When are the police allowed to harass me?

Question

When I'm non-white.
When I'm gay.
When I'm an attractive female.
When I'm a teen.
When I'm (name that group).
When they don't like my fashion statement.
When I leave my teenaged son and my dog in the car.
When I look like a teen.
When I'm doing 4 miles over the speed limit.
When I'm skateboarding.
When my bike leaves the bike lane that's in the middle of four lanes of speeding traffic for the sanctuary of the sidewalk.
When I'm walking against traffic and not with it.
When I make an honest mistake.
When they're having a bad day.
When I'm having a bad day.
When they make an honest mistake.
When I have my music too loud.
When I use my outdoor voice outside.
When I swerve because I notice a spider crawling on my arm.
When I have tags that expired today.
When I pull into a driveway because they've been tailgating me for six miles.
When I don't come to a complete stop and look in every direction at a four-way intersection in the middle of the open desert.

When I'm riding my wheelchair on the sidewalk and not the bike lane in the middle of speeding traffic.
When I loiter.
When they don't like my bumper sticker.
When they don't like my tone.
When they don't like my (whatever).
When I'm minding my own business.
When I didn't notice that speed trap (25 miles an hour in the rural forest, downhill, sign behind a branch).
When I litter (banana peel)
When I jaywalk.
When I go under the speed limit during hail.
When I'm suspicious (looking for a friend's new apartment after dark)
When my tire isn't flat, but the air is low.
When one headlight goes out.
When a blinker goes out.
When one brake light goes out.
When I nap in a parking lot instead of falling asleep while on the freeway.
When I exit a tavern.
When I exit an adult store.
When I'm walking my dog on a leash without a tag on the collar.
When I keep up with traffic.
When I don't have a trash bag inside my car.

When I don't have a trash bag inside my car.
When I ignore the stop sign that's in the middle of the empty parking lot.
When I'm smoking a cigarette outside of a smoking area.
When I protest and picket.
When I'm hunting deer.
When I'm trying to get to work. A real job.
When I'm driving my friend's / family member's car.
When I have my wallet but left the driver's license on the shelf at home.
When I'm on my way to have that smokey tailpipe fixed.
When the blinker doesn't stay on while turning.
When I'm a security guard.
When I'm an FBI agent.
When I'm parked five feet or less from a driveway.
When I'm on my cellphone but still driving competently.
When my car breaks down.
When (name that vehicle malfunction) happens.
When I try to explain the situation.
When I'm barefoot or shirtless.
When I'm throwing a party.
When I purposely violate (name that arbitrary law, like seatbelts).

When the criminal gets away, long after a real crime happened, because a cop was aiming a radar gun at a soccer mom or questioning Karl Thornhill as Cho Seung-hui continued his rampage for a couple hours.

Answer 1

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Answer 2

When I'm skateboarding.
YES, If you are skateboarding in a NO SKATEBOARDING ZONE

When I don't come to a complete stop and look in every direction at a four-way intersection in the middle of the open desert. YES. Stop means STOP! Get into the habit and this won't be a problem anywhere for you.

When I loiter. YES, especially when there is a posted NO LOITERING sign.

When they don't like my tone.
YES. Learn respect.

When I didn't notice that speed trap (25 miles an hour in the rural forest, downhill, sign behind a branch).
YES. Pay attention.

When I litter (banana peel). YES, especially when there is a NO LITTERING sign posted.

When I'm suspicious (looking for a friend's new apartment after dark)
YES. Especially if you turn up in my neighborhood.

When I nap in a parking lot instead of falling asleep while on the freeway.
YES, goes back to suspicious looking person. The DC sniper was caught on a routine traffic check.

When I don't have a trash bag inside my car.
As long as that doesn't mean the whole world gets to be your trashcan.

When I ignore the stop sign that's in the middle of the empty parking lot.
YES... stopping at stop signs is a good habit. It seems you don't like to stop at them. May you be harassed forevermore.

When I have my wallet but left the driver's license on the shelf at home.
YES, that's why it's a hassle when we forget out license... it is a necessary hassle. Be glad the police are looking out for your community that way.

When I try to explain the situation. Depends on the situation... like "Why I didn't stop at that stop sign..." that would be a YES.

When I'm throwing a party. Depends on how loud the party is, the age of the drinkers, and what types of activities are involved.

When I purposely violate (name that arbitrary law, like seatbelts). YES. VIOLATE LAW. GET BUSTED. pretty simple, really.

Oh, hey, did you know the D.C. sniper was caught when a cop was doing a ROUTINE TRAFFIC STOP???

Answer 3

I don't believe it - someone's got WAY too much time on their hands...

The officers are not allowed to harass you - BUT what you consider harassment may be a fully-justified investigation.

Consider this - there is about 1 officer (employed) per 1000 in population. Considering that maybe 20 percent of those officers are on duty at any one time (because of shifts, relief, vacations, court, etc...), that leaves may be 20 to 30 seconds to harass each person during my shift - and that doesn't include the paperwork.

We have special books and codes that allow us to harass people - they're called "penal codes" and "vehicle codes". If we see someone violating those codes, that gives us permission to harass (in your view) that person.

OK - sarcasm off.

Take a deep breath and get off the "poor me" victim attitude. Many of those items you listed above are (in my jurisdiction) citeable (or arrestable) offenses. If you've got a good attitude, I might cut you a little slack. BUT if your attitude starts heading south, you're gonna be introduced to the Graybar Hotel for 3 hots and a cot.

You don't like it? Change the laws and/or change your attitude.

California Deputy

Answer 4

How does driving in the back of you characterize harassment? have you ever seen that your motor vehicle could have matched the define of a suspect motor vehicle, and he develop into working your plates for needs/Warrants/Stolen? If the computing device's have been down, or the agricultural dept would not have them of their cruisers -- that could take multiple time... they had could desire to radio the plate and define in, then anticipate the and so directly to run it, and get lower back to them. And specific, they're allowed to velocity and tailgate in specific circumstances. they're given variety interior the overall performance of their duties. maximum LEOs additionally obtain plenty further coaching in shielding and offensive driving.

Answer 5

Breaking the law is - breaking the law..no matter how small the offense.

The best way to avoid police attention is to move through your life in a mature and adult way, keep your car in good shape, don't speed, don't blast your music (almost all towns and citys have nuisance laws), keep your drivers license, registration and insurance current as well as your car tags.

Obey the law, and they will not even notice you - I promise.

Answer 6

I doubt you've endoured that much harrassment. Getting pulled over for 4 mph over, isn't harrassment, you're breaking the law, as you do when you're not wearing your seat belt, some places you're not allowed to loiter, and you're supposed to stop at stop signs, hence the word stop.

Answer 7

Got a ticket ,eh...too bad

Answer 8

Got a bunch of too much time on your hands, sonny.

Answer 9

Cops can harass you anytime they think there are no witnesses. They have a lot of stress in their lives and they have to let it out somewhere or they would be shotting civilians on the street.

Answer 10

Use armor piercing bullets or just shoot the pigs head off.

Answer 11

this all sums up to one overarching conclusion... there is always a reason, so they can get away with doing whatever they want to do.