A Small Victory Against Cops

[NickCofphee]

Let this be an example of how you should handle police, ESPECIALLY if you have warrants, drugs, illegal weapons, etc. And likewise if you are doing nothing wrong and have nothing on you.

So I was in Roseville. Took the 93 bus over from Sacramento after visiting Meatroll and was on my way back south. I was walking along Atkinson St. and heading towards a spot to wait and catch out. (on a side note, the "tree" sucks now. There's better spots.) Anywho, I was thinking it seemed likely that some cop was going to pull over for no apparent reason and I was already preparing in my head what to say. Sure enough, a Placer County sherrif passed me and pulled a U turn. "Meet me over on that white line." I walked over to where he said to go. He stepped out and I noticed his name tag said "EVANS" (for those of you who may encounter this douchebag in the future) Our conversation went as follows, to the best of my memory:

Officer Evans: "How's it going?"
Me: "Allright."
Cop:"Where you headed to?"
Me:"Down the road."
Cop:"Where you from?"
Me:"I'm kind of in a hurry, I really can't talk right now."
Cop: "Ok. Do you have any ID?"
Me:"Yeah."
Cop:"Can I see it?"
Me:"Why do you want to see my ID?"
Cop: "Someone recently robbed a house in this area matching your description." (Smelling bullshit...)
Me:"What was the description?"
Cop: "A male wearing a backpack, with brown hair."
Me:" How is showing you my ID going to prove about how I may or may not have robbed this house?" (thanks veggie guy for that line!)
Cop: "It does because we already know who did it."

STOP. At this point I knew for a fact that this cop was completely full of shit. He already knew who "did it"? Really? REALLY? Assuming he did, (which I highly doubt a robbery actually occured), and that person was NOT me, then he would already know that the person wasn't me. If he already knew it WAS me, then I'd be in handcuffs and in the backseat of his car, not chit chatting with officer dipshit.

Me:"Really? What's his name?"
Cop:"We already know who did it, so how about showing me your ID."
Me: "If I'm not being detained, I really have to get going already."
Cop:" Why don't you just show me your ID? Do you have any warrants?"
Me: "No, I don't have any warrants. Look, I really have to get going.."
Cop: "I'd really like to see your ID. If you don't have anything to hide, then it shouldn't matter, right?"
Me: "I can't really talk, I have to get going. Am I being detained? If not I'm going to leave now."
Cop:" Are you saying that you are refusing to cooperate with me?"
(cops do this to trick you into thinking you're breaking some law)
Me:"Officer, I'm not trying to disrespect you or anything. I'm just saying that if I'm not being detained, I'm really going to have to be on my way at this point."
Cop:"Well you ARE disrespecting me. Are you really going to go ahead and do this to me?"

Then there was an extremely uncomfortable stare off. I mean, I was staring into his eyes and him back. Mind you he was about 6'5" and just a few feet away. I think about 15 seconds passed, but it felt like 5 minutes to me.

Me:"I'm sorry officer, I don't mean any disrespect. Am I free to go now?"
Cop:"I think I've made it clear you're free to go if you want to, though I'd highly advise against that."

I started to slowly step away at this point.

Me:"Well, I'm going to leave then..."
Cop:"If I catch you with anything, I'm not cutting you any breaks."
Me: "Fair enough." (why'd I say that?)

I walked away towards the Roseville Market. He followed me and parked out front. I bought a few things and sat out on the bench/table eating until he got bored and left.

I did have a misdemeanor warrant. But what difference did that make? Whether I had a warrant, no warrant, or 10 pounds of heroin in my bag, it is something the cop didn't know. All these stories I constantly hear about people being fucked with by cops and cooperating make me sick. Don't do it! Cops are trained to make you uncomfortable and think it's in your best interest to cooperate. Tell 'em to fuck off, but do it with a "yessir" or yessss maam"!!

 

[connerR]

Good story. Probably ruined that cops day.

 

[UrbanNokizaru]

Good stuff, don't let cops get to you, I looked up what rights citizens have in police encounters and what rights police have and people reveal and cooperate much more than they need to.

 

[wildboy860]

good story! it gives us all hope, that we don't have tp be victims to the po po and they're bullshit.

 

[veggieguy12]

Good story, brother!
I have an idea to barter their request to glimpse my ID for $10.
Cop: "Got some ID on ya?" Me: "Usually I do."
Cop: "Well can I see it?" Me: "Well can I get $10 for the service?"
I just finished reading a really great book called Homicide: A Year in the Killing Streets by David Simon. The numbers of cases that are solved because people just don't shut their mouths and instead tell on themselves or try to sell some bullshit that the cops can disprove...
"If I'm not under arrest and charged with a crime, I'll just keep walking toward my destination."
Last I was in jail, met some kid busted for Intent to Distribute. His story was, cop drove up as he was going to the dealer's house. Cop asked kid where he was going, and kid told cop, thinking that cop wouldn't know dealer's name to mean anything. Wrong! Kid got busted. But what if kid had said "To a private party. I can't tell you where, because you're not invited." OR "I don't know the address, I just know how to get there." OR "I'm sorry, I really don't feel like answering these questions. Toodle-oo."

 

[NickCofphee]

I have an idea to barter their request to glimpse my ID for $10.
Cop: "Got some ID on ya?" Me: "Usually I do."
Cop: "Well can I see it?" Me: "Well can I get $10 for the service?"

I actually thought about doing that! I mean, why help out a cop with what (s)he wants if you don't get anything out of it? IDs are like cops crack or something "C'mon man, just a little peek! I just wanna hold it..."

But then I thought that you could be charged with bribing a cop, and I don't think a cop would risk accepting a bribe either for petty shit like that. Plus, I don't think a cop would do anything remotely like helping someone out with money.

 

[Beegod Santana]

Dealing with the cops is something you have to feel out depending on the situation. There's plenty of places in this country where a cop will just give you a few wacks and then charge you w/ public intoxication if they decide they don't like you, regardless of what you may be doing or not doing. Fuck, I got beat by the cops in texas just for having long hair and a yankee accent. The incident you've just described is something that works almost without fail in california just due to the nature of the state. In texas or mississippi though, you probably would've done at least a night for being a Jon Doe. If I have no warrants where I'm at and a cop asks for id, I just give it to him, makes the whole process go that much quicker. If I do have a warrant I just give them the silent treatment or a fake name. In roseville I feel they have the attitude that they can lock you up, waste town $ dealing with you and then still have your bum ass hanging around when you get out a few days later. I'm glad it worked out for you, but I wouldn't say that the way you acted is always gonna work well in your favor.

 

[NickCofphee]

Dealing with the cops is something you have to feel out depending on the situation.

You're right. In my situation I was also not specifically doing something illegal. If I had actually been detained, I'd of most likely given the cop my ID and hoped my warrant didn't show up.

But most places I think this would work just fine. Worked in south side Chicago, Indiana, and in Idaho; a friend of mine sat silently while a cop was yelling at him and the cop got frustrated and told him to get lost.

 

[Bullet]

yeah that sounds pretty lucky to me. I'm surprised he didn't try to detain you for some random shit. Good job staying calm though. I'm not so good at that, but I'll remember that thing about being accused of a crime/getting tricked.

 

[veggieguy12]

Beegod Santana, in reading your post above I'd initially just agree with what you say without qualification; but thinking over it more, I think it requires at least one important consideration, namely, that cops can arrest you any time, any place - for nothing.

The idea that cooperation is better than defensive assertiveness of one's own rights seems like a sensible explanation for why it would probably go over better, but on the other hand, I cooperate by doing [_____], and next they're trying to get [_____] out of me. I think the cops can see me as intimidated and try to increase my fear of them to get something from/on me to make their bust (me or someone else). By contrast, you assert that you don't want to talk with them, and they can still bust you of course, but they know from the start that they're dealing with someone at least moderately informed and someone who isn't gonna be pushed around and take shit, someone who might give them trouble down the line for an unwarranted arrest. So I do think they weigh that and figure "Hell, I bust this asshole and he gets out the next day and the prosecutor tells me to make better arrests or a judge throws it out. Maybe not worth it."

Suppose there's been a crime down the road and the description is a White male, 5'8"-6'0", dark hair, approximately 22-26 years of age. So you're walking somewhere within 5mi of this area, the cops ask to check your ID, they won't give any BS excuse about "there's been a crime" they'll just pull up and start with the questions, maybe threaten to lock you up for jaywalking or trespass or "impeding my investigation", etc. So you figure they could just see the ID and let you go, but next thing happens while Cop 1 has your ID is that a new car rolls up with the murder victim's husband in the car asked to identify if you're the shooter, and he's all emotional and aggrieved, so he (honest mistake) says Yes. Now you're trying to prove your innocence in a Homicide interrogation room. And that's not a fictitious scenario, but the actual events of a Florida murder case.

 

[boston joe]

as my many years on this rock have taught me, 'you catch more flys with honey than vinegar'. yes sir, no sir ,sorry sir , may prevent your head from looking like a bunch of grapes! i have known some cops in my later years and they have told me that when pulling some one over ,that the first thing the person being pulled over had to do was,PASS THE PERSONALITY TEST!!!!! it would determine the out come of thier imeadiate future. the people who choose to go with the Al Copone attitude may end up with a tough guy story to tell down the road, but at worse case scenerio, A: you can end up in jail, or B: you can end up in jail after getting the dog shit beat out of you!!!! think about it.

 

[reza]

I just moved up to Atlanta from South Florida, turns out Georgia has a law that you must always have an ID on you and be able to show it if asked by police, it's arrestable if you don't. Smells like fascism to me

 

[Rash L]

Show me your papers!