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In my state (NH), it's pretty much a police state. You can expect to have an encounter with the police every other week, whether or not you've done something wrong.
I've been pulled over 6 times in the last 5 years, but not once for breaking a law. It's their way of keeping the people in fear, and, heck, it works! I don't speed cause I know I get pulled over anyway.
The last time I got pulled over it was for suspicious driving. No, seriously. I got lost, and ended up making a full loop. A cop was following me, pulled me over and questioned me. I explained that I had gotten lost, but the cop didn't believe me. You know- guilty until proven innocent? I'm not sure what crime I could've been committing, but he was sure I was doing it. Except I was let off- without even a warning- because I still haven't done anything illegal!
Last month neighbors called the police for a noise complaint, because some of my other neighbors had a band outside. Well the police came to the neighborhood, and the band stopped playing, but the cops weren't satisfied, and decided to harrass more people. They stopped in front of my house and just watched through the window- until a few of my friends noticed there were police outside. So of course we all started watching the cops, because, well, why were they watching us? Well that's suspicious behavior I suppose, so they got out of their car. I met them downstairs (I live in a 2 apt house, upstairs unit (mine) and downstairs unit (unoccupied). They insisted I was having a party (I had 3 friends over). They insisted on coming upstairs and taking a look around. Although they wouldn't have found anything illegal going on upstairs (I don't do drugs, and there weren't any dead bodies) I was insulted- it's my privacy they were looking to invade. So I told them I didn't see any reason for them to go upstairs. They insisted that there were illegal activities upstairs- and I insisted that if they truely believed that they could get a warrant.
They hated me for saying that, and spent the next half hour harrassing me in my driveway. Trying to .. trap me.. in some web of lies that they just KNEW I was telling. Except that there were no lies, and I was frankly getting very annoyed. I finally just asked them if I was under arrest or if I could go. They said that I wasn't under arrest but that they had more questions- and started running the plates of every car on the street near my house, asking me questions like- who's car is this? And pointing to random cars in the road. I didn't know who's cars they were- there are a lot of people in my neighborhood.
Finally they let me go and left.
But this is what I deal with on a regular basis. I have a ton of police stories- none of which involve me doing anything illegal, all of which involve the police harrassing me.
And it's not like I dress like a hoodlum- I have nice button-up work shirts that I wear almost every day. It's getting very annoying, and I wish I could do something about it- but it seems it's the police mentality in this state. What do you do? Call the police station and complain? Sue?
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