Stressed out members of the public often prefer to offer bribes to avoid the bureaucracy involved in trying to replace lost government-issued documents or retrieve impounded motor vehicles, officials admit.

The lengthy process of getting substitute documents for things such as driver’s licences, passports, registration certificates, fitness certificates, land titles, marriage certificates, TRN cards, among other must-have documents, frequently fills government offices with intense rage from customers and overwhelmed staff, Sunday Observer checks revealed.

“It definitely is in your interest to take good care of documents such as passports, driver’s licences and land titles, as a considerable amount of valuable time can be lost seeking replacements,” said a government official who requested anonymity.

“Them need to dismantle, just dismantle the whole ting,” complained one offender who was among a group of disgruntled motorists awaiting release documents for impounded vehicles at the Transport Authority office at Maxfield Avenue in Kingston last month.

Another driver who was ticketed exclaimed: “I don’t have a problem with that, you know (being ticketed), but for crying out loud, man, I’ve been here now one-and-a-half hours and when I came here I was the second person… It is ridiculous!”

He said he had started the quest to retrieve his vehicle from 8 o’clock that morning. It was minutes to 3:00 pm when he spoke to this newspaper.

“So you don’t see, is may as well you pay them (police) off,” one man casually suggested to him.

Lost passport

According to the Passport and Immigration Department, the lengthy process of replacing a lost passport begins with at least two visits to a police station and a wait of up to a month for the police to investigate the loss and send a report to the passport office.

But it could be longer if the police doubt the truth of the account of how the passport came to be lost. “Sometimes when we get the police report, if the police don’t think the story of how the person lost the passport is credible, we might do further checks,” Dwight Duncan, immigration officer at the Passport Office told the Sunday Observer.

Duncan said if the passport was lost or stolen, a report should be immediately made at the nearest police station to the passport owner’s residence. The police will take an initial report and send the owner to the Passport Office to complete a missing-passport form. On completion of the form, the incident will be recorded and a letter given to the owner, along with the completed lost-form to take back to the police station where the loss was first reported.

The letter from the Passport Office basically requests the police to investigate the applicant’s case as set out on the lost-form and to furnish a report after the investigation is completed. If the police are able to verify the loss, a new application for a replacement of the passport is authorised.

“If it is straightforward, once the police report is acceptable, an applicant can re-apply for a replacement within seven working days from the application report,” Duncan said.

Lost driver’s licence

The nightmare is similar with a lost driver’s licence. The driver must get a print-out of the licence from the tax office to take to the police station. The police then issue a letter to be taken to the Island Traffic Authority at Manhattan Road near Cross Roads.

Accompanying the letter from the police must be two passport-size photographs. At the Island Traffic Authority they will check to see if there are any endorsements such as traffic tickets, or suspension for careless driving on the licence. The applicant is then given a form attached to the police letter and one of the photographs to take to the collectorate.

At the collectorate, a clerk searches for the original competence certificate number issued by the Examination Depot. But if it is not on the system, a search must be made at the collectorate from which the licence was originally granted, to check its authenticity.

How quickly the clerk is able to obtain this information depends on where the licence was obtained and how long ago.

A collectorate spokesman cautions, however, that finding the information could take up to five days as “the same staff serving the public has to do the research after we close to the public”.

Once the collectorate is satisfied about the bona fide holder of an authentic driver’s licence, it issues a form to be completed, and a fee of $300 is paid if the licence had not expired. The driver’s photograph will be taken and a new licence granted.

Lost land title

Obtaining a replacement for a lost land title is a legal process and could take two to three months, the Registrar of Titles confirmed.

“The process is clearly set out in the Registration of Titles Act. But in order to fulfil the requirements we recommend that persons consult a lawyer to do the process. In trying to have the title replaced you have to outline the circumstances of loss very carefully,” Alfred McPherson, the registrar of titles advised.

The process to obtain a replacement for a lost land title is as follows:

The registered proprietor must file a lost-title application but if that person is deceased, the executor or beneficiaries can file. The lost-title declaration must be filed in the format of a statutory declaration stating the volume and folio number and a description of the property. The circumstances of how the title was lost must also be stated in detail. If the title had a plan annexed to it the registration fee is $200 and $100 if there is no plan.

Once the application for a new land title is provisionally approved, the applicant is required to place two or a maximum of three advertisements in the daily newspapers. The purpose of the advertisements is to inform the public of the application and to allow persons having an interest to bring it to the attention of the Registrar of Titles. The applicant must take the advertisements to the Titles Office at which time he/she is required to pay the final fee of $600 if there is a plan annexed to the title, or $300 if there is no plan.

Under the Registration of Titles Act, the title is issued seven weeks after the first advertisement is placed.

Lost birth certificate

To obtain a replacement birth certificate, a Registrar General spokesman said that the applicant must provide the mother’s name, the child’s name, place of birth, date of birth and the entry number. For express or seven-day service for a replacement birth certificate the fee is $2,250. One can pay $100 for an entry number search. Under the six-week service offered by the agency, the application for a replacement birth certificate will be accepted even if there is no entry number. However, $100 for a search is included in the $850 fee.

Lost death certificate

In the case of a lost death certificate, the Registrar General’s Department will need the name of the deceased, and the place and date of death. For the express or seven-day service, the fee is $2,250, while for the six-week service the fee is $750.

Lost marriage certificate

To replace a lost marriage certificate, you must provide the Registrar General with the name of the groom and bride, and the date and place of the marriage. You must also provide the department with the marriage officer’s name and an entry number. The fee for the seven-day and express service is $2,250 and $750 for the six-week service.

Lost TRN card

To obtain a replacement for a lost TRN card, one must write a letter to the Inland Revenue Department stating the circumstances of the loss and requesting a substitute card. The department will need an identification and usually issues a substitute card three weeks later.

Retrieving an impounded vehicle

The process of retrieving an impounded vehicle often appears more punitive, apparently because it is a breach of the Road Traffic law, and typically stirs anger. One very irate female motorist gave the Sunday Observer her story:

“I was charged at the stoplight by Hope and Waterloo Road, in front of Devon House, for driving an unlicensed vehicle one Saturday. I was three days over the grace period. The following Monday, I went to the tax office at about 9:00 am to pay the fine of $10,000 as well as licence the vehicle for six months for $2,000. From there, I went to the Transport Authority’s pound on Lyndhurst Road, believing I would be leaving with my car but instead was given a list of places that I needed to go before retrieving it. These included:

Jamaica National in Half-Way-Tree to pay the wrecker fee of $4,025, then to the Half-Way-Tree Police Station to seek approval for the release of the vehicle from a deputy superintendent of police, three trips to the Transport Authority located in two buildings on Maxfield Avenue – first to their building at 107 Maxfield Avenue to submit the relevant documents and have a form endorsed, then to the other building at 119 Maxfield Avenue to pay the storage fee of $1,500 for the first day plus $200 for each additional day, then return to 107 Maxfield Avenue to receive the release form. And finally, back to the pound to retrieve the car.

“Total: $17,925, eight different places, seven hours (9:00 am – 4:00 pm).”

A sergeant at the Traffic Division explained that the penalty for driving an unlicensed vehicle is seizure of the vehicle and a fine of $10,000 which must be paid within 21 days. If the date is missed, the driver/owner has to go to court, where the judge will determine the fee to be paid.

However, according to the sergeant, “police officers have discretionary powers to prosecute or not, or to give a warning”.

Some motorists claimed that they could receive favourable treatment if they “slip the police officers a little something”.

An administrator at the Internal Affairs Division admitted that some corrupt cops accepted bribes for not prosecuting offenders. “I haven’t seen a lot of police arresting people for offering them money, most of the times when the offering takes place it’s usually with the officer’s consent. I don’t believe that many officers are resolute enough to arrest on the spot,” said the administrator who asked not to be identified.

Police statistics covering the one-year period to April last year showed that through sting operations, 10 officers had been caught soliciting money from motorists for traffic violations.

Under Section 15 (1) of the Corruption Prevention Act 2000, offenders can be fined $1 million or sent to prison for two years, in the case of a first offence; or $3 million or three years in prison, or both, for a second or subsequent offence.