In the first nine months of this year 142 cases of attempted bribery have been registered - meaning in each case the attempted bribe-payers have found themselves in considerably more trouble than if they had simply taken their speeding tickets.
Last year, there were a total of 170 such cases registered. There have also been cases when bribes were given in foreign currencies and foreigners were detained.
The biggest attempted bribe amounted to 5,000 euros.
The image of corrupt cops ready to turn a blind eye in return for a backhander is out of date and visitors to Latvia from countries where such practices are still commonplace are warned not to assume things are the same here.
Howevere, despite huge improvements in recent years, Latvia's underpaid cops are still not completely immune to falling prey to temptation. Six police officers were detained in the first nine months of thus year for accepting bribes. In 2014 a total of 14 road cops were detained for this crime.
