Thank Goodness for the Police!

Current Location: Kathmandu, NEPAL

For your information, the above subject for this entry is meant to be sarcastic. Because we have come to the conclusion that the police are absolutely worthless here! After mourning over the loss of our beloved camera, we decided that it might be worthwhile to file a police report with the Kathmandu Tourist Police. Boy were we wrong! We entered the tourist police station to eight friendly policemen and women. They were more than happy to assist Joe with filling out the police report and chatting me up in the meantime.

Once we finished and they handed us an official-looking typed police report, I casually asked one of the officers, "So how will you contact us if someone happens to turn in our camera?" The officer laughed at us as if we were asking a ludicrous question. "Oh you won't get your camera back," he replied. "Nothing ever comes back to the police station." I understood that the likelihood of someone turning in our camera was very slim. But I couldn't believe that in the history of this police station, NO ONE has returned even a missing passport to the station. But I tried to keep my cool. "So what's the point of filling this police report out?" I asked. He chuckled and said, "So you can get your money from the insurance company," he said. I couldn't believe my ears. I turned and looked at Joe to see he was shaking his head as well. "So what do YOU do?" Joe asked. "Oh, well we investigate," the policeman stumbled, "and if we find the guy, we punish him." But still, no mention of our camera.

Of course we didn't expect them to take the time out of their schedule to go looking throughout Kathmandu to find our camera. I am sure they have better things to do. Although, I question that since there were EIGHT police officers helping Joe fill out a police report. But a little reassurance that we could have trust in the police officers in case a miracle happened and our camera showed up would be nice! I wouldn't be surprised if they did come across our camera, it would be immediately sold to the theives market for some extra cash in their pockets. In poor and corrupt countries like Nepal and India, backshish (or bribes) are the name of the game...police officers exert their power because they can, and criminals escape punishment by paying some money to the police officers. That's one thing to be thankful for in Western countries...we can, for the most part, trust and feel safe in the hands of the police! So cheers to our policemen at home!