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

[DeimosMasque]

My worst story?

Well a friend of mine (who was a pot head, back then I was straight edge) asked me if I would drive him from Alabama (where I lived at the time) to Tennessee to meet a girl he met on the internet. I agreed because I thought it'd be a fun adventure (I was only 19 at the time.)

I had to work third shift the day of and so I decided I would just pick him up at 7am after my shift ended and drive him up then. We were going to get a hotel room and I decided I'd sleep when he was meeting with the girl.

The trip to Tennessee was fine until we got to her city, I made a wrong turn and suddenly we were being pulled over.

My friend had forgotten to tell me he brought some weed with him. The cops were aggressive asking why we had come to Tennessee (I was a goth, he was a stoner in look as well) they grilled us both intensively. Got us both out of the car and searched us both.

Suddenly my friend was being arrested and the cops were asking me if I was high: I was exhausted and scared and freaking out. I would have been arrested as well but they believed my friend when he said it was all his and I didn't know anything about it.

I followed them to the police station and waited three hours before they let him call me on the payphone. I had to call our friends for $700 bail, drive ten hours back, sleep for four hours and then ten hours back. And then after the ten hours back.... my car died forever.

The only good thing about the story is he got off weed, and became a lot more responsible. The girl however wanted nothing to do with him after that.

 

[mooncalf]

I failed a compulsory breath test after eating a pickle sandwich. Blew clear on a subsequent test.

 

[Rijor]

They then they asked to check my bag.

Pro tip in dealing with the police: If they actually ask if they can check your stuff, You have the right to say no. They have to ask first because they have no warrant, and they have no probable cause.

They're allowed to lie to you, as well, which isn't a fact made known too often. They can lie to intimidate you all they want. If they are legally allowed to search you though, they'll just search you.

 

[cthulhuspawn82]

Police should only be able to stop people who are committing a crime. "Looking guilty" isn't grounds for harassment. The problem is that even though they have no right to stop you and search you, they will forcibly do so anyway and nobody will do anything about it. I personalty want cops off the streets. I have a phone; if I need them I will call them.

So you think if someone steals something and gets away for long enough then they should get off completely free? Otherwise you need someone to apprehend a suspect. Unless you want, I dunno, some kind of vigilante mob to spring up and hunt suspects down.

And he didn't say 'looking guilty', he looked like a suspect. They were trying to find a person. And he wasn't harassed.

You want cops off the streets? Great, then it'll be no problem if people break into your home while you're g one or when you're robbed and don't have your phone on you. And screw the homeless who don't have cell phones.

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.

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.

Ever heard of the word generalization? I think you should look it up.

That is very good point. I do appear to be overgeneralizing based on a few observed instances. But we form opinions based on practical experiences. If you meet a bunch of cops, most of whom are a-holes, and find that others have had similar experiences, you start to form a hypothesis about cops being jerks.

However, its not something I blame them for specifically. Its the nature of their job to behave as they do. When I talk about not liking cops I don't mean them as people. You cant hate a collection of people unless you're an overgeneralizing bigot. Even then, police officers are a varied group of people from all races, genders, and religions so bigotry cant apply. What I have an opposition to is the job itself and how it is to be carried out. To use a quote I always found to be quite apt, I don't hate the player, I hate the game.

 

[Angie7F]

The only run in I have had with the police was when was partying too loud with my friend and the neighbours called the cops on us.
I have never been questioned on the street before.

 

[manic_depressive13]

COP SHOWS? Really? Do you have NO grasp of what is reality and what is entertainment?

And that didn't answer anything I'd said. So I guess vigilante mobs it is to take over for anything other than immediate self defense. Because you don't like the attitude and tactics you imagine.

What are you talking about? What cop shows? Everyone here is talking about real life.

As for what happens when you get robbed? 90% of burglaries are never solved despite there being DNA evidence on the scene. As for the homeless people who don't have cell phones, I'm sure they would be quite happy for there not to be cops so they wouldn't have to endure the constant harrassment they have to face now. You are the one who is completely ignorant of reality.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Um, read the post I replied to. The person I am talking to most definitely mentioned them. And note I was talking to him because I saw him in another topic say something along the lines of us just needing guns to defend ourselves and then we don't need the police. I wasn't talking about anyone else.

So you think things will just be better without cops? Really? That's the solution to it, make the cops all go and things will get better? When some random person gets murdered, what do you expect to happen? Apparently can't even bring in suspects.

Well no. I am reading his posts and he doesn't say anything anywhere about cop shows. What he says in other threads is pretty irrelevant to what he is saying in this one. It is possible to criticise an institution and not want it gone completely. It's like someone criticing the government's policy. We are criticing the way the police operate and you're saying "OH SO YOU WANT ANARCHY! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?" That's just absurd. Please stop being so childish.

 

[manic_depressive13]

And seriously, please read what you're defending because by not doing so you're completely off the mark on my position.

Fair enough, I skimmed over that part. Still, cops are usually confrontational and accusatory, and often detain people temporarily for no valid reason. That is harrassment and it's the reason indigenous deaths in custody are so high in my country.

Yes he does want them gone apparently. And the other thread adds context to it. I commented to him here to make a point because when I called him on thinking we could replace cops with arming ourselves he ended up ignoring the implications. I am pointing them out.

Edited for a bit of clarity.

Don't want them on the streets randomly interrogating people who "look suspicious" =/= Don't want the police to exist as an institution.

The fact that police exist doesn't negate the need of a gun anyway, unless they're contantly tailing you, waiting to jump to your defense the moment you need them. I don't necessarily agree with carrying weapons but the one thing has no bearing on the other. There aren't enough police for them to be everywhere at once so if someone feels they need to carry weapons to defend themselves that's a whole different argument and I think you are making a mistake by trying to tie them so clumsily together.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Specifically:

This is the reason why the second amendment is so great, if we can adequately defend ourselves, we can start getting rid of the cops.

I am annoyed because I find his view short sighted and think he's ignoring all the police do. None of it has to do with whether the police need to work on their act or not.

Well never mind then. Everyone knows that the only way to get rid of cops is to overthrow the state in a popular revolution and establish a socialist society.

 

[Coffeejack]

A cop once bought me my coffee when I noticed that I'd forgotten my wallet at home. That's the only "run-in" I've had with one.

Was that in Canada? I bet that was in Canada.

 

[RedDeadFred]

A cop once bought me my coffee when I noticed that I'd forgotten my wallet at home. That's the only "run-in" I've had with one.

Was that in Canada? I bet that was in Canada.

Yes.

Now be honest, are you just using the stereotype of us being really nice or did you look at my profile?

 

[Coffeejack]

A cop once bought me my coffee when I noticed that I'd forgotten my wallet at home. That's the only "run-in" I've had with one.

Was that in Canada? I bet that was in Canada.

Yes.

Now be honest, are you just using the stereotype of us being really nice or did you look at my profile?

It was going to be number one, but then I remembered my trip to Canada. The people were incredibly friendly and chilled.

 

[mateushac]

Well, I've been searched (probably not the best word. "patted-down", maybe?!) at gunpoint once... Not the best experience in my life, of course, but it was actually pretty interesting.

fucking cops, always abusing their power and shit

 

[lechat]

once got pulled over when i was stoned off my face on pot for doing 15 k's under the limit.
was paranoid as fuck when the cop asked me "you guys got any pot on you?" only to realize the cop was more stoned than me and just needed a top up. i informed the police officer that we had just smoked it all and had none left for him and he let us go on our way.

seriously a true story. police in australia take drug use deadly serious as well so no idea how that shit was allowed to fly but needless to say i was happy just to drive away without a criminal record

 

[JoesshittyOs]

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!!

Is there a point to anything you're saying here?

Only encounter with the police I ever had was a speeding ticket. Was going 58 in a 45.

He gave me the ticket, and sent me on my way. Only thing was, he told me in person I had till the twentieth of October to pay it off saying "I'm giving you a little over a month to pay this ticket off."

When I went to pay it off on the 15th, it turns out he had wrote the tenth of October on the ticket (which wasn't over a month, leading me to believe he fucking forgot what he had wrote down). Asshole nearly got my license revoked after I had just gotten a job as a driver. I ended up having to pay nearly an extra hundred and fifty dollars on the late fees. My whole first ever paycheck went into that fucking ticket.

Good thing he hadn't busted me a little later though, seeing how I was on my way to buy pot.