Earlier I was walking down the street, holding my skateboard. An undercover police officer approached me saying "you got a second?" while showing me his badge. Then seemingly out of nowhere another undercover appeared and they began interrogating me. They were speaking down to me and had somewhat of an abrasive attitude. I was sweating and out of breath from skateboarding literally 20 seconds prior, in addition to off guard and nervous. They started writing things down on a pen and paper as they were speaking to me. Naturally, this will make anyone uncomfortable when they are walking alone on the street. \nWhen I asked them why they felt the need to stop me, they claimed they were looking for a suspect for car break-ins in the area, but the only describing factor they used was that he “had a skateboard.†I told them that I was in a rush and that if I wasn't being detained that I was going to leave. They were somewhat ok with this but as I was walking away, in the opposite direction they asked me why, I said I was taking a different way. Then they yelled, “go tell your buddy we're looking for him!†I was caught off guard by this and yelled back “I'm not involved in any robberies!†\nWhat I did wrong here was allow my emotions to get the best of me. What I should have done is one of two things. One would be suspend paranoia and give them the impression that I'm doing everything I can to help them. The other, perhaps preferred thing for me to do would be to right off the bat tell these police officers that I don't speak to the police without a lawyer. It's perfectly reasonable, they are enforcers of the law, I am a citizen who isn't thoroughly educated on the law. The problem with that is the “guilty until proven innocent" attitude that police have regarding encounters with young men that fit the “counter-culture†demo-graph. \nAll this ties in with the differentiation our society has created between police and ordinary citizens. Police often do their jobs correctly, they also often are more of bullies to harmless citizens than they are protectors of them, mostly due to race and class differentiations, as well as drug laws. It is baffling to me how few people realize the divide between “ordinary citizens†and police. Police officers get special treatment everywhere and always take the dominant stance in an encounter or conversation. In April, a Plymouth police officer Greg Maloney died in a motorcycle accident on patrol. The result of this was a day long motorcade for his funeral clogging Route 3S, a major highway. The problem with this is that this officer isn't being recognized for valor or doing anything of significance, he died in an accident. This is tragic, however, this happens to about 5000 people per year in the U.S., and when it happens to them their families and friends mourn them and they have a funeral, they don't block the roadways for the entire day. \nThis divide between law enforcement and ordinary citizens is harmful because it creates a conundrum when it comes to social encounters. If an ordinary citizen were to appear from out of the bushes that looked like the undercover who talked to me and then began to speak to me the way they were, I would tell them to fuck off. That is my right, I'm entitled to this freedom. The unwritten rules of our society say that I can't say that to a cop, but why not? It's my first amendment right to free speech and theoretically every man is on an even playing field as far as civil rights go here in the U.S.. The problem lies where if I exercise my first amendment rights, my fourth amendment right is likely to be violated and no one bats an eyelash. Police are ordinary citizens and should be treated as such when they are working or otherwise, the same way carpenters, hairdressers, and real estate agents are. This power divide needs to stop as it strips us as citizens of our rights, slowly, but surely. Who agrees or disagrees?
Yeah I saw a meme once of how do you feel when you see a cop? Scared or protected? Most people feel scared.
As a drug-abusing anti-socialite whom suffers from paranoia, I come to find myself becoming some sort of play toy for these over-the-law pigs. I have a natural reaction to avoid any contact with a man owning a badge, thus turning me into a suspicious character.
That's where I'm at, but I gotta change it if I wanna move on in life. I wanna take a more dominant stance in the conversation while not creating suspicion with the pigs while interacting with them. I don't like being on the submissive end of a conversation.
I'll say what I said in another thread; Lets see a job where I get to have unlimited power over regular people and I get to beat and kill them and get away with it. Hmm I wonder what sort of personality type that might attract the most, oh I know the high school bully, the sadist. Common you guys know its true cause lets face it if the reasons are the protect and serve b.s., those people go into the military first, cops are sadist on the most part. End this stupid drug war and the justification for needing so many goes bye bye.
It makes no difference the stance you take. Law enforcement has a "us and them" mentality so if you take the role of conservative discretion and comply when you are guilty of nothing, then they will think you are " hiding" something! If you choose to exercise your civil and constitutional rights, and refuse to cooperate and lawyer up, then again, they will think you are hiding something! They look for any reason(probable cause) to stop you, hoping that will lead to an "actual" crime and arrest. My advice is to never talk to or cooperate in any way with law enforcement! They are not your friends, you cannot out think them with a "story" and at the end of the day their job is to put everyone not like them in jail! If approached, show your id, ask what you are being stopped for and then tell them you have nothing to say and you are leaving now. Begin to leave and do not stop unless threatened with arrest. At that point, refuse to say anything and contact a lawyer! Fuck-em! Lots of people got guns and a badge don't make you special! Peace!
Since the police are enforcing the laws you need to direct your energy to the lawmakers. Make it a law where police have to give you a massage before talking to you. And I do not mean a night stick massage.
I agree with you completely. Its sad that over 700,000 harmless people every year have their lives ruined for a plant that doesn't hurt anyone. Unfortunately In the eyes of the police, a pot head is just as bad as a murderer. On top of that there are more people arrested for marijuana than murderers, robbers, and rapists combined. Its clear to me what priorities cops are focusing on these days and we as a society need to recognize this problem.