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seamusTX wrote:I suspect he meant onerous rather than odious.

Perhaps malodorous.

seamusTX wrote:It used to be that if you were pulled over in traffic and handed the cop your driver license with a folded $10 bill behind it, he would hand back the license and tell you to be careful. Many drivers kept a $10 bill behind their license in their wallet for just this purpose.

Those days are over.

It takes at least $100 now.

Seriously, few Chicago police officers are going to accept a bribe.

Chicago, or anywhere else.

Even corrupt police won't usually accept an overt bribe from something casual like a traffic stop. If they want it bad enough, they'll make it known, but there are much more profitable ways to be corrupt these days.

About 10-12 years ago, we had an inmate who had been a Mississippi state trooper, highly decorated, not a spot on his record. What got him busted (six months short of retirement), was finding a big stash of drugs in the trunk during a traffic stop. He uncuffed the driver (there were no passengers) and told him to take off running. The guy was afraid of getting shot in the back, so he wouldn't run. Finally he took off (at gunpoint), but he didn't keep running. He hid in a ditch instead, and watched as his stash got cut in half, with half going to the trooper's car before backup was summoned.

I don't know how long he'd been pulling this stunt; perhaps it was the first time. If he'd gotten away with it, it would have been far more profitable than a hundred dollar handshake. (IIRC, it was several kilos of cocaine.)

Individual corruption is terrible, but it's not tolerated anywhere these days except among birds of a feather.

What troubles me far more is the official, perfectly legal, but still corrupt practice of asset forfeiture. Everyone despises a cop who would let a traffic violator go free in exchange for a c-note, but one who lets a driver go free without charges, but instead seizes his quarter million dollar truck after finding drugs in the cargo, is treated as a hero.

Official corruption is far more dangerous than casual individual corruption.