Diamondeye wrote:
Arathain Kelvar wrote:
See, I don't think it is bizarre. It's normal to me. I must concede that I can't know this, and maybe I am just incredibly unlucky, but I find that hard to swallow. Furthermore, it's not just me that complains about this stuff.
Well, I find it really bizarre. First of all, I find the number of interactions you've had with the police to be way beyond what I expect for an obviously law-abiding citizen (not being sarcastic there; you obviously live a law-abiding life or you wouldn't have the sort of job you have) and the interactions you're describing, especially those last two are really weird. As if the cops in question had completely lost their grip on reality. I mean, why would you single out one guy taking a picture of a tree? "*******" doesn't really explain that.
Well, whatever. Yes, I've had tons of exposure to the police, and despite what you may think that indicates, the fact that I've never been arrested attests that I'm on the right side of things (or at least not the very wrong side of things - traffic violations, cursed at a cop for very nearly getting me, my wife, and my son killed, had beer confiscated when I was a teen).
As for the tree incident, he "claimed" I met the description of someone who broke into a store or something. I was wearing cammo shorts, t-shirt, hadn't shaved in about a month, carrying a framepack with bedroll, etc., and wearing a wide-brimmed, very unique hat. I did not meet anyone's description. As I spoke with him, he got comfortable and let it slip that he lived in a house adjacent to the park. So, my conclusion was that he saw some scruffy vagrant (I had been backpacking in the wilderness for about a month) taking pictures near his house, got upset, and made some **** up. This is FISHING. He's looking for a reason to send me packing, arrest me, or whatever.
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Asfor you not being the only one to complain about it.. well, that doesn't mean too much to me. As it is, I really can't say to much about your personal examples becuase they're personal and I wasn't there. I ahve to take them with a large grain of salt because they aren't impartial and I don't have the other side of the story, and our examples tend to be short and incomplete. That's fine; it's the way the internet is. However, the fact that unspecified other people complain (presumably to you) about unspecified incidents that I have absolutely no information about means very little to me. Lots of people complain about the police; a lot of those people are either people like Elmo that just live in fantasyland, or they're criminals.
Sure.
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Well, if his answer is "because I want to know your name and what you are doing here" then I know he's fishing for a reason to ruin my day.
No you don't. You're assuming that. And what exactly does "fishing" mean, anyhow? He's hoping you'll admit to a crime? Well, if you do, so what? He shouldn't talk to people because they might admit something? No one is forcing them to admit to anything. He shouldn't ask you because you might get belligerent about him asking you in the first place? Easy. Don't get belligerent. You're afraid he'll conjure up an excuse to arrest you? That's illegal. Obviously he shouldn't do that. That isn't a reason he shouldn't ask you a question; it's a reason he shouldn't arrest you without probable cause. If you don't like the question, that means you don't like the question. It means exactly zero about his motivation.
See above. Why give someone any information if you think they could be out to get you? I'm not saying it's illegal for him to do, I'm saying it's not, at all, in my best interest to discuss with him.
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I'm not going to help him do that. If it's something legit, that is not directed at me, I'll answer to help him do his job.
You don't decide what's legit and what's not. You decide whether you want to talk to him or not. That's your right. The fact that his answer doesn't personally satisfy you doesn't mean it's not legit, or that they're fishing for an excuse to ruin your day. Anyone has a right to come up to you and question you in a public place any time they want, whether they're a cop or not. It's not in your purview to decide if they're doing it for "legit" reasons any more than it's in their purview to decide if you have a "legit" reason to want to talk to them or not.
You're arguing around what I said, and not really disagreeing with me. See my tree example above. He did not have a "legit" reason for asking me my info. No, it's not illegal, but I need to say "why" so I can decide whether to cooperate. It's not rude for me to do so.