So, I just had a run-in with police...

[BlackFlyme]

I guess some context is needed. Just yesterday I was walking home from college, as usual, when a cop car pulled up and said he wanted to talk to me. Apparently there had been several break-ins in my neighborhood[footnote]no-one on my street (that I've talked to) knew this, and I've yet to see anything in the news.[/footnote] and that I matched the description of the suspect. (black and white coat, carrying a suitcase)[footnote]Though a lot of people carry suitcases in college/uni, regular backpacks just can't hold all those books. Hell, I've seen people steal shopping carts just to haul their stuff.[/footnote]

I was asked if I knew anything about the break-ins, where I went to college, for my I.D., all the usual stuff, and he had run my name through the police database[footnote]Nothing came up, by the way.[/footnote]. He then pulled out his radio and asked if any other officers in the area could come over as he did not actually know what the suspect had looked like. A few minutes later, two cops pull up, and one of them got out, looked at me, and said "that's not him, he looks older"[footnote]I still don't know if he meant I looked older than the suspect or if the suspect looked older than me.[/footnote].

They then they asked to check my bag. Just my books, my lunch, and a test that read 57% on it. One of them made fun of me for it, while another said that at least I had passed. Still, at least it was over.

I just felt like sharing this and was wondering if anyone else on here has a similar story.

Spoiler: My thoughts exactly, captcha.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I had to pass a roadside inspection at 7:00AM in the middle of nowhere between towns. And I mean the middle of nowhere. I'm guessing they were out watching for people from a party the night before, but there were literally no side roads for twenty minutes in either direction.

 

[R.Nevermore]

I walk to work every day starting at 5am, when it's still dark. I get this crap all the time. They always say those exact words 'there's been allot of breakins in the area and I match the description of the suspect'. I'm pretty destinct... Big beard and long hair... Look like Ned Stark... I should stop breaking into houses.

 

[BlackFlyme]

snip

apparently burglars are snappy dressers where you live and carry briefcases

Actually, the coat is a bit big for me, makes me look kind of puffy . Everybody at school carries a suitcase around though, unless they only need a couple books. I've seen a few ripped backpacks that just couldn't handle the weight.

 

[teqrevisited]

A few years ago I had a firearms unit show up at my house at around 11 at night when my mum's partner's son was hiding somewhere in the area after an attempted armed robbery of the local off license. I'm glad I didn't go to open my window when they were creeping up to the front door.

All it ended up being was four officers searching the house and then all of us just standing about in the kitchen talking whilst they filled in their paperwork.

I've never personally come under scrutiny even though, by my own admission, I think I look a bit suspicious.

 

[Berithil]

I got pulled over when I first got my permit for "looking too young to be driving" because someone called the police -_-

The officer apologized after he was done running my permit and let us go on our merry way.

That's really the only run in I've had... well, negatively speaking. I've encountered quite a few police, but it was always in in a friendly circumstance.

 

[AgentNein]

My old roommate Geoff was pulled over because he looked like one of those goddamned cave men from the Geico commercials. His car was also running weird. They discovered some fireworks (some or all fireworks are illegal to possess in NY, I've never cared enough to really find out one way or the other) and absolutely tore his car apart looking for drugs. Finally after spending far too long out there, an officer held up a plastic bag in victory asking Geoff what he supposed that was. Turned out it was Geoff's sandwich bag from work earlier in the day with some crumbs inside of it. Police gave him a ticket for the fireworks and left super pissed that they wasted all that time.

 

[Pinkamena]

I walk to work every day starting at 5am, when it's still dark. I get this crap all the time. They always say those exact words 'there's been allot of breakins in the area and I match the description of the suspect'. I'm pretty destinct... Big beard and long hair... Look like Ned Stark... I should stop breaking into houses.

Obviously the actor who play Ned Stark rob houses on his free time.

 

[DoPo]

Two times, actually. Well one of the times I was "a suspect" the other time it was close. At any rate, the two are boring but so I'll spoler them to save space

Spoiler: slightly more exciting one but longer

Me and a friend of mine were out one evening just for a walk. We have this route we like to go through on foot - it goes somewhat from where I live to almost out of town then back and it's long-ish, not direct and it's not even that interesting but we like it. It goes to one neighbourhood everybody in my town calls "the water central" (and I don't even know why, it's just how it's known as) which is the very last thing before leaving the town. So the route is my place, then about 4 kilometres (maybe 5, since we're on foot) the water central we get about three quarters into it and then we go back, pass just next to the town centre and then go actually back (the town centre would be just the opposing direction which one would take if they ant to go to my home from that route). All in all it's about 10-12 kilometres or so.

At any rate, we were on our way back from there just chatting and we were getting close to the town centre. It was around 11 in the evening or around there. A patrol car came from the street in front of us but we didn't really pay it much attention until it pulled over. See there wasn't anything immediately around us - no shops, no buildings or anything so we wandered what they were doing, we even joked that they were going to arrest us. And lo and behold, three policemen come out of the car and surround us. Like, really surround us. The one in front, some old fellow with grey hair goes "OK, buys, can I see your IDs?". We pull them out, the other two policemen take them and examine them really closely as the old guy goes on

Old guy: So, where have you been this evening?
Us[footnote]me or my friend - I can't remember who said what, doesn't really matter either[/footnote]: Just taking a walk.
Old guy: Really? Is that all you did.
Us: Yes, that's all.
Old guy: And where have you been walking?
Us: *pointing back* We were just over at the water central and we're going back.
Old guy: Where have you been?
Us: The water central *pointing back again*
Old guy: What do you mean?
Us: The neighbourhood next to the end of the town. There *pointing in its direction*.
Old guy: That's where I live and it's called
My friend: Dude, you know everybody calls it that. That's the only name I know of it.
Old guy: Hmph. And what did you do there?
Us: Just walked past it.
Old guy: Did you go to see somebody there?
Us: No, we were just out on a walk.
Old guy: But why take a walk there?
Us: *shrugging* Because we just wanted to walk for a while.
Old guy: And which route did you take?
Us: *explain it to him. It's pretty much a single street that's going straight ahead - no alternative routes either*
Old guy: And did you see anybody there?
Us: No, there was nobody else (note: it's impossible to miss other people on that street - only one side of the road has pavement and there really isn't anywhere else one would go through aside from the pavement).
Old guy: Are you sure?
Us: Yes, absolutely - there was nobody else.
Old guy: Anybody next to the gas station?
Us: No, there was nobody else.
Old guy: Did you see anybody wearing a jacket.
Me: No, we saw nobody and that includes anybody with a jacket.
Old guy: *purses his lips and after a moment* OK, then, have a nice evening.

The other two policemen give us back our IDs and move out of the way.

Spoiler: slightly more boring but shorter

So, it was me, my friend from before, let's call him S now, and another friend - let's call him D. S drove D to my place - they both came to pick me up with the car - it was about 5 in the afternoon. S had parked the car just in front of my place, although technically only residents of my block of flats are normally allowed to park there. Not a real issue, since none of the residents actually care and it's not like anybody else would be watching for exactly that - knowing which car belongs and which doesn't.

So anyway - S parked in front, I came out and into the car, so he drove off. But Just as we reached the street, a patrol car drove past. Knowing that the policemen could actually try and write him a ticket over it, he told me "Ugh, if they ask, tell them we had to carry something heavy to your place with the car, that's why we stopped there" I suggested to it was a TV. So "the cover story" was settled.

And the policemen did actually pull us over - two of them stepped out of the car and came over to the diver's window. One went "Ok, boys, can I see your IDs? And the car's documents, too" - we gave the IDs to him, the other policeman took the car's papers. The first one stared at the IDs for a moment and addressed S "So, S, tell me - have you been drinking?" Yeah, that came out of nowhere. And for the record - no, he hadn't been drinking, none of us hadn't either. "No, I haven't" was the answer, of course. The policeman wasn't convinced, though - he used an even more authoritive voice "Listen, S, tell me - have you been drinking? Don't make me check." S started saying "No, I have-" but D just cut him off with "Listen, if you're going to check him for alcohol - go ahead but I can personally assure you that he hasn't drank any. But go ahead and check him anyway - just stop asking". Seems this caught the policeman off guard, he mumbled something about respect and some vague "suggestions" slash vague threats but then just returned our IDs and let us go.

 

[lRookiel]

I've had two encounters with the police.

1: Random policeman in a van asked me and my friend if we were supposed to be outside of school (We were sixth form students and had the afternoon off). They rang our school to confirm, end of story.

2: I smashed the shit out of a person who bullied me constantly and had to go to the police station to be processed (6 months of bottling it up when all other anti bullying measures had failed). I got a warning as it was my first offense, which has been removed as of may last year, so it's like it never happened.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Once I get issued a warning for driving without my lights on, it was when the sun still hadn't quite gone down yet and the streetlights weren't even on yet so I don't think it was very fair, but a warning is nothing serious so whatever. I'm pretty sure it was just an excuse to test my breath for alcohol, as I was at schoolies at the time, hadn't been drinking though so all was fine.

 

[Little Woodsman]

Dude that's nothing.

Spoiler: spoilered for space

OK, this happened on Dec 23rd of 2001. I'll never forget that date.
First thing to know, I had actually been hit by a car earlier in the evening. (Long and different story)
(I was badly bruised & shaken up from the accident, but otherwise fine.)
But this was at about 7:30 in the evening, and the weather was very mild for late December, so I was just
wearing a light grey sweat shirt over my scrubs (I worked at a blood center at the time).
I'm walking past the parking lot of a church a little less than a block from my apartment, when a spotlight
hits me. I looked around and saw a police car had it's spotlight trained on me. I shrugged and turned to
walk towards the police car, but the officers inside used the car's loudspeaker to say "Stay where you are."
So I shrugged again, kept my hands in clear view and waited. After about 20 seconds, the officers used the
loudspeaker again, this time to tell me to put my hands in the air, which I did. At this point, one of the
officers stepped out of the car and trained his gun on me. Yeah. Pointed his *gun* at me. The officer who
had stepped out of the car then instructed me to turn around and face the church, kneel, and put my hands
on my head with my fingers interlaced. Of course I did as instructed. Then the second officer got out of
the car, came over to me and took my hands off my head and put them behind my back and handcuffed me. Yup.
At this point I informed the officer that I had been hit by a car earlier that evening and my arm was very
sore. He undid the handcuffs and re-did them using two pairs linked together, so that my arms were not
twisted behind my back. He then raised me to my feet and marched me over to the car, and put me in the
back. Read me my rights. Asked if I understood my rights. I said that I did. I asked if he could tell me
what this was all about. He told me that a convenience store about 2 blocks away had been robbed at gunpoint
and they were looking for the perpetrator, and that I "roughly matched the description". They then informed
me that I was not actually under arrest, but 'being detained', and that they were going to bring the witness
to the robbery over to see if they could make a better identification. So I waited in the back of the police
car thinking "oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit....." for a while until a second police car
arrived. I was taken out of the first car and put in front of the second car, I think that they meant for
the car's headlights to keep me from being able to see the witness, but I could see her pretty well.
The witness was a young hispanic woman. I was instructed to turn to the side, then turn to the other
side then turn facing front again. The witness looked incredulous, and even in the poor visibility
and with little lip-reading skill I could tell she was saying "That's not the guy" to the officer in the
car with her. He asked her to if she was absolutely sure. Had her look at me again. Had me go through the
turning this way and that again. She was absolutely positive that I wasn't the guy. The car with the witness
drove off and the officers who had detained me took the handcuffs off of me and apologized. I told them not
to worry about it, I understood they were doing their job & trying to keep everyone safe, wished them a
good evening & merry christmas, They drove off and I finished walking home.
But here's the kicker.
A few days later I was drawing the blood of an officer who was a regular donor at the center I worked at,
and I asked if they had apprehended the guy they were looking for in the armed robbery. He told me that
yes, they had apprehended the perpetrator, but he wondered how I knew about it. I told him what had happened.
And he became *furious*. I asked why he was so upset and he told me. The guy they were looking for was:
Over six feet tall.
(I'm five-foot-nine on a tall day.)
Had short blond hair.
(I have hair most people call black but is actually dark brown, well past my shoulders.)
Had blue eyes.
(My eyes are dark brown, almost black.)
Had no facial hair.
(I have an awesome Clark Gable mustache.
So yeah, I went through all that because I "roughly matched the description".

tldr: I was cuffed, read my rights & put in front of a witness when the police were looking
for a guy who looked nothing like me.

And while that is probably my most impressive run-in-with-police story, it is in my
opinion, far from the worst.

 

[BishopofAges]

My best friend got pulled over once, after giving me a ride home. He spoke with the officer, who had very little to say but ran his name/plates anyway. After it came back clean my friend asked what it was about and the officer said a "Suspect matching your description and car was last seen in this area, however the plates do not match and he wasn't wearing a fedora." To which my friend inquired further on the suspect description, officer replied "Early to mid 20s Hispanic male driving a white car."

My friend was confused as the officer drove off, later that night he popped online and told me the story, I quickly became confused as well. In our region, Hispanic people are actually a big majority, and white cars as a whole are quite common, so he pops off with "So I was pulled over for 'Driving While Mexican?'" To which I nearly died laughing and falling out of my chair.

Personally, I've been talked to by cops before in at least three other mentionable stories, but I will relate those if asked, the one above was honestly the funniest.

 

[Alssadar]

I walk to work every day starting at 5am, when it's still dark. I get this crap all the time. They always say those exact words 'there's been allot of breakins in the area and I match the description of the suspect'. I'm pretty destinct... Big beard and long hair... Look like Ned Stark... I should stop breaking into houses.

Obviously the actor who play Ned Stark rob houses on his free time.

I doubt Sean Bean would stoop low enough to be a thief--he's too honorable to do it.
Although, I heard he once tried to steal a ring from Elijah Wood, and it didn't turn out that well for him.

 

[Kekkonen1]

Can they do that where you live? In Sweden they aren't allowed to search your bag just like that. I would have been upset at having my bag checked even after another cop has confirmed that I am not the suspect.

Captcha: all dancing - yeah that would probably have been better

 

[nexus]

You basically just had someone harass you & rifle through your belongings. Pretty cool, huh?

If you had matched the description of a "murder suspect" or "armed robber", they might have shot or electrocuted you if you got twitchy or frightened!!

 

[Myndnix]

I've had two major encounters with the police, so I have.
About four years ago now, I once had the police come over to talk to me because I'd been...walking past a school a lot.
You see, one of the most convenient footpaths in town goes right by a school playground. I often use it when getting across town, or sometimes when I'm just out walking for excercise. I use the path almost every day, as do at least a hundred other people. But because I have long hair, and I wear black almost entirely, this made me 'suspicious' to the school's staff, and apparently to parents. So they ended up reporting me to the police. For...something. For walking past a school. Yeah.
Either way, I spoke to the officer and we had a laugh about how stupid this whole thing was, and he went on his way.
I still use that path a lot. Because fuck people.

The second time was last year, an officer showed up asking for me in a case of mistaken identity. It turns out that a cancer patient with my first name and almost the same surname as me had vanished from a local hospital, and he happened to live in this town. So they went around talking to anyone with a similar name to him. After he saw that I was not, in fact, dying of cancer, and that I had a different surname to the person he was after, he went on his way.
I never discovered if they ever found that poor patient.

 

[dfphetteplace]

I have been pulled over 3 times in the last year. I have never gotten a ticket, even though I completely deserved one since I was speeding for no reason. Being a medic, most of the police know me and we always try to extend a professional courtesy to each other. They are always nice to use, because we might have to save their ass one day.

I never ask for this treatment, I should point out. If I had gotten a ticket for speeding, I would have paid it without question. I was in the wrong, and was lucky they were nice about it. There are some EMS personnel that would not get this treatment because they have shitty attitudes.

The last one actually apologized as soon as he walked up to the window and saw who I was.