Most of your
contact with the police will, with any luck, be
at frontiers and controls. Depending on your
personal appearance and the prevailing political
climate the police at these posts ( Guardia
Nacional and Aduanas) may want to search your
luggage. This happens rarely, but when it does
it can be very thorough. Occasionally, you may
have to get off buses and register documents at
the police controls which regulate the traffic
of goods and people from one departmento of Peru
to another; these are usually situated on the
outskirts of large towns on the main roads, but
you sometimes come across a control in the
middle of nowhere. Always stop, and be
scrupulously polite - even if it seems that
they're trying to make things difficult for you.
In general the police rarely bother travellers
but there are certain sore points. The
possession of (let alone trafficking in) either
soft or hard drugs (basically grass or cocaine)
is considered an extremely serious offence in
Peru - usually leading to at least a ten-year
jail sentence. There are many foreigners
languishing in Peruvian jails, some of whom have
been waiting two years for a trial - there is no
bail for serious charges. If you want to visit
one of them you can get details from your
embassy.
Drugs apart, the police tend to follow the media
in suspecting all foreigners of being political
subversives and even gun-runners or terrorists;
it's more than a little unwise to carry any
Maoist or radical literature. If you find
yourself in a tight spot, don't make a statement
before seeing someone from your embassy, and
don't say anything without the services of a
reliable translator. It's not unusual to be
given the opportunity to pay a bribe to the
police (or any other official for that matter),
even if you've done nothing wrong. You'll have
to weigh up this situation as it arises - but
remember, in South America bribery is seen as an
age-old custom, very much part of the culture
rather than a nasty form of corruption, and it
can work to the advantage of both parties,
however irritating it might seem. It's also
worth noting that all police are armed with
either a revolver or a submachine gun and will
shoot at anyone who runs.
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