Poll on police abuse of power

[neeksgeek]

101. Several minor incidents

EDIT: I'm white and male.

These are all low-level incidents, but they still gave me a healthy disrespect for the police. Are they abuse of power? I think the first one definitely is, and I think the others are examples of profiling.

My first "encounter" with a police officer was when I was only 13. I now think this was way over the line - a police officer trying to use his position to achieve a preferred outcome for family members. I was in the 8th grade, and I was in a traffic accident while riding my bike. I got hit by a car that was backing out of a driveway. I did see them coming and I made an effort to turn out of the way, but I ended up going right over the trunk of the car as my bike left a long scratch in the driver's side doors. The couple who hit me had their son, a city police officer, come out to our house in his cruiser to lecture me and file the police report. I mean, it could have been any cop but it was their son... I got to sit in the back of the patrol car while my Dad sat up front and listened to the list traffic violations I had allegedly committed, and that we'd probably be better off just settling out of court. Dad didn't take this offer and they sued HIM for the damage to their car. They also claimed in civil court that I had maliciously driven my bike into their car (this is especially funny in light of the fact that we didn't sue them for anything). As it turned out, the Magistrate sided with me due to the simple fact that under North Carolina law, a bicycle is a vehicle and I had the right-of-way.

Once, back when I was a long-haired teenager trying hard to look like a member of Metallica, I was waiting out side the local mall for my Mom to pick me up after I got done shopping (yes, spending money!). A county sheriff and some other cop came over, asked me what I'd bought, then searched my shopping bags and my jacket. I guess they thought I had been shoplifting; my jacket was rather large. But I've never stolen anything, ever. Other people waiting by the door were not searched. When they discovered that I actually had paid for the items in the bags, I was ordered to go wait away from the main entrance because "people were complaining" about me (not sure for what, I really was just sitting there on the sidewalk with a couple shopping bags - I was rather shy and certainly wasn't speaking to anybody). This last part was extra fun, because then I got the "I told you to wait by the door" lecture from Mom and I had to explain that the cops made me move.

A couple months later I got kicked out of the same mall for, you guessed it, waiting for a ride. My ride (not my parents) was running late and the mall had closed; I was hanging out just inside the main entrance, to stay out of the cold rain that was falling. I was told that I could not wait anywhere on mall property and had to leave immediately. Now, I understand it's private property, but this place was ten miles from home and like I said, it was not the best night for a long walk. When I politely explained this to them, and said that I really needed to make a phone call to my parents, I was just told that it was time for me to leave. None of the three cops standing there with their arms crossed offered to help me get in touch with my parents, to say nothing of giving me any other way to get home. This was before ubiquitous cell phones, and of course as a teenager, I wasn't dressed for the weather. So, I hiked about a mile in the 40-degree rain to a nearby gas station to use their phone. This was in fact the last time I spent a dime at that mall, and probably the start of my (now very long) list of boycotted businesses.

More recently (since 9/11 mainly), several times I've been stopped on the sidewalk by cops or security guards and asked to explain why I have a professional-looking camera and what I'm photographing. I'm a former professional photographer and now a photography professor and I carry a camera as a part of my own personal pursuit of photography. I was once even stopped by a campus police officer (not just a security guard), at the college where I teach, who insisted that I needed permission to photograph on the campus. They usually ask to see my pictures, and to search my bag. I refuse without giving any explanation. I've never had such a situation escalate.

My common thread here is that I've been singled out a few times for doing perfectly legal and normal things like shopping, waiting for a ride, or taking pictures, things that other people do without any hassle. I'm amazed I haven't had more problems, honestly.