The sweet smell of money

Local knowledge here in Latvia states that if you are ever pulled over by the under-paid traffic police a quick slip of a fiver will usually get you out of the situation. Inflation and deflation trends also affect these transactions and a few years ago the price would have reasonably higher but, thanks to the 2009 crisis, bribery has returned to the more traditional 5 lats. The inadvertent placing of a fiver in your passport is so in-grained in local folklore here that at shops you can buy an air-freshener shaped as 5 lats with the name ' Give it to your Policeman'.