My Uber Driver Got Pulled Over...Then Things Got Really Weird...
where do these jerks get off? For all the hue and cry over gun control-why is no one off the walls about these gun toting a**holes?
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On Monday night, I came home late from a martial arts practice and drove up my steep driveway to my rural boondocks of a LA County home to discover that my septic tank alert was on. This alert (generally for low water level) has a particularly annoying, piercing sound - I pushed the red button to turn it off (knowing that my pending long hot bath would remedy any low water level).
I then proceeded to (1) feed the dogs, (2) read for a while, (3) take said bath, (4) go to bed. As I settled down in bed, there was a sharp knocking at the door. I scurried downstairs, stood about six feet from the front door (and a bit to the side) and yelled, "Who is it?" Silence. "Who is it!"
"It is the sheriff."
So one of my 100 lb German Shepherds and I walked to the door and opened it and there were two young sheriffs standing there.
"Do you have a house alarm?"
"Yes...Well, actually it is a septic tank alarm. It has a particularly annoying sound and was on earlier this evening."
"What is your name, ma'am?"
Now comes the info from the Gulch. From reading here, it seems to me that they really have little business asking me for my name...
"HI!" "I am Jan!" I stick out my right hand in a friendly fashion. They both politely tuck their flashlights under their armpits and shake hands and introduce themselves. Aha. So they are being polite...
"We just came here to make sure that you were safe." (Mental comment: They arrive 2 to 2 1/2 hours after I turned the alarm off? If something HAD been wrong they would have found my cooling body.)
"What is your name?" Guy with notepad asks again. I cave slightly and give them my full name.
"Do you have ID to show who you are?"
I stare at them. They stare back. I say...
"Hey guys! This is my nightie! I am in my nightie - no ID."
"Would it be inconvenient for you to go get it?"
"Yes. It would be inconvenient. No, I will not go get my ID." At this point, my GSD, Lucifer pokes his head even further out the door. Aha. A distraction and ambassador of goodwill. "Do you guys like dogs?"
"Yeah. We like dogs."
"OK boy: Go make friends!" (This is actually a command I have taught my dogs. Next to 'piddle' and 'sit' it is the most convenient command I have devised.) Lucifer steps outside and schmoozes the young sheriffs.
"Wow. He's a big 'un." (I refrain from commenting that he is the smallest of the 3 that I have.)
[We then chat a bit about where they live and I hint that I have known some LE folks...which is rather normal if you do martial arts.]
"Lucifer! Back inside now!" (They laugh at his name. Brief repartee.) "Goodnight y'all!"
They leave.
So. What is the takeaway? The Gulch has taught me that, in spite of my conservative military upbringing, it is not actually necessary to give the LE reps what they ask for. It is not only OK to push back, but it is good to do so - they must learn that people care about their rights and are not sheep. Respect for the Law is subsidiary to the Law's respect for personal freedom. If push comes to shove, it is the latter that really matters. The philosophy of AS has acquired more tools for real life as a result of my having browsed on this site.
Thanks, guys.
Jan
Hmmm. I guess I am still insufficiently paranoid.
Jan
Welcome to the new world police state, once known as the United States, a part of the once Free World.
Watch the TV Show Continuum, you'll note how strangely similar our country has become.
I'm waiting for Atlas to Shrug, but dreading the worlds' impact with reality.
This is oh so Orwellian that Ayn would laugh at the mess we've allowed ourselves to cause.
Part of it's this ultra-paranoia they're instilled with now - in the academy, and from briefings, that *everybody* is a perp, they are all crazed cop killers, and everybody is guilty of something. Add the paramilitary DHS training, the Terrorism training (where *everyone* is a potential terrorist), and the militaristic shift to police work, and there ya go. From "to Serve and Protect" to "We treat you like a King." (Inside cop humor)
There are still some good ones out there, but as they retire or quit (usually over the BS politics they have to go thru) the new generation of hypermilitary wannabe-SWAT kids who have some point to prove fill in, and the whole force goes downhill.
There's a huge paperwork and liability load as well - when my step-second cousin (who worked for CHP) started, they'd spend 1 hour doing paperwork and 7 on patrol. Now, they do 6-8 hours of paperwork, spend 4 on patrol (they work 12 hour shifts now), deal with some really bad actors some of the time, then as they go to leave a supervisor or Lt or Captain will call them in and chew their butts over some minor paperwork error they found from 2 weeks ago. And then tell them their vacation is cancelled because they have a court date right in the middle of their planned vacation, and they have to be there. Which brings me to...
Then there's also those who leave out of disgust - they arrest someone doing something bad right in front of them (aka the "righteous bust" in cop speak) or know that they got the bad guy, and the DA cuts them a deal (to lessen their workload) and they get a slap on the wrist. And remember - that cop was told 4 weeks before his vacation with the wife and kids has been cancelled for this all important court date...
I remember when I was young and idealistic I wanted to join the CHP. Help people, all of that. Have a cool career. Get to drive 8 hours a day. My S-2C William told me the realities (thank goodness) and I sett my career goals somewhere far different!
Anyway, it's not that the department's are lowering their standards, but the job has gone to hell (and that's not counting the lazy, the bullys, the moochers, and the "bad cops" who pass the tests and get hired) and we - the citizens - who get the short end of the nightstick.
That's a lot of information to digest. Glad I asked, though. I have a 2nd cousin who was a cop, now in private security, and a friend, also retired from the police, but that was quite a few years ago, and it seems as if a lot has changed since "Hill Street Blues." I was hoping that I'd hear that the Denver Jerk was the exception, not the rule. Oh, well....
It was an older vehicle with a disabled permit. He took me on a short detour down a rural road. I was a little confused. He returned some items that a group from a wedding who he transported had left. He and the people with whom he dropped the items off were no-nonsense old WI guys.
Going to Denver would be like going half way back to Connecticut.
So, every once in a while I might go to see a Rockies or Broncos game, but that's it.
Fort Collins is a tech hub.
I should be able to land some IT business there.
I have a friend out there who keeps telling me that he can get me a good job working for the state of Colorado.
He doesn't seem to get that when I say that I don't want a f'ing government job, I mean that given a choice I would first take an honest job scrubbing toilets.
Some great people go into it b/c their industry has a lot of public-sector jobs. It's a constant struggle, though, not to get sucked into the gov't mentality.
There were three major projects I wanted to get done this year.
1) Make sure Ron got his operation (done)
2) Get the hell out of CT (in process)
3) Finish the damned book (pending 2)
There's every chance that I will take a menial job when in Cheyenne until 3 is done.
Then I'll look to FC, or maybe something else.
And I wouldn't mind learning more about bitcoin.
Sounds like the officer knew the law, and likely disagreed with it, but thought he could bully these people. Such a common behavior by the bad cops.
Regarding the "investigation", can't be too hard to identify the incident and get data. The tax collectors in the traffic court know just where the ticket is.