So, I just had a run-in with police...
- Thread starter BlackFlyme
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Living in Maryland, I would have prank calls to my house. We called the police and gave them a list through caller ID and the cop basically pulled the "boys will be boys" card. We eventually had to switch numbers.BlackFlyme said: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.
Me and two friends went swimming, indoors of course because it was winter. One of my friends was wearing a scarf and a beanie, the scarf was covering his mouth.
I lived close to a stadium and to get to the swimming pool we had to pass it and on that day, there was a football game (the European kind) going on in that stadium. When we where close to it, a bunch of cops suddenly got out of a big van came towards us. They questioned my friend who had the scarf and then looked through his bad, where obviously only a towel, shampoo and swimming trunks were. The also looked through my and my other friend's stuff and the let us go.
Because there was a game on that day, they were apparently looking for hooligans and were suspicious because my friend was covering most of his face, carrying a bag and heading towards the stadium. I understand why they did it but we were still pretty pissed. They said there was some kind of law where you can't cover your face or so but I've never heard of that and it was winter, many people wear a scarf like that. We were a bit lucky that they let us go though, my friend hates things like that and he doesn't have much respect for the police. He was cheekier than he should have been when they questioned him.
I lived close to a stadium and to get to the swimming pool we had to pass it and on that day, there was a football game (the European kind) going on in that stadium. When we where close to it, a bunch of cops suddenly got out of a big van came towards us. They questioned my friend who had the scarf and then looked through his bad, where obviously only a towel, shampoo and swimming trunks were. The also looked through my and my other friend's stuff and the let us go.
Because there was a game on that day, they were apparently looking for hooligans and were suspicious because my friend was covering most of his face, carrying a bag and heading towards the stadium. I understand why they did it but we were still pretty pissed. They said there was some kind of law where you can't cover your face or so but I've never heard of that and it was winter, many people wear a scarf like that. We were a bit lucky that they let us go though, my friend hates things like that and he doesn't have much respect for the police. He was cheekier than he should have been when they questioned him.
Well, mostly I had planned on posting in this thread that, contrary to what a couple of people seem to think in this thread, the police are not just out to dick over the law abiding citizen (well, not in my constituency anyway). Also that between the ages of 17-19 I got pulled over probably once a month, every month, because me and my friends liked to drive around at stupid-o'clock in the morning, generally for food.
The police were always courteous, and upon discovering that the long haired bearded teen with 3 mates in the car at 2 in the morning was not in fact a stoned and or drunk long haired bearded teen, they never gave any more inconvenience than that of being pulled over.
So yeah, West Yorkshire police are good guys.
However, that said... Having seen this:
Oooh, I've got a similar one to that! Which this story has reminded me of (and kinda counters my "West Yorks Police are good guys" from earlier)
On the day of my (at the time) Girlfriends 6th form prom, my friend got arrested and cautioned for carrying a water pistol.
See, the prom was a gangsters and molls theme, and during the day time we were messing around in the town centre shooting each other with water pistols. My mate went into the local tescos to get some tobacco, and an old lady saw him putting what looked like a very real gun (to an old lady in a country that doesn't have guns) away as he walked in.
She called the police, and with shocking speed for a police unit that I have seen actually drive away from a riot before, they arrived, arrested my friend without so much as a "what's all this then?", couple hours later he tips back up again proudly sporting some caution paperwork for carrying an imitation firearm.
To stress, it was a black plastic water pistol with a bright orange plastic muzzle.
So yeah,
Fuck the po-leese!
...
Anecdotal evidence aside, I actually support the role of the police in the United Kingdom, and feel they're given inadequate resources, and more importantly, public support for their job.
The police were always courteous, and upon discovering that the long haired bearded teen with 3 mates in the car at 2 in the morning was not in fact a stoned and or drunk long haired bearded teen, they never gave any more inconvenience than that of being pulled over.
So yeah, West Yorkshire police are good guys.
However, that said... Having seen this:
White Lightning said:
Oooh, I've got a similar one to that! Which this story has reminded me of (and kinda counters my "West Yorks Police are good guys" from earlier)
On the day of my (at the time) Girlfriends 6th form prom, my friend got arrested and cautioned for carrying a water pistol.
See, the prom was a gangsters and molls theme, and during the day time we were messing around in the town centre shooting each other with water pistols. My mate went into the local tescos to get some tobacco, and an old lady saw him putting what looked like a very real gun (to an old lady in a country that doesn't have guns) away as he walked in.
She called the police, and with shocking speed for a police unit that I have seen actually drive away from a riot before, they arrived, arrested my friend without so much as a "what's all this then?", couple hours later he tips back up again proudly sporting some caution paperwork for carrying an imitation firearm.
To stress, it was a black plastic water pistol with a bright orange plastic muzzle.
So yeah,
Fuck the po-leese!
...
Anecdotal evidence aside, I actually support the role of the police in the United Kingdom, and feel they're given inadequate resources, and more importantly, public support for their job.
I was once hanging out in a car with three of my friends, one of whom is a girl. We were talking about all sorts of things as friends do and it was late. All of the sudden, there are cops literally surrounding the car. There were definitely three and I think a couple more out of sight. They had "get ready to smash everyone in the car" energy. I guess they thought that we kidnapped my female friend and were up to nefarious things. I should point out that I live in a small town where the police want something to happen. Once they realized they were at DEFCON 5 for no reason, they relaxed and asked us a bunch of questions to justify their presence and then told us to go home (we were all adults at the time so they couldn't actually enforce that.)
My point is, when cops are wrong, even when they are nice cops, they can't stop being "the authority." Meaning, they do some extraneous things to justify their presence so that they don't have to go, "whoops, we look like idiots" and because they're cops, they can never willfully cede or diminish the power of being the authority figure even when they are wrong.
It never bothers me so much because I understand it, but that's the frame of time in which people who are more irritated by police can easily do or say something that turns that last five minute formality into a knee in the neck. Obviously not being there, I can't say whether they were taunting you for the 57, but I think it's far more likely they're trying to defuse the tension of questioning a person who is obviously not a threat. It's good that you just saw it through and I wouldn't think twice about it.
My point is, when cops are wrong, even when they are nice cops, they can't stop being "the authority." Meaning, they do some extraneous things to justify their presence so that they don't have to go, "whoops, we look like idiots" and because they're cops, they can never willfully cede or diminish the power of being the authority figure even when they are wrong.
It never bothers me so much because I understand it, but that's the frame of time in which people who are more irritated by police can easily do or say something that turns that last five minute formality into a knee in the neck. Obviously not being there, I can't say whether they were taunting you for the 57, but I think it's far more likely they're trying to defuse the tension of questioning a person who is obviously not a threat. It's good that you just saw it through and I wouldn't think twice about it.
Lets see, I've had two run ins with the police but they were basically the same thing, which just happened to occur twice.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine was living with me and we're both night owls. Well one night, I'm taking the dog out for her nightly pee, when my friend says to me, "Lets take her for a walk". Well my lovable but mentally stunted German/Belgian shepherd mix gets all excited, nearly bouncing around the kitchen and I really hate to disappoint her. So I slipped her harness on, attached the leash and we headed out into the warm spring night. Now I live on a minor highway but there is a newish middle school behind my house, so we headed over that way. So nothing special happens on the way over, we walk and talk, the dog pees in a few spots and we get about half way around the school, when we hear a car. Turning around, we find ourselves looking at a police car. Luckily, the officer was a good guy, asked what we were doing and where we lived, then drove off.
So a few weeks go by and we've been walking the dog around the school at some time around 3 in the morning every day. Never seen the police since that first time but that changed when a different officer came to check on us. Again, we got asked what we were doing and where we lived and he drove off. I'm assuming, since we were told to get lost, that it was perfectly okay to walk the dog around the school at 3 in the morning and that the cops were just making sure that we weren't dealing drugs.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine was living with me and we're both night owls. Well one night, I'm taking the dog out for her nightly pee, when my friend says to me, "Lets take her for a walk". Well my lovable but mentally stunted German/Belgian shepherd mix gets all excited, nearly bouncing around the kitchen and I really hate to disappoint her. So I slipped her harness on, attached the leash and we headed out into the warm spring night. Now I live on a minor highway but there is a newish middle school behind my house, so we headed over that way. So nothing special happens on the way over, we walk and talk, the dog pees in a few spots and we get about half way around the school, when we hear a car. Turning around, we find ourselves looking at a police car. Luckily, the officer was a good guy, asked what we were doing and where we lived, then drove off.
So a few weeks go by and we've been walking the dog around the school at some time around 3 in the morning every day. Never seen the police since that first time but that changed when a different officer came to check on us. Again, we got asked what we were doing and where we lived and he drove off. I'm assuming, since we were told to get lost, that it was perfectly okay to walk the dog around the school at 3 in the morning and that the cops were just making sure that we weren't dealing drugs.
I was held at gunpoint when I was six or seven years old. My father and I were shooting at our private range when two policemen from two different jurisdictions(we lived on a small farm that was sandwiched between two towns) approached us from behind, one with a shotgun and the other a pistol. My father took my gun and set both of ours down on the ground when he saw them coming, we were plainly unarmed and had clearly been shooting paper targets, but they still kept their guns trained on us for nearly the entire encounter. It wasn't enough that we were were complying, and it wasn't enough that we were standing in front of big, round pieces of paper with holes in them, they stood there questioning us both with their weapons out, asking us the same things two or three times each either because they thought I'd slip and admit we were trespassing or something, or just to harass us, before finally leaving. We called the county police, who supposedly pulled one of them over and went over county regulations with him, and my father filed complaints with both departments, but nothing ever came of it.
Years later, we were taking a walk through the adjacent wetland/preserve when a man dressed in fatigues and carrying a compound bow and bag of apples crossed our path. I remember it clear as day, my father turned his head to him and said, "Hey buddy, there's no hunting back here." He replied, "It's okay, I'm the chief of police." We didn't believe him, of course, and when we got home we called to report him for poaching with a weapon that was illegal inside of the city limits, out of deer season, and with bait. The dispatcher told my dad, "Oh yeah, Mike goes back there all the time."
A few years ago I worked with a guy who was on so heavily medicated that he'd sit at the lunch table with his head hanging over the back of the chair, feeling around the foam container with his fingertips for his fries because he couldn't look down or open his eyes to see them. I think I actually still have some of the valium-yums he sold me. Anyways, I ran into him at the grocery store a few weeks ago, we exchanged pleasantries, and he told me he was on the force now, the same force as the aforementioned shotgun thug. Knowing them, he'll make sergeant in no time.
Then there's the handful of times when I had to call them for various reasons and they took so long to show up that they couldn't be of any help, including the time I caught a burglar breaking into my detached garage. They arrived twenty minutes later and pulled into the wrong driveway. I can't blame them, the county's pretty huge and he was already gone at that point, but... damn it, man! At least turn the Garmin on or something!
Years later, we were taking a walk through the adjacent wetland/preserve when a man dressed in fatigues and carrying a compound bow and bag of apples crossed our path. I remember it clear as day, my father turned his head to him and said, "Hey buddy, there's no hunting back here." He replied, "It's okay, I'm the chief of police." We didn't believe him, of course, and when we got home we called to report him for poaching with a weapon that was illegal inside of the city limits, out of deer season, and with bait. The dispatcher told my dad, "Oh yeah, Mike goes back there all the time."
A few years ago I worked with a guy who was on so heavily medicated that he'd sit at the lunch table with his head hanging over the back of the chair, feeling around the foam container with his fingertips for his fries because he couldn't look down or open his eyes to see them. I think I actually still have some of the valium-yums he sold me. Anyways, I ran into him at the grocery store a few weeks ago, we exchanged pleasantries, and he told me he was on the force now, the same force as the aforementioned shotgun thug. Knowing them, he'll make sergeant in no time.
Then there's the handful of times when I had to call them for various reasons and they took so long to show up that they couldn't be of any help, including the time I caught a burglar breaking into my detached garage. They arrived twenty minutes later and pulled into the wrong driveway. I can't blame them, the county's pretty huge and he was already gone at that point, but... damn it, man! At least turn the Garmin on or something!
I had a run-in like this once. I was bringing all the large outdoor trash cans back to my house after the garbage had been taken away, and I was rushing them over as quickly as I could, because it was cold. Unfortunately, just as I was taking the last two cans back, there was a police car behind me, and the cop thought at first that I was some runaway kid he was looking for. It all turned out well, though. Except that I was freezing.
I realize this is nowhere near as hilarious as playing the guitar outdoors in my underwear, but my life just isn't that funny.
I realize this is nowhere near as hilarious as playing the guitar outdoors in my underwear, but my life just isn't that funny.
They can do it if you let them. If this person told the cop to piss off they would have had nothing to go on. Basically what the cop was doing at this moment after finding out the student wasn't matching the description of this burglar, was trying to find evidence that this guy was doing something else illegal so this whole confrontation wasn't a waste. For example, this guy more than likely was hoping to catch this college student carrying drugs of some sort so that he could say he "did his job" today.Kekkonen1 said:
This^TaboriHK said:
You understand how the "game" works, thank you for not being overblown with rage over these things.
Me and a few of my friends were attending a convention and went as two teams from CoD: Army Rangers and Terrorists. I was dressed as a terrorist in old OD Green BDU's with my head wrapped carrying an airsoft and RPG made from those cardboard rolls/tubes AK.
We were all leaving our rooms and the Rangers decided took the first elevator (the other two were busted). The remaining guys decided to take the stairs leaving me to carry a big, black hardcase with the rest the groups airsoft guns. I pop open the case and take a knee, putting my AK into it because I don't want to case a panic when getting on the bus to the convention center from our hotel.
Then the elevator door opens. Standing there are two cops.
Now imagine yourself in their shoes with the elevator door opening and seeing a guy dressed up like I was with a box full of guns, RPG's, and C4 (all fake and made from papermache and cardboard). There was a mutual exchange of "Oh crap." followed by the other officer asking "Convention?"
They helped me pack everything in and carry it all into the elevator. Apparently they were leaving the hotel after being called about some folks being a disturbance. Cool guys and they took some photos with the group. Thought they warned us to be careful and not walk around with our airsoft guns in the open.
We were all leaving our rooms and the Rangers decided took the first elevator (the other two were busted). The remaining guys decided to take the stairs leaving me to carry a big, black hardcase with the rest the groups airsoft guns. I pop open the case and take a knee, putting my AK into it because I don't want to case a panic when getting on the bus to the convention center from our hotel.
Then the elevator door opens. Standing there are two cops.
Now imagine yourself in their shoes with the elevator door opening and seeing a guy dressed up like I was with a box full of guns, RPG's, and C4 (all fake and made from papermache and cardboard). There was a mutual exchange of "Oh crap." followed by the other officer asking "Convention?"
They helped me pack everything in and carry it all into the elevator. Apparently they were leaving the hotel after being called about some folks being a disturbance. Cool guys and they took some photos with the group. Thought they warned us to be careful and not walk around with our airsoft guns in the open.
I would feel fine letting cops back on the streets if they changed their way of operating. They way they work now is to grab every "suspicious" person they see and try and pin the crime on him. You can even see it in cop shows where they will have one guy in the interrogation room and they'll yell at him, "We know you're guilty just admit it!". Then, when the evidence exonerates him, they bring the next guy in and shout "We know you're guilty, just admit it!". Repeat until you can make a conviction stick. Their M.O. for catching criminals is to go fishing.Dijkstra said:
The worst part is their attitude. It's not one of "just doing my job". Rather it's an attitude of "Look at you, you scumbag. You're probably the guy I am looking for, and if not you must be guilty of something" Even when they realize that you aren't the guy they are looking for they still act like is you fault for looking like a suspicious scumbag.
I've had plenty. But I've been on the wrong side of the law a few times and sometimes they have every right to questions me. They do their job, I do mine.
People often complain about the police being too harsh. Until they need them. Then they complain about them not being harsh enough.
People often complain about the police being too harsh. Until they need them. Then they complain about them not being harsh enough.