Sat 9 AM police stop downtown

[Lucy]

Doing DL check downtown near park

[Bill]

I've never seen anything except the utmost courtesy from the officers in the checkpoints.  There may be an opportunity for a shakedown when someone is stopped for a violation, but it's a slim opportunity when you have a line of cars waiting to get through a checkpoint.

This has been a bad year for accidents and highway deaths in this area.  I hope they will do more checks for unlicensed and uninsured drivers.  Writing violations for vehicles in obviously unsafe condition would be nice too.

[Jim Tosch]

i think often times the license checks are way to look for people. They can be irritating but that is not my point. My point is that complaining has value and you don't lose your right to complain because you are in a different culture or country. From a marketing perspective if people don't complain and they just leave and don't come back, everybody loses. Panama spends millions to
Get people here and then treats them like garbage at the border. What sense does that make. What sense does it make to give people a six month visa and their drivers license expires in three. They know when the busses arrive but people still have to wait in lines for hours while employees sit inside the office drinking coffee. How much productivity is lost in Panama when people stand in line half a day for a prescription or a document. I have been her for thirteen years and I love Panama but there are many unnecessary issues that could be addressed if people Did not wait patiently and passively for rotten service or stupid government policies.

[Jim Tosch]

Interestingly, Panama may be learning from the indigenous that complaining can get results . They don't like Petaquilla and Barro Blanco and they are complaining. We will see how it works. And yes, I know they have been here awhile.

[Jim Tosch]

I disagree. As tourist or temporary resident you should expect to be accommodated. They spend millions to get you here and you pay for the experience. You have a right and it is to Panama's benefit if you complain.. You go in a restaurant and the service or food is no good you should complain. A country is no different. This love it or leave it crap is totally illogical. You are an invited guest and deserve to be treated as such. And as a client of Panama they should listen to your opinion
And evaluate it based on it's merits.

[Gordon James]

Right on Jim! This losers lunch stomp all over me attitude gets old. Many fled to Panama to avoid the supposed police state up north. That is a joke. Check point Charlie shakedowns are common in Panama but rare up north. If a guest is expected to behave as a proper guest then a host is expected to behave as a proper host. It's reciprocal. If either is out of line then it needs to be called out. If you are a land owner or legal resident in Panama then this is YOUR country also and you should act accordingly. PERIOD. Stop being spineless cowards folks. Make a stand for what is right and proper.

[Keith Woolford]

Just because a person flees their own country doesn't mean they get to dictate norms in another. Give your head a shake. If you don't want to go through spot checks in Panama, go find somewhere else to live. Nobody forced you to come here.

[H Gene Lawrence]

Sorry Jim, I disagree. Panama did not seek me out, I chose to move here based a variety of reasons, to include dissatisfaction of what was happening where I moved from.

[Pantah]

I spent a lifetime in the US, and a two year stint in Mexico and NEVER was stopped at a police check point. Other countries too. So what makes Panama so special? Opportunities for "propinas". BTW, I have had a flawed breathalyzer test given to me, which I passed, as all the requirement at the other stops. So being innocent and all why the disparity to all other countries I have lived in or visited? Is this place that dangerous that it is necessary?

[H Gene Lawrence]

When I moved here, I fully expected things to be different than the USA. I fully intend to comply with my host countries requirements of me. As a retired LE Officer, I do know that there can be any number of reasons to have check points. I am a permanent resident here, but fully understand that I am a guest of Panama. The day I do not like the conditions under which I experience here is the day that I should move on. I consider this my home but will not expect Panama to accommodate me.
Bottom line for me is if you don't like the way the country operates in,which you are a guest, then you are free to leave.

[Pantah]

My post isn't intended to be a love it or leave issue. Today for the first time I realized that Panama is a real outlier on the police check issue in my life experience. I want to know if there is a danger that I don't know about to cause it to be an outlier or something else. This isn't about life being different than the USA, it is about being different than the couple of dozen countries I have visited and the 3 others that I have lived in.

Believe me, I know from my extensive expat experience that I don't expect to be accommodated. 

And.... you didn't answer my question.