traffic light is failing. The new system is planning for installation next year.




It's Getting Hotter!
It appears that summer is starting to kick in. According to the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN) - th national weather agency - they are predicting a reduction in the winds that are bringing the cold air and a rise in temperature to a seasonal level.

During the past few weeks, the Central Valley has been plagued with strong northerly winds that have kept the temperatures low. Thursday morning the mercury dropped to a low of 16 degrees celsius in the San José area, lower in other parts of the Central Valley.

The weatherman says that this is all behind us now and that seasonal temperatures can be expected. The average day temperature in San José is 28 degrees celsius or about 82 Farenheit.




How Costa Rican Biker Gave Montreal Cops the Slip
Armed with forged documents and a believable tale of being a Quebec businessman from Costa Rica, a Hells Angel and one of North America's most wanted men duped Montreal police in April 2003 after being caught drunk behind the wheel.

Richard (Rick) Vallée, 46, walked out of a police operations centre hours later, after officers bought his story.

It was only a day later, after fingerprint analysis came back, police discovered Guy Turner, Vallée's fictitious identity, did not exist.

The police force says it learned a valuable lesson from the way it handled the arrest of Vallée last spring, and has made changes to ensure the same gaffe doesn't happen again.

Commander Pierre Cadieux, of the Montreal police, said officers who have doubts about someone they've picked up can now get information about a suspect within a few hours.

Before that, it could take extended periods to get information, sometimes more than a day.

"If officers had doubts, there wasn't any way for them to get detailed information (about a suspect) right away at an operational centre," Cadieux said in an interview.

Most of the information gathering is done by the police's identification unit and there was no way to prioritize cases, Cadieux said. That changed about a month after the Vallée incident.

Montreal police arrested Vallée after he was caught making an illegal right turn on a red light at the corner of Décarie Blvd. and Sherbrooke St. in Notre Dame de Grâce on April 11. Officers detected alcohol on his breath and searching further, found a loaded, illegal firearm in his possession along with a substantial amount of cash.

He told officers investigating the case he was Guy Turner and handed officers an array of forged documents, including a Canadian passport, Quebec driver's licence and credit card.

Well-dressed and well-mannered, he looked nothing like the Nomad who'd escaped police custody six years earlier. Instead, he claimed to be a businessman from Costa Rica who owned an underwater diving school and was in Montreal to purchase equipment for his business.

Vallée was released after being charged with driving under the influence and possession of a prohibited firearm, and had his passport seized.

Cadieux said officers have also been asked to investigate a suspect more deeply if they have any doubts about them and investigate fully before releasing them.

"That means identifying the criteria that are needed for an officer to go further in his investigation," Cadieux said. "Normally, if someone has a weapon and cash, you have to close all the doors before letting him go.

"We've asked the officers to be more vigilant and to identify those criteria before simply letting someone go."

It was the second time Vallée had eluded Montreal police, the first being a daring escape from St. Luc Hospital in 1997, just two days before he was to originally be extradited to the United States.

It was the same Montreal police fingerprint evidence that led the Sûreté du Québec to the fugitive on April 18. Police believe he fled to Costa Rica and assumed the name Guy Turner for six years before returning in March 2003 with a new look enhanced by plastic surgery.

Meanwhile, Vallée remains detained and is on track to be extradited to the United States once again to face charges in the 1993 car bombing of an undercover U.S. government informant in upstate New York, as well as drug-trafficking charges.

Lee Carter Jr. was killed in a fiery explosion when his Porsche exploded on July 28, 1993, in Rouses Point, N.Y. He was slated to testify against Vallée in a drug-trafficking case.

Quebec Superior Court ruled Vallée could be extradited to the U.S. in a Dec. 12 decision.

A federal Department of Justice spokesperson couldn't confirm yesterday whether an appeal had been filed, but the deadline to file was yesterday.