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Bad US Police Experience
This week I hosted an international meeting. The cutest girl you ever would meet from Argentina had her car impounded by the local police. She was touring the Vanderbuilt mansion and then was stopped by the local police for some unknown reason and given a ticket for driving without a license.
The Hertz agency rented her a car and insisted she had a valid Argentinian license and called the Hyde Park police "Jerks". They paid to free her car and called the place that towed her and we got her car back (without any calls to the police to free the car up).
I spent two hours in the Police department trying to get them to kill the ticket. The police said you had to have an "international driving permit" in addition to her Argentina license to drive in NY. In fact, the first statement they gave me was that "you can't drive in the United States without a US driver's license". We showed them a NYS DMV web site that clearly stated that the "international driving permit" was nice to have but not necessary.
The police called the DMV who said you have to have the international permit, but then I called the DMV in front of them and they said you have to refer to the traffic laws of NYS. Of course the police did not check the traffic laws. I don't know if they had the books or didn't know how to read them. So then we tried to call the legal department in Albany (DMV suggestion) but the line was busy forever.
So the police called in the police lieutenant who reviewed the internet and the fact that the internet said that you don't need an international driving permit. He took us in the back room and suggested we read "between the lines". My guest could plead innocent and would probably get off but she couldn't stay for the court date. Or she could plead guilty with explanation and he would hand carry the ticket with explanation to the court and he would be reasonable certain that no fine would be assessed. And since I am here near the police department I can follow up with him if there are any problems.
My guest didn't like the idea of pleading guilty and even told me her father was prepared to take this through the embassy. She was told she could trust the police in the US. They cannot trust the police in Argentina. Now she is not so sure. In the end we signed a "guilty" plea and we are assuming the police lieutenant will follow through on his commitment. We took the path of least resistance. I feel really bad about this.
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Bad US Police Experience
EW, true enough that it would have been worse had the situation been reversed. DRankin, yes this officer has been known to over react before. I may check with my company's legal department to see if they can send a clarification to the police. We have lots of international people who come here for meetings.
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Well I sent a note to the site corporate attorney today to get their perspective. I'm sure they don't want their international employees to have their cars impounded because the local police don't know the laws. I don't want this person to have to pay anything out of her own pocket. I'll let you know the response.
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