Sunday 30 November
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
New Law Controls Spam
Emails, Text Messaging
and Telephone Cold
Calling
New Internal
Affairs Unit Will Investigate Corrupt
Traffic Officials
Sun Shines On
Limón
Volunteers Clean Up
Downtown San José
Costa Ricans Full of
Credit Card Debt
Congo and White Faced
Monkeys Repopulate Santa Rosa National Park
San Ramon - La
Fortuna Road Closed
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New Internal Affairs
Unit Will Investigate
Corrupt Traffic
Officials
The reforms to the Ley
de Tránsito which is
expected to pass final
reading this week and be
in force in the coming
months not only provides
stiffer fines and
penalties for offending
drivers, but also for
corrupt Tránsito
(traffic) officials.
Costa Rica is well
known, especially to
foreigners, for the
corruption of its
traffic officials, who
will accept - in some
cases demand - a bribe
from drivers pulled
over.
And with the new fines
being 20 times or more
than the present,
critics of the reforms
say it will only make
the corruption situation
worse.
That is the reason why
legislators included in
the reforms the creation
of a Unidad de Asuntos
Internos - an internal
affairs unit - to
investigate corruption
by traffic officials.
The responsibility of
the unit is to prevent,
detect and eradicate
corruption in the force.
The ministra de Obras
Públicas y Transportes,
Karla González, said
that the unit will
protect the public. "The
unit will be scrutinize
the officers and accept
and investigate
complaints by the public
in three days at most",
said the minister.
The minister added that
the unit will be
carrying out spot checks
and inspections at any
time in any place to
ensure that the officers
are doing their jobs.
According to the
minister, the unit will
be made of specialized
lawyers who may receive
support for special
operations, to avoid
bribery and abuse in law
enforcement, so that all
traffic officers will be
subject to constant
evaluation.
González added that the
unit will also have the
power to directly file
complaints with the
Ministerio Público
(judicial officials).
Currently, corruption
has been allowed to
continue for failure of
the present law that is
cumbersome to remove a
corrupt officer even
when proof is
overwhelming. The
current regulations
allow an officer to file
appeals that can take up
to two years before a
removal can take place.
The minister added that
in many cases the
problem begins with
accepting or asking for
help for a cup of
coffee, which then
escalates to larger and
more frequent demands.
The reforms to the
traffic laws are
expected to take effect
nine months after it is
approved this week, at
which times fines will
range from ¢24.000 to
¢227.000 colones and can
suspend the license of a
bad driver by way of a
point system and land a
drunk or reckless driver
in prison if a death
results from a traffic
accident.
The internal affairs
unit will begin
operation once the
regulations are in
place, said minister
González, who has been a
proponent of the reforms
from the first days of
taking over the
portfolio in May of
2006.
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