A Run-In With the Po Po's

The Ugandan police are corrupt.
Several nights ago my friends and I had our first encounter with the Ugandan police force.  We had just left a nice hotel where many ex-patriots and affluent Ugandans hang out.  After only traveling a block, a giant black van flashed its lights and proceeded to follow us.  The van was full of Ugandans dressed in camouflage who were waving their arms and fists at us threateningly.  Not yet realizing that this was the police, we quickly found a main road and attempted to out-run them (kind of reminded me of when Liz and I tried to out-run a couple of guys one night - the only difference was that Liz and I succeeded and the people we were trying to outrun didn't have guns...). 

When it was apparent that there was no other option but to pull over, we pulled into the driveway for the British consulate.  Our logic was that if we needed to, we could call in the help of the British Embassy since we had a British citizen in the car with us.  Upon our arrival to the embassy, the police van pulled behind us and essentially blocked us in.  Two officers came up and began giving us (unreasonable) reasons why they pulled us over  - I mean, we had only driven one block by the time they started following us, how many valid reasons could they give us?  I think they really only followed us for as long as they did because they saw that the car was full of Mzungus and were hoping to make a profit off of us and prove their authority. 

After unsuccessfully telling us why they pulled us over, they began to tell us we should have apologized profusely when we first began talking them.  Then they began telling my roommate how they were reluctant to begin talking to her because she looked Chinese and Chinese people are stubborn and cannot speak English (not that they are racist or anything).  Then they began asking why we were afraid of the police (as if they should ask after they nearly wrecked our car when we didn't do anything wrong...).  They continued to suggest that we go to the Wandegaya police station where we could sort everything out.  We adamantly refused.  After about 15 minutes of the police threatening us and exercising their authority over us, the tone changed and we saw an opportunity to "compensate them for their gas and time" (aka bribe them).  The police were nervous since we were in an area that was being videotaped, so they backed their van out of the range of the video cameras and the officers returned.  Although they laughed at us for our 20,000 schilling (about $10) bribe, they finally accepted and let us to go home. 

Although the general consensus is that the police will not intentionally harm foreigners, they definitely exploit them and exercise their authority whenever possible.  Corruption within the police force; however, is just the tip of the iceberg in Uganda.  Corruption permeates the entire society and could explain why this country (and perhaps the majority of the continent) is so slow to progress.