"You're Under Arrest!"

It’s July 4th and Phil and I are in Skopje visiting “Naistar” (the Oldest) Michael. There are six Michaels in Peace Corps Macedonia – I am Postar (the Older) Michael. We are there to attend an afternoon picnic organized and sponsored by the American embassy and open to any American citizen that happens to be in Macedonia.

We had spent the morning shopping for stuff that we can’t find in our communities. I purchased a muffin tin and a Bundt pan so that I can continue my quest to introduce “new” foods to my Macedonian friends and neighbors. We had taken many photos of a musical group that was performing in the center and of other interesting things that caught our interest. We had taken off on our 20 minute trek back to Michael’s apartment (79 year old Michael wasn’t with us because he didn’t want miss his workout at the gym) and had three hours to get ready for the 4 o’clock picnic. It was a quiet Saturday and there were few pedestrians or shoppers about at this time on a summer day.

We were walking down the main boulevard and as has happened on numerous occasions before, noticed ahead that the traffic lights weren’t working at a major intersection and that a police officer was directing the flow. Nothing we haven’t experienced before. We got to the intersection, started to cross and stopped on the middle island, checking for oncoming traffic.

It is then that we saw in the distance, a motorcade approaching . Great timing we thought and got our cameras ready for when it passed by. Who was it – the mayor, a foreign dignitary, a rock star? We had no idea but got are cameras ready and took a few pictures in the less than 5 seconds it took for the motorcade to pass. We put away our cameras wondering who it was that was totally obscured from our view behind the blacked-out windows on the vehicles. We proceeded on our way.

Our way was less than ten steps before we heard a whistle and the police officer who was directing traffic and next to whom we were standing when the motorcade passed, heading towards us. He motioned for us to stop and asked us in broken, yet understandable English, of what we were taking pictures (a rhetorical question perhaps because he already knew the answer). “The motorcade”, we answered. He asked us for identification (we gave him our Peace Corp ID’s) and he called for backup. Within minutes there were eight more police officers on the scene – four plain clothes and four uniformed in four separate squad cars. They asked for our passports which Michael brought, after our call, from his apartment. They confiscated our cameras and refused to talk on the phone to our Peace Corps Security Officer who speaks perfect Macedonian considering that he is a Macedonian.

So Phil and I were standing around, trying to guess what we did that merited such an overwhelming response from these law enforcement officials. We ruled out jaywalking. Then the Paddy Wagon (politically incorrect term nowadays but I don’t know what else to call it) arrived and Phil and I were ushered into it. We were told we were “under arrest for photographing the President’s motorcade" a seemingly serious offense in this developing nation. (The Paddy Wagon appeared to be brand new, so Phil and I believe that we were the first prisoners to utilize it, somewhat of an accomplishment in and of itself).

Earlier on I had called the Peace Corps Duty Officer and told her of our predicament. She in turn called our Safety and Security Officer, and he in turn called his contacts at the American Embassy. Within the hour a Peace Corp staff member and a representative from the Embassy arrived and sat with us in the waiting room while the police inspectors examined our photos and did whatever it took them two hours to do.

By four o’clock (the picnic starting time), after signing statements that we didn’t need a lawyer now, that we wouldn’t need a lawyer later, that we needed no medical care, and that we were treated well, and after signing a couple of other innocuous papers, we were given back our cameras and credentials and on our way back to the apartment, already late for our sole reason for being in Skopje. All this was accomplished with the Embassy representative translating and guiding us through the process.

In the end, the police inspectors and the police commander apologized for what had happened and for the use of the term “arrest” when it should have been “detained”. His officers speak very little English. He had to follow pre-established procedures and we got the impression that he felt it was foolish to forbid taking pictures of a motorcade, regardless of who is in it.

At no time during this adventure were Phil nor I concerned about what was happening. We knew the Peace Corps and the Embassy had our back and they kept in constant contact with us during the whole time. The “arresting” officers were low key, yet professional. They didn’t take our phones; they didn’t search our bags, and they didn’t handcuff us on the trip to the stationhouse. In the end, they asked us to please erase the pictures of the motorcade, trusting us without supervising us, to do so.

One of the main requests of the Macedonian Minister of Education is that we assist teachers in improving the critical thinking skills of today’s students. After witnessing us openly take photos of the motorcade and realizing that we were Americans ignorant of the law, the traffic officer had two choices. He could have informed that one can’t photograph the President’s motorcade, asked us to comply with the law in the future, and asked us to delete the photos. Or he could have called in reinforcements “according to procedure.” Option 1 would have been the proper call in this situation if the officer had the option. But“according to procedure” is how many things are governed here in Macedonia, often in cases where common sense would dictate a more sensible approach.

So Phil and I, serving together in Macedonia, have now broken the law, been detained by a squad of police officers and have ridden together in a Paddy Wagon - boasts few if any Peace Corps Volunteers can make. The brotherhood has been strengthened and a solid reminiscence has been engraved in our story telling repertoire.

I am unable to support this episode with any photographs, for aforementioned reasons.