South America, the one continent where you can actually elect not to stop for the police, escape them and yes, even BRIBE them. Peru is absolutely no exception to this rule.

In Case You Get Pulled Over:

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  • Be friendly and cooperative, but DO NOT get out of the vehicle to talk to the police. There is no need to and it can be dangerous.
  • Have your driver’s license and Identification (DNI, CE, Legalized copy of Passport) in hand. If you do not have an International driver’s license or your Brevete then tell them that you just returned from out of country or you are visiting. You have 15 days to drive on the driver’s license from your country of origin. Since the police do not have computers to verify this, they will usually drop the issue with you once you inform them of this exception. The reason for a legalized copy of your document prevents the police from walking away with your original. They have been known to steal documents. They CANNOT issue a ticket against a foreign driver’s license, so that’s one less thing for them to try.
  • Have SOAT in hand. Even if you don’t have it, it’s really an administrative issue, you tell them that you are going to purchase or renew it. If there was an accident you would personally be liable for the damages, plus the other vehicle’s SOAT would cover the expenses, so you’d have to hit a Pedestrian or another vehicle without SOAT to get into trouble.
  • If you do not have your Plate or Placa yet, but you need to drive around, get a Permiso from the Ministerio de Transportes, this usually takes 4 days to acquire. You can still get past this issue (if you don’t have the Permiso) and tell the police that the dealer told you you could drive around, just be sure to have your receipt of purchase in hand. Without the plate you cannot get SOAT, but you are in TRAMITE which technically means that you are abiding by the rules.
  • If the police tell you to follow them to the Commissary or Comisaria, CALL THEIR BLUFF and agree to follow them. Guaranteed they will stop a few blocks from the Comisaria to ask you a couple of questions and then ask for a bribe. The fact is, it’s too much paperwork for them to do if they take you, which means they have less time to fish for bribes.
  • You can “agree” to pay the police a bribe, but show them that you are going to record it on you cell phone w/camera. They will back down almost right away since they know it could mean trouble for them. If you can, video record your entire interaction with them.
  • Another way to bluff is to tell the police that you are a lawyer. The police do not know the laws that well and lawyers normally tend to scare them off.
  • QUESTION THEM! That’s right, ask them “why?!” One police officer in Miraflores told us he was going to take our car to be impounded at the Comisaria, when my husband asked him “Why?!” He didn’t have a reason. This is Peru, you can argue or talk back to the police!
  • Finally, if they keep insisting or fishing for the bribe (this is obvious, because they will tell you the same thing over and over again) you kindly say (in your best Spanish) “Thank you, how nice of you, I’m going to go home now, have a good day/evening.” They will get the clue and walk back to their police car. 
• The police can surely be a hassle in Peru, and it is quite obvious that they aren’t really policing anything. That’s an unfortunate downside to this country, but the following tips above should help you avoid the hassle and even the bribe.