I was pulled over last Wednesday on the way home from the orphanage. We were tired as we always are, it was dark and visibility wasn’t the best because it was sleeting, and the windshield was constantly dirty from others cars. It was the stretch coming into Kyiv when there is a town every mile and a half and in Ukraine, there aren’t speed limit signs, you just know that the speed limit in a city is one thing and out of the city its another. All that said, when I got pulled over, I was speeding. I was in the wrong.
The police officer took me back to his car. There he explained to me that speeding in this particular place was a big deal because there is a cross walk that is used very regularly. I told him that I understood, I shouldn’t have been going so fast. I confused him a bit when I used to wrong verb to say that I made a mistake. He told me that because of the crosswalk, I wouldn’t just get a ticket, he would have to take my license away from me, and to get it back I would have to go to the court and pay a fine that they determine. I looked at him skeptically. Its not beyond a lot of these traffic officers to exaggerate things to pressure people into paying a bribe. I told him I thought that was too much, I was speeding, that was all. This was something that was worthy of a ticket, not getting my license pulled. He assured me that the law said he had to take my ticket, apparently it was a fairly new law. As he was saying this, another fellow was pulled over by his partner. I thought, if everyone were to get their licenses pulled for this, soon no one will be driving. It is not uncommon in Ukraine for laws to be drafted in such a way as they actually encourage bribes.
I’ve talked to the traffic police before and typically its a bluffing game and I’ve written about this before. So I told him fine, write the ticket and take my license, and prepared for the game to start. He pulled out the papers in order to start writing my ticket, and then he stopped and looked at me. There were a few words that we had to work through, but essentially he told me, “Listen, this doesn’t have to go to court, we don’t have to go through all of this. If you want we can settle everything right here and now.” He seemed very genuine, like he was trying to help keep me out of a situation where things could end up being very difficult for me.
That ended up being the trigger for my moment of clarity.
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Even before moving to Ukraine, we knew that our Director, Doug Stoddard, always took a stand against corruption. We have heard him tell so many people, “Corruption starts with the individual.” Janna and I both totally agree with him. But have you ever believed something only in your head?
I confess that, though I agree with the idea of always doing the right thing, I haven’t been sold out to it. On top of that, I’ve held on to the idea in a very self-righteous way.
Our interactions with the traffic police has become a game. They don’t want to write a ticket usually. So if we simply act like we are above paying a bribe they will let us go. But I found out this summer that when they really press on me, I can break, because its easier for me to pay than follow Ukraine’s rules. I paid the bribe once.
But last week sitting with the police officer, when he laid out the punishment which I still think is disproportionate to the infraction, and then as he sincerely offered me a way out by simply paying a “fine” there in his car, I wrestled with the temptation and it all fell into focus.
Right now, Ukraine is in the middle of a political and economic crisis. On Valentine’s Day, Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich gave an interview where he explained that he back out of a trade agreement last year because the EU essentially wasn’t promising enough aid to Ukraine, so in turn he turned to Russia who agreed to bail Ukraine out of their current crisis. What wasn’t mentioned was that there wouldn’t be a current crisis if it weren’t for Ukraine’s blatant corruption which is leeching 5-8 billion a year from the federal government as well as keeping small business from starting or surviving.
The political crisis has been building for a while and the tipping point was the violent actions taken by Ukrainian security forces against people protestors on November 30. But this was only one of the most recent of a slate of abuses by police officers around the country. And still not a single official has been held accountable for what happened on November 30. As I write this now, there are thousands of government security forces in a stand-off with protesters following a very violent day yesterday in the city where I live.
My encounter with the police officer and the beatings on Maidan are connected. If a traffic officer can get away with getting a bribe if he’s careful, then he might try to do it again. But in Ukraine, police officers never have anything to worry about. I’ve had officers in the center of Kyiv spend 40 minutes blatantly trying to convince to pay a bribe, because writing a ticket was too much work for him and it would be more expensive for him. If they get away with that everytime, what else can he get away with? What can any police officer get away with? You create a system that encourages its police officers to abuse the law.
As I sat in that car, for the first time it really clicked with me: Corruption stops with the individual.
I made my decision, and this time it wasn’t a game for me. I looked at him and said, “No, I can’t settle this here. If the law says I should have my license taken away, then take it. I need to do what is right.”
The officer did a strange thing, he stuck his hand out, shook my hand and said, “Good job.” And then he turned to his paperwork.
I sat back in my seat and looked out at the road. It felt good take a stand for what was right, but I wasn’t exactly happy. Having to go to a court to get my license back was going to be a big hassle. I was sure that I would have to play the same game as someone would try and get a bribe out of me at every step.
I need to be more careful when I drive. I was motivated to do better, and that’s the point of consequences, to motivate you to do what is right.
After about a minute, I thought the police officer was writing my ticket, but instead he just gave me my papers, license and shook my hand again. I was free to go.
As I walked away, I felt relieved to be sure, but also a little disappointed. The message from the officer seemed to be that I could try to stop corruption at my level, but it wouldn’t matter. And that’s what is so frustrating for most of us, its one thing for me to believe that corruption must stop with the individual, but most Ukrainians aren’t going to be so convicted. Part of the problem is the abuse they have suffered at the hands of the police, they pay because they are afraid they will be thrown in prison if they don’t, or worse. That’s something I, as an American, don’t have to be afraid of. As I watch the news today about the violence happening, I wonder if it will ever end.
I am grateful that, in the end, I know what I believe now. I just have to keep trying.
But I’ll also try and go the speed limit.
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