Managing la mordida: Gringo Tourism, Police Shakedowns, and the Nature of Traffic Ticket Bribery in Quintana Roo, Mexico

ABSTRACT

This study examines collective knowledge about the practice of “la mordida,” or police shakedowns, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico. The dual practices of police seeking payments and foreign tourists paying local police to resolve traffic stops is explored using data collected from web travel forums. Tourists to Quintana Roo share their experiences and developed wisdom for avoiding police stops, managing police shakedowns attempts during stops, the negotiation of la mordida after a stop has occurred, and the successful resolution of a stop, which may or may not include an exchange of money. The study describes the interactional strategies that compose elements of the la mordida frames present in tourist web forums, which illustrates the importance of the forums in both facilitating la mordida and contesting it among those visiting the area. The study contributes to literature focused on police corruption, deviant and coercive exchanges, crime victim scripts, and research focused on the resources that internet forums provide in avoiding, defending against, and facilitating coercive exchanges, especially in the context of tourism.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Kristen Myers for her assistance throughout the project as well as Barbara Risman, Cindy Anderson, and Chris Fowler for their comments on previous drafts of the study. In addition, I want to thank the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript for their constructive input in the peer review process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kirk Miller

Dr. Kirk Miller is Associate Professor of Sociology at East Carolina University. His primary research interests are focused on the sociology of policing. In particular, he is interested in the ways that race, gender, and social context pattern the social organization of policing, police discretion, and accountability at the officer, agency, and industry level. Current interests include the policing of public protest activity and especially protests of police as well as the sociology of guns and mass shooting culture. His work has appeared in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Crime & Delinquency, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, and Feminist Criminology, among other forums.