The Art of Hasslement
My kid, seventeen years old, was driving home at the end of a big day last week. He'd been allowed to drive down to Arlington, going on the Beltway, and then he'd come back to Rockville and visited a friend. The way driver's licenses work in Maryland, for the first six months you aren't allowed to drive after midnight, so it was about eleven thirty and he was headed home. School hadn't started for him yet, he was enjoying the last days of vacation.
He turned onto the little road that runs alongside our house when he saw in the mirror that two cars had pulled up behind him and were driving side by side. One of them sped up to pass him -- he thought this was some kind of carjacking or something.
No, it wasn't. It was cops. A combined force of Rockville and Montgomery County police stopped him, he thought afterwards there were four cars, about a hundred yards from our house.
The problem: fuzzy dice, hanging from his mirror.
Apparently those are illegal here, on the assumption they obstruct your view. Well, OK, they were kind of cool, but I can see that you shouldn't have stuff hanging down in front of the windshield. I can't quite get excited about it, but whatever.
They got him out on the sidewalk and asked him if they could search the car. We'd talked about this before, and, as I would expect, he told them no, they couldn't search it. So ... this is incredible to me. A MoCo policeman walks over to the car, remember this is the middle of the night on a dark street, he looks in through a tinted, closed window, and says he sees a marijuana seed on the floor. Which is probable cause for a search. (In case I need to say so, I am quite sure there was no marijuana seed there.)
So they went through the car and the trunk, pulled everything out of the glove compartment and threw it on the floor, threw the kid's keys down alongside the seat where he had to look for them, went through the junk in the trunk. He was sitting on the curb, within view of our house though we didn't know it, and he started to call us on his cell phone, but they wouldn't let him.
They ended up writing him a warning for the fuzzy dice.
The next day, I talked to the sergeant whose name was on the ticket. He told me that they find contraband in most of the cars they stop. I have no comment there, none at all. This guy also said the most interesting thing. He said, "After twenty-three years on the force, I can spot a marijuana seed on a gravel road."
Listen, our prisons are overcrowded with people who have been arrested on charges related to marijuana, but it's not clear to me why the stuff is even illegal. And this guy seems to think this makes him a really good policeman, being excellent at spotting microscopic quantities of marijuana.
I told him I didn't want him harassing members of my family any more. I guess that wasn't very nice, and I may get a slow response if I ever have to call 911, but really, what should a guy do? I mean it, I'm asking. What are we suppose do when something like this happens? I support the police, I donate money to them every year, I think it's really important to enforce the laws. But why should this be okay?
A few nights earlier when I was walking the dog, I had seen this same thing at the same corner, a bunch of police cars and some teenagers sitting on the curb while they went through the car. I figured they'd caught some bad guys. Sorry, but I just don't like the look of this. I definitely don't like to see it in my neighborhood.
He turned onto the little road that runs alongside our house when he saw in the mirror that two cars had pulled up behind him and were driving side by side. One of them sped up to pass him -- he thought this was some kind of carjacking or something.
No, it wasn't. It was cops. A combined force of Rockville and Montgomery County police stopped him, he thought afterwards there were four cars, about a hundred yards from our house.
The problem: fuzzy dice, hanging from his mirror.
Apparently those are illegal here, on the assumption they obstruct your view. Well, OK, they were kind of cool, but I can see that you shouldn't have stuff hanging down in front of the windshield. I can't quite get excited about it, but whatever.
They got him out on the sidewalk and asked him if they could search the car. We'd talked about this before, and, as I would expect, he told them no, they couldn't search it. So ... this is incredible to me. A MoCo policeman walks over to the car, remember this is the middle of the night on a dark street, he looks in through a tinted, closed window, and says he sees a marijuana seed on the floor. Which is probable cause for a search. (In case I need to say so, I am quite sure there was no marijuana seed there.)
So they went through the car and the trunk, pulled everything out of the glove compartment and threw it on the floor, threw the kid's keys down alongside the seat where he had to look for them, went through the junk in the trunk. He was sitting on the curb, within view of our house though we didn't know it, and he started to call us on his cell phone, but they wouldn't let him.
They ended up writing him a warning for the fuzzy dice.
The next day, I talked to the sergeant whose name was on the ticket. He told me that they find contraband in most of the cars they stop. I have no comment there, none at all. This guy also said the most interesting thing. He said, "After twenty-three years on the force, I can spot a marijuana seed on a gravel road."
Listen, our prisons are overcrowded with people who have been arrested on charges related to marijuana, but it's not clear to me why the stuff is even illegal. And this guy seems to think this makes him a really good policeman, being excellent at spotting microscopic quantities of marijuana.
I told him I didn't want him harassing members of my family any more. I guess that wasn't very nice, and I may get a slow response if I ever have to call 911, but really, what should a guy do? I mean it, I'm asking. What are we suppose do when something like this happens? I support the police, I donate money to them every year, I think it's really important to enforce the laws. But why should this be okay?
A few nights earlier when I was walking the dog, I had seen this same thing at the same corner, a bunch of police cars and some teenagers sitting on the curb while they went through the car. I figured they'd caught some bad guys. Sorry, but I just don't like the look of this. I definitely don't like to see it in my neighborhood.
posted by JimK at 1:20 PM
11 Comments:
Andrea- not anon
I am pretty sure that there are other things that look like a marijuana seed. I am also pretty sure that fuzzy dice do not = weed. I have two pastel Peeps Chicken bean bags in the rear ledge of my car- what does that mean? They might find cherry pits, grape seeds and maybe even peach pits.
"A few nights earlier when I was walking the dog, I had seen this same thing at the same corner, a bunch of police cars and some teenagers sitting on the curb while they went through the car. I figured they'd caught some bad guys. Sorry, but I just don't like the look of this. I definitely don't like to see it in my neighborhood."
Whenever I see something like this, Jim, I always stop and watch until it's over. The police need to know citizens are watching.
This incident shows the problem with the liberal tendency to have the government control every aspect of a person's life. There really is no reason for the illegalization of marijuana. Same with seat belt laws. When these type of victimless laws are enacted most people say, oh well, so what. The trouble is law enforcement agencies then use it as a pretext to control the behavior of its citizens. The majority of seat belt tickets are given out when police are plated on certain routes that they want to discourage people from taking.
Join the Libertarian Party. If you put as much energy into preserving our freedom as you have trying to push propaganda in schools
BTW, Jim. Unless the cops can come up with that seed, I'd get David to file a suit.
Most cops are good guys but they need to have checks like people in every profession. They believe in what they are doing, which is law enforcement. Problem is that, without accountability built in, they tend to take things too far.
Tha same thing happens, for example, when scientists begin to display too much reverence for science. Right?
"There really is no reason for the illegalization of marijuana. Same with seat belt laws."
May no school ever let the bozo who said that teach health or driving.
"Problem is that, without accountability built in, they tend to take things too far."
Case in point -- Bush and Cheney.
""There really is no reason for the illegalization of marijuana. Same with seat belt laws."
May no school ever let the bozo who said that teach health or driving."
A response that demonstrates clearly the liberal worldview. Government is responsible for making your decisions for you. And you can't teach about what is and isn't safe unless you buy into that.
I am a liberal and I have no problem with marijuana laws or seat belt laws...so much for the "liberal worldview," whatever that means.
I do, however, have a serious problem with the police searching your son's car without probable cause. I would write the internal affairs division at david.falcinelli@montgomerycountymd.gov and provide details and names.
You would be doing a service to the community to get rid of the bad apples in the police department and this guy is clearly one of them.
"I am a liberal and I have no problem with marijuana laws or seat belt laws...so much for the "liberal worldview," whatever that means."
That's the liberal worldview.
That's what I mean.
You go right ahead and risk your children's well-being by telling them marajuana smoking and driving without a seat belt are a victimless crimes. Then spend a Saturday night in an urban or suburban ER and morgue and watch the unbelted, smoked up accident victims arrive.
It fits right in with the conservative worldview that not teaching kids about sex means they won't have any.
Crisp Khakis,
Sorry that I misread your posts the first time.
I disagree with you about requiring seat belts, at least for kids -- only because there are so many crappy parents out there that I don't believe we can keep kids safe without government involvement in this sphere. Using your word choice of "victimless laws," I would argue that the kids are the victims in this situation. In general,though,I am more sympathetic to your view than you might suspect, and I would not want to see laws requiring parents to put babies to sleep on their backs, etc., or similar laws that intrude into the home.
However, the argument for doing away with seat belt laws or marijuana laws because they give police more excuses for unlawful stops and searches is a weak one. If the police are looking for excuses (lies), they can always claim that you ran the stop sign or changed lanes without signaling. That will give them the stop. They can then claim that they see traces of white powder underneath the glove compartment or they will come up with some other ploy to give them the search. Most of the time, motorists consent to the search anyway because they don't have Jim as their dad and they are intimidated by authority.
Better to get rid of police who abuse the law than to get rid of the law.
Hey Friend in Virginia --
Did you catch the news about the "incident" between PFOX and the Arlington Gay and Lesbian Alliance at the Arlington County Fair? Apparently PFOX made up a story about an assault by AGLA. PFOX even said they had to call the cops and that they had the bully escorted off the fair grounds. Ex-gay-watch put up a couple of blogs you can reach from here
http://www.exgaywatch.com/wp/2007/09/arlington-fair-officials-eyewitness-contradict-pfox-claims-of-assault/
The cops have no record of an assault or a call for assistance from the Arlington County Fair, and the organizers of the fair have no record of it either. There is an eye-witness who saw a heated discussion, but saw no assault of any kind.
PFOX, what a bunch of liars. Dobson's CitizenLink, LifeSite and Alan Chambers all helped distribute this particular lie all over the internet. They all want to force LGBTs into the closet and they all spread each other's propaganda and lies. PFOX especially likes to lie about uncloseted gays and then claim victimhood.
What a crock.
Truth Wins Out called on PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs to resign today for faking a hate crime incident at a the Arlington County Fair in Virginia. Griggs claimed that a gay activist at the PFOX booth physically attacked an "ex-gay" volunteer. She said that police intervened and ejected the assailant from the event. Ex-Gay Watch editor David Roberts investigated her claims and found that Griggs' story appears to be a complete fabrication.
"Once we started checking with people who would know, the evidence was overwhelming that it could not have happened the way they claimed," said David Roberts, Editor of Ex-Gay Watch. "Fair officials, the police, eyewitnesses -- they all report that no physical attack took place, police were not involved, and no one was escorted off the property. PFOX claimed all those things, and Focus on the Family and other Christian media repeated the claims."
"Regina Griggs has lost all credibility and must resign in shame for her dishonest behavior," said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. "What PFOX did was warped, twisted and an insult to real hate crime victims."
On Aug. 28, PFOX sent out a press release with the headline, "Gays Assault Ex-Gays At County Fair." According to the release:
"As happens every year, gay activists disrupted our booth activities. They screamed obscenities, threw our materials from the exhibit table to the ground, insisted we recognize their same-sex 'spouses,' demanded that PFOX leave, and hit a PFOX volunteer because he is ex-gay."
The Ex-Gay Watch investigation revealed that a slight disagreement occurred between a woman and a male PFOX representative. However, Roberts contacted Jackie Abrams, Vice Chair of the Arlington County Fair. Abrams said that no physical altercation occurred, police were never called and no one was ejected from the fairgrounds. According to Roberts, "she was emphatic and certain."
"I was in radio contact with the other board members during the Fair, and definitely would have known if the police had been summoned. It did not happen," Abrams told Roberts.
Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit http://www.truthwinsout.org/.
http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2007/09/truth-wins-out-calls-for-resignation-of.html
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