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Sat, Feb 11 2012
Letter to the Editor: You’ve got to be kidding me
Photo: Anelia Nikolova
Photo: Assen Tonev
Photo: Ivan Grigorov
Photo: Valentina Petrova
First, let me say that I have nothing against the police here personally. I have three friends who either were police or are currently Bulgarian cops. And I do realise that most of them are just trying to do their job. Well, somewhat.
But I do get tired of it...
A few days ago, I was driving my daughter to a photo shop and then to a father-daughter lunch. After I stopped to let her pick up photos, I neglected to turn on my lights again.
Soon, I had KAT wave their ridiculous little toy lollypop at me, so I stopped. Turned out that the young gruff and tuff KAT guy was gonna write me up for not having my lights on.
Obviously, he had said attitude as his boss was in the backseat, covered with more medals than a Soviet general, with his other colleague watching him.
Never mind that he was rude and gruff. At least he could have introduced himself and talked civilly to me. Instead, it was like I personally insulted his mother or something. Not very professional to say the least.
Now I fully admit that I did the foul deed and forgot to turn on the headlights. Guilty as charged. I broke the law. However, a pit of respect from this young punk who was still wet behind his ears would have been nice.
Note to KAT - this is not how to win respect and score points with the public.
Also, it was not foggy, it was not dark and there really was no danger. So, why not give me a warning as I simply forgot? This is what any intelligent cop in California would do.
Alas, not true in Bulgaria! Basically, KAT serves as a revenue collection agency for the local government. Second note to KAT - you are not a tax collecting agency because the government is broke.
In fact, I would have much rather been pulled over for a REAL offence against public safety such as speeding, running a red light, or double parking; all of which, I might add, I observed earlier that same day in Stara Zagora.
Also, paying the fine for a true violation would have not made me angry. But forgetting to turn your lights on? Gimme a break! You have got to be kidding.
Get a life, KAT.
This is what former military people such as I would call chicken faeces...so to speak. Why? Because it is petty, a cheap shot and minor. It is certainly not worthy of the larger term beginning with bull.
Third note to KAT - try to concentrate on people making serious traffic violations if you want to be taken seriously.
Frankly, I honestly cannot figure out why we have KAT or what they really do besides hide in the bushes and write out fines for people.
You never see them on a rainy day when road conditions are certainly dangerous. Obviously, they are in the local banitsa stand drinking coffee and sucking on a cancer stick.
As we all know, KAT tends to hang out in the shrubbery on safe roads where there are lots of people going five to10km/h over the speed limit to popular areas.
Or, they kick back on absurd sections of the freeway where you have to go from 120 km/h to 80 km/h, just for the fun of it all.
Just try to find them hanging out near dangerous curves, death trap intersections or on hole infested roads with poor traffic markings where they are actually needed.
Heaven forbid that they use common sense and try to do something good for motorists.
For instance, the road to the local mall is as thick as fleas with KAT just waiting for people.
One trick they love to do is to wait till the mall is nearly closed & ticket poor victims in a hurry to get home.
Come on!
Also, you might notice that they NEVER stop to direct traffic when the street lights don't function, which frequently happens in Stara Zagora.
Nothing like a score of drivers all trying to go at once in utter chaos, and honking like a bunch of maniacs, at some local intersection where the signal is dead as a doornail. I guess KAT considers that safe or social Darwinism in action.
I dunno, call me naive, but it seems to me that it is a bit more important to do this than pass out fines for forgetting to turn on your headlights during the daytime...
Then, why not sit at dangerous intersections, like ours and actually try to prevent accidents? We have an average of one accident every two weeks at our corner and the only time I've ever seen KAT there is when they are shopping at the nearby store, running the stop sign, or cleaning up after an accident.
Why not patrol our street, for a change, instead of sitting on your posterior ends toking on a coffin nail in your cosy warm cars? Especially when young fools consistantly use said avenue as their own personal drag strip going up to 80 km/h or so daily? Hmmmmm?
No, that would actually make sense and be useful.
Ya know, some years ago, my wife screamed at a car that nealy picked her off, in our crosswalk,along with our son in a stroller.
Young yokel, going the speed of light, must have a REALLY bad day, as he threw on his brakes, jammed it into reverse and blocked her way in the crosswalk. Next, he got out of the car and threatned to kill her.
Nice guy, but where was KAT?
Next, if you really want to be respected, why not start by obeying the same traffic laws that ordinary peasants like myself have to obey?
For instance, several times I have seen our local KAT blatantly drive though the stop sign here without even slowing down. No call or anything...they are just to lazy to stop. Or the banitsa is up and hot at the local stand...
Gee, could it be because they know that they are above the law or what?
Let me give an example. A few weeks ago, a Bulgarian friend of ours was unloading his supplies for his business on the walking street in town. This is normal. We have seen people do it several times.
However, this time two police walked up to him and told him he could not park there & to move his car. He told him that his business stand there was his and he was obviously unloading supplies to stock it - not parking.
Your friendly local police then told him to 1) either cough up 15 leva each to them, or 2) they would write him a fine to pay for 100 leva.
Naturally, he was just shocked, utterly shocked that this would occur. Well, not really. Just business as usual as we all know.
So, to make a long story short, he refused to pay the bribe, or perhaps we should say "Christmas gift," to the cops. The poor sap landed in court with two witnesses in his favour.
Naturally, the court found him guilty and fined him 100 leva. Justice Bulgarian style, of course. Hey, at least it is a few steps above Iranian justice, huh?
Heck, why bother with a judicial system here? Let's just have the police sentence everyone. They are gonna do it anyway. Everyone know that they are never wrong and don't make mistakes.
See the Joseph Stalin entry in Wikipedia please.
And, then the powers that be in government wonder why people have zero respect for the police or the court system in Bulgaria. Geeze, why not just pay an annual nuisance fee to the goverment so they will leave you alone? No way, it makes too much sense.
In conclusion, if you want to be taken seriously, be serious. If not, things will simply continue as they are and both KAT and the Bulgarian courts will always be simply a very, very bad joke.
Nuff said.
Keith W. Brown
But I do get tired of it...
A few days ago, I was driving my daughter to a photo shop and then to a father-daughter lunch. After I stopped to let her pick up photos, I neglected to turn on my lights again.
Soon, I had KAT wave their ridiculous little toy lollypop at me, so I stopped. Turned out that the young gruff and tuff KAT guy was gonna write me up for not having my lights on.
Obviously, he had said attitude as his boss was in the backseat, covered with more medals than a Soviet general, with his other colleague watching him.
Never mind that he was rude and gruff. At least he could have introduced himself and talked civilly to me. Instead, it was like I personally insulted his mother or something. Not very professional to say the least.
Now I fully admit that I did the foul deed and forgot to turn on the headlights. Guilty as charged. I broke the law. However, a pit of respect from this young punk who was still wet behind his ears would have been nice.
Note to KAT - this is not how to win respect and score points with the public.
Also, it was not foggy, it was not dark and there really was no danger. So, why not give me a warning as I simply forgot? This is what any intelligent cop in California would do.
Alas, not true in Bulgaria! Basically, KAT serves as a revenue collection agency for the local government. Second note to KAT - you are not a tax collecting agency because the government is broke.
In fact, I would have much rather been pulled over for a REAL offence against public safety such as speeding, running a red light, or double parking; all of which, I might add, I observed earlier that same day in Stara Zagora.
Also, paying the fine for a true violation would have not made me angry. But forgetting to turn your lights on? Gimme a break! You have got to be kidding.
Get a life, KAT.
This is what former military people such as I would call chicken faeces...so to speak. Why? Because it is petty, a cheap shot and minor. It is certainly not worthy of the larger term beginning with bull.
Third note to KAT - try to concentrate on people making serious traffic violations if you want to be taken seriously.
Frankly, I honestly cannot figure out why we have KAT or what they really do besides hide in the bushes and write out fines for people.
You never see them on a rainy day when road conditions are certainly dangerous. Obviously, they are in the local banitsa stand drinking coffee and sucking on a cancer stick.
As we all know, KAT tends to hang out in the shrubbery on safe roads where there are lots of people going five to10km/h over the speed limit to popular areas.
Or, they kick back on absurd sections of the freeway where you have to go from 120 km/h to 80 km/h, just for the fun of it all.
Just try to find them hanging out near dangerous curves, death trap intersections or on hole infested roads with poor traffic markings where they are actually needed.
Heaven forbid that they use common sense and try to do something good for motorists.
For instance, the road to the local mall is as thick as fleas with KAT just waiting for people.
One trick they love to do is to wait till the mall is nearly closed & ticket poor victims in a hurry to get home.
Come on!
Also, you might notice that they NEVER stop to direct traffic when the street lights don't function, which frequently happens in Stara Zagora.
Nothing like a score of drivers all trying to go at once in utter chaos, and honking like a bunch of maniacs, at some local intersection where the signal is dead as a doornail. I guess KAT considers that safe or social Darwinism in action.
I dunno, call me naive, but it seems to me that it is a bit more important to do this than pass out fines for forgetting to turn on your headlights during the daytime...
Then, why not sit at dangerous intersections, like ours and actually try to prevent accidents? We have an average of one accident every two weeks at our corner and the only time I've ever seen KAT there is when they are shopping at the nearby store, running the stop sign, or cleaning up after an accident.
Why not patrol our street, for a change, instead of sitting on your posterior ends toking on a coffin nail in your cosy warm cars? Especially when young fools consistantly use said avenue as their own personal drag strip going up to 80 km/h or so daily? Hmmmmm?
No, that would actually make sense and be useful.
Ya know, some years ago, my wife screamed at a car that nealy picked her off, in our crosswalk,along with our son in a stroller.
Young yokel, going the speed of light, must have a REALLY bad day, as he threw on his brakes, jammed it into reverse and blocked her way in the crosswalk. Next, he got out of the car and threatned to kill her.
Nice guy, but where was KAT?
Next, if you really want to be respected, why not start by obeying the same traffic laws that ordinary peasants like myself have to obey?
For instance, several times I have seen our local KAT blatantly drive though the stop sign here without even slowing down. No call or anything...they are just to lazy to stop. Or the banitsa is up and hot at the local stand...
Gee, could it be because they know that they are above the law or what?
Let me give an example. A few weeks ago, a Bulgarian friend of ours was unloading his supplies for his business on the walking street in town. This is normal. We have seen people do it several times.
However, this time two police walked up to him and told him he could not park there & to move his car. He told him that his business stand there was his and he was obviously unloading supplies to stock it - not parking.
Your friendly local police then told him to 1) either cough up 15 leva each to them, or 2) they would write him a fine to pay for 100 leva.
Naturally, he was just shocked, utterly shocked that this would occur. Well, not really. Just business as usual as we all know.
So, to make a long story short, he refused to pay the bribe, or perhaps we should say "Christmas gift," to the cops. The poor sap landed in court with two witnesses in his favour.
Naturally, the court found him guilty and fined him 100 leva. Justice Bulgarian style, of course. Hey, at least it is a few steps above Iranian justice, huh?
Heck, why bother with a judicial system here? Let's just have the police sentence everyone. They are gonna do it anyway. Everyone know that they are never wrong and don't make mistakes.
See the Joseph Stalin entry in Wikipedia please.
And, then the powers that be in government wonder why people have zero respect for the police or the court system in Bulgaria. Geeze, why not just pay an annual nuisance fee to the goverment so they will leave you alone? No way, it makes too much sense.
In conclusion, if you want to be taken seriously, be serious. If not, things will simply continue as they are and both KAT and the Bulgarian courts will always be simply a very, very bad joke.
Nuff said.
Keith W. Brown
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Nice article! It is very funny when you have to deal with the Bulgarian police. All over the world, police more or less issues stupied fines, hey everybody knows that clever people do not usually choose to become police officers. But if you are greek and try to make the trip from Kulata to Sofia, you'll have to bribe a cup. There is no way not to. They will stop you even if you have not broken the law, they will check all your documents and they will not let you leave unless you give them something. You see, in [...]
Read the full comment reality you can be 100% legal and all the documents to be correct but the KAT has the right to keep you there waiting until he "checks" all you document! So you give him 20 leva and a kiss goodbye. Funny but economically not healthy for Bulgarian State.
Latest scam in Sofia is that the police will 'refuse' any offer of money to sort out a problem...but you may be invited to buy them a coffee at a nearby cafe...going rate?
50 lev per cup.
I can't see it's such a big deal really Keith. And as someone else here has said: a packet of cigarettes usually solves the problem.
Just pay the fine, big guy. Cops are cops are cops. What a useless rant.
-Expat I didnt pay the fine merely tipped the police for showing me the error of my ways :-)
The idea that they're just a revenue collection agency isn't only true for bodies such as KAT. We live in a supposedly developed country, but do you see anyone getting pulled over for nearly running over pedestrians or drag racing on the main road? Nope. But you do get parking tickets as soon as the light on the metre turns red. You do get speeding tickets for being 5 km/h above the speed limit. But then you go and read in the paper that some more teenagers died over the weekend after getting their licenses, drinking, and speeding with super-charged [...]
Read the full comment cars. Balance? No. Revenue collection? Yes. At least the cops in Bulgaria have the excuse of being badly paid. And one time we were crossing the road (as pedestrians) when the light was green, and a wonderful driver cut us off; when we motioned in a (not rude) disgruntled manner, he proceeded to take the time to do a U-turn and drive up next to us on a completely different road to come and threaten us. How pleasant. And this wasn't in Bulgaria. So please, rather than complain about Bulgaria all the time, go about it constructively. Be polite with them, make an effort not to break the law, and accept that Bulgaria is slowly getting up to par with other countries but that it isn't other countries (and even then, the other countries aren't always the best examples).
Please, just accept it. This is Bulgaria, and the police authorities simply do not understand what you are writing about.
The KAT are a police force that are not permitted to ' police' anything. They are simply doing the same things they did in the communist era i.e. checking on citizens and their documentation who are moving around the country. Lets be realistic, do you think the average police car stands a chance of catching anything (except a Trabant) that commits a moving traffic offence.
The civil police are not empowered by [...]
Read the full comment law to 'investigate' anything.
The investigation staff are not empowered by law to 'police' anything.
The lawyers do not have to turn up in courts if they do not want to go, or if it can help delay things. There is apparently no contempt of court powers here.
Individuals found guilty of serious crimes can immediately appeal, and be freed pending the appeal (rather than wait in prison as a convicted criminal until any appeal may change this).
I understand the not one single large scale criminal, arrested and tried - has yet to set foot in any prison for the last 18 months. We are still all waiting for the tax evasion sentences for all those 400 lev a month footballers and Bentley car drivers.
Do as I do. Treat it as incredible entertainment that anywhere else you would have to pay good money to enjoy in a theatre.
There is another way that's worked well in the village I stay in. Take a walk up to the banitsa stand or cafe where the KAT hang out. Buy a round, make friends with them, talk about the country where you come from and football or whatever. Tell them about the idiots speeding along your road and the accident blackspot. You might well get something done about it. Also, he next time you've forgotten to put your lights on or are just over the speed limit, you'll get a polite warning. It's better to have the police as co-operative friends [...]
Read the full comment rather than enemies. Also, why not send a letter to Mr. Borrisov, Keith? If you do it without hate/sarcasm/criticism, you might start to take a small step forward towards improving the overall situation.
And what about the gentle habit of taking backhanders from motorists rather than charge them with anything? This only used to happen in Serbia (as a non-smoker I always used to travel with a box of Marlborough to see my way though).
Unfortunately this ethos pervades in many different areas of the country and its economic and social life. The big black government mercedes that run everyone off the road would also do well to set an example, but not in this country. Lead by a faeces based example, that's what you get in return.
Yes I can see the argument for having lights on but whether it is justified is another thing!
Perhaps more energy in driver education would be good. Say for a community Police contingent to make regular visits to local school/s and have the kids ask them questions about road safety and so on etc etc.
In some developed Countries they don't have uniform police working behind desks anymore but rather they call them "community officers", they have no powers of arrest as such; the real officers are on the street patrolling, interesting [...]
Read the full comment concept.
dear ivan
even 56 is more than 50 (including 10% tolerance). so the fine is perfectly fair.
dear reapor
some traffic specialist claim that visability and therefore safty is increased if vehicles turn light on during the day. several emperical studies have shown that safty for motorcycles was improved with lights during day !
some arguments say that the additional energy consumption for using lights during the day is not offseting the additional safty gain. so it depends from country to country about policy for lights [...]
Read the full comment during the day.
I was stopped for driving at 74kph in a 50 area. I was actually doing 56 I admit as I had just pulled out of a side road and accelerated so as not to hinder traffic coming up behind me. But what recall have you got?? The radar showed 74 but I could not read a time on it so it could have been anybody's speed
I thought lights were for driving during the night not during the day!
BG have some very strange regulations.
this is the wort article ever read her on this media !!! so much polemic !! what a shame
dear bulagrians. stop whining !
if there is a traffic law (must turn light on) and you dont you get fined ! yes this is for revenue to the budeget, but this is in every country !!
that police is not polite is an argutement, which needs to be worked on. that there is much to improve is also a fact. but BG needs to understand to follow rules, if not [...]
Read the full comment it is painful expensive.
one advice (trying to also polemic): try to apply sofia pariking behaviour e.g. in Germany. This would cost you hundreds of EUR !
The chap is right when he says that KAT are just an arm of the revenue collectin agency. They are only interested in insuring car taxes have been paid. Idiots driving like mad men on roads in towns or down country lanes are of no interest to them.
Yep, same here. Rode with a Greek friend in his car with Greek plates. Got pulled over. Came out that his Bulgarian drive-in insurance or something was 2 or 3 days overdue. They took all his documents, wanted to go to the station and fine him for 100 levs, I think. Got away with 10 and no paper work. Every bit of the article is right. KAT is nothing but a bunch of lazy, fat, stupid morons, liars and thieves.