Casablanca – The classroom based portion of the program is quickly drawing to a close. In a few short weeks I will be moving into an apartment in a new city with a few other students from the SIT program to conduct field based independent research.
Our topics range from studying Migrants expression through theater to the impact of Morocco’s soft power on European security policy. They are all broadly based in migration, but in a country like Morocco, Migration touches every subject.
I am planning on spending my independent month in Casablanca, one of Morocco’s biggest and most modern cities. I spent the weekend here trying to get a feel for the different neighborhoods.
At around 10pm on Friday night, I found myself walking to a restaurant with three other students from my program. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shadowy figure dart in front of me and snatch the phone out of my friend’s hand. My friend took off sprinting after the criminal, running in front of traffic at full speed.
I took off the other direction, hoping to head the criminal off. At no point did either of us consider what we would do if we actually managed to overtake our prey. By the time I turned the corner a mob had formed around the petty criminal. He was being slapped and pushed, tears sliding down his face. It seemed that the whole neighborhood had come out to make this criminal face justice. They patted me on the back and offered heart felt apologies on behalf of their entire country.
The phone was eventually recovered, but not before a less than pleasant interaction with Moroccan law enforcement. Upon arrival, the police officer seized my friends phone as “evidence.” We waited around for half an hour, me trying my best to make heads or tails of the fast paced french/darija conversation taking place between a Moroccan police officer and my french-speaking friend.
In an effort to protect the identities of the two friends involved, I will call them Sarah and Mary; which incidentally are the names that they provided to the Moroccan police. Sarah was the initial victim of the crime, and Mary was our translator.
The police officers asked Sarah and Mary to come with them to the police station to testify. This initially meant putting them in the back of the police van, alone, with the criminal that they were en route to convict. After Mary protested, the police officers allowed them to ride in the front seat.
The rest of the story is secondhand, as I was not in the car or police station.
The police officers then began to unsubtly and even aggressively flirt with Mary. “What is your phone number? Do you have a boyfriend? You’re pretty.” So much for the right to remain silent.
Mary and Sarah then had to spend an hour in a Moroccan police precinct, forging signatures on legal documents because they didn’t want their real names anywhere near the strange events of the night.
I don’t have any succinct or snappy lesson from the night. Its too bad that some guy stole a phone. Its too bad that some guy felt the need to steal a phone. Its too bad that some guy will spend time in jail. Its too bad that police abuse their power. Its great that the community cares so much about protecting tourists.
People get robbed in the U.S.
I don’t think a whole city block would come out to catch a criminal in New York. It’s not as though America doesn’t have issues with police abusing their power.
But that also seems too simple. I have definitely seen more petty crime in Morocco than I do in the states. Moroccan police definitely request bribes, or in this case sexual exchange, more freely than their American counterparts.
Some people are good, and some are bad.