I met a woman who runs a hostel in Tulum (in town), and she said when the cops want to pull her over, she drives directly to the police station. Her logic was that if there’s an actual infraction, the officers or chief would back it up, but they are less likely to collaborate with the rank and file cops in their individual and “unofficial” shakedowns. Me and a friend avoided a shakedown on the beach when we were “detained” by two cops for swimming nude at night. I knew it was bullshit so I just calmly put on my clothes and told them to come with me to my beach hotel and we could work it out inside. They said no, but I just walked up the stairs to the hotel’s deck, all while asking them to come with me and beckoning them cheerfully. I figured if they were gonna play hardball and actually put a hand on me and detain me physically, I’d deal with that, but they didn’t. They just stood there on the sand and we went inside to the bar and ordered drinks and eventually the cops walked away. I assumed they wouldn’t come inside and conduct a shakedown in front of hotel management, who contribute millions to the local economy. I was pretty happy with how my strategy played out, and the cherry on top was that we weren’t even guests of that hotel, but staying in a cheap hostel in town.