I like to smile and wave at the folks in our neighborhood. Today I noticed a police car (whatever image that conjures up, think much smaller, much older, and with significant body damage), so I stopped and said hello from my driver side window to the officer at the wheel of the police car.
He was friendly enough, but then asked a couple of questions:
Where do you live? (around the corner)
What time do you leave for work? (around 7:30 or 8:00 am)
Then he told me, "We'll be stopping by to see you."
Now it was my turn for (unspoken) questions:
What are you up to?
What do you want from me?
From this scenario you might get a little scared about living in a police state. But that isn't what I suspect is going on.
At this time of year everyone in Bolivia gets/expects a Christmas bonus or gift basket. The police are probably expecting some kind of gift from us in return for their faithful service in the neighborhood. (Although the reason I stopped in the first place was that their presence was such a novelty.)
Anyway, we'll see what they want when they show up. They might just want $10 for gas.
Ron