Announcement

Collapse

The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
See more
See less

In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

    Ok.....where to begin. I've been dealing with runner's knee for a year now and after six months of long walks for rehab I've progressed to the point where I can run/walk. I do a lot of my exercise late at night.(between 10PM and 1AM) I have always preferred to run at night as it is cooler and less traffic/more peaceful although maybe not quite this late.

    I do a lot of my walk/runs out of my neighborhood and have no problems. But that gets boring after a while. I like to drive to a neighboring town to walk to break up the scenery maybe once a week. So I've been going to this town that I used to live in by the way to do my walks and lately it seems I can't go there without being harassed by local Police. I don't understand it. When I lived there I ran at night all the time and never got stopped once.

    I've been stopped 3 times over the last 6 months and been followed a couple other times. The first time the cop said he saw me running from a church. That was an out and out lie because my knee wouldn't even allow me to run at the time. He asked me for ID but I don't carry any when running so he took my name down. When I asked why he wanted my name when I was doing nothing wrong he said......"in case you are lying to me". Left a bad taste in my mouth for sure. Just last Sat. night a different cop(I think) was following me acting like he was checking parking lots and such but I knew what he was doing. When I took off on my running portion he pulled up beside me and said "what are you doing just running". I said yep. So he goes on down the road and pulls in somebody's driveway so I just run on by him as I have already said what I was doing.

    He pulls out of the driveway and pulls up behind me down the road and at that point I have to stop. He asks me for ID which I don't have on me so at this point I feel like I'm on the defensive all for exercising. I tried to explain that I used to live there and ran at night ALL THE TIME but I'm still not sure he believed me. He said....."so you are headed back to your vehicle?". I took that to mean this workout is over lets wrap it up.This is getting to the ridiculous stage. It is not a crime to exercise at night. Not everybody works first shift. I'm nowhere near people's property. I'm usually on the side of the road or on a walking path. If I am doing nothing wrong I don't feel like I should even have to explain myself to these cops. Some of you might think it's weird to run at midnight but I doubt there is any serious runner that hasn't at some point. It's more common than you think. I guess they are just power hungry guys probably new to the force that have nothing better to do.

    Should I go to the station and file a complaint or something? Will it even do any good? I can see getting stopped once but this is a Really small police force. Don't they communicate at all? Should cops be allowed to stop you just for being out late when you are minding your own business? Thoughts?

  • #2
    Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

    Originally posted by presto123 View Post
    Ok.....where to begin. I've been dealing with runner's knee for a year now and after six months of long walks for rehab I've progressed to the point where I can run/walk. I do a lot of my exercise late at night.(between 10PM and 1AM) I have always preferred to run at night as it is cooler and less traffic/more peaceful although maybe not quite this late.

    I do a lot of my walk/runs out of my neighborhood and have no problems. But that gets boring after a while. I like to drive to a neighboring town to walk to break up the scenery maybe once a week. So I've been going to this town that I used to live in by the way to do my walks and lately it seems I can't go there without being harassed by local Police. I don't understand it. When I lived there I ran at night all the time and never got stopped once.

    I've been stopped 3 times over the last 6 months and been followed a couple other times. The first time the cop said he saw me running from a church. That was an out and out lie because my knee wouldn't even allow me to run at the time. He asked me for ID but I don't carry any when running so he took my name down. When I asked why he wanted my name when I was doing nothing wrong he said......"in case you are lying to me". Left a bad taste in my mouth for sure. Just last Sat. night a different cop(I think) was following me acting like he was checking parking lots and such but I knew what he was doing. When I took off on my running portion he pulled up beside me and said "what are you doing just running". I said yep. So he goes on down the road and pulls in somebody's driveway so I just run on by him as I have already said what I was doing.

    He pulls out of the driveway and pulls up behind me down the road and at that point I have to stop. He asks me for ID which I don't have on me so at this point I feel like I'm on the defensive all for exercising. I tried to explain that I used to live there and ran at night ALL THE TIME but I'm still not sure he believed me. He said....."so you are headed back to your vehicle?". I took that to mean this workout is over lets wrap it up.This is getting to the ridiculous stage. It is not a crime to exercise at night. Not everybody works first shift. I'm nowhere near people's property. I'm usually on the side of the road or on a walking path. If I am doing nothing wrong I don't feel like I should even have to explain myself to these cops. Some of you might think it's weird to run at midnight but I doubt there is any serious runner that hasn't at some point. It's more common than you think. I guess they are just power hungry guys probably new to the force that have nothing better to do.

    Should I go to the station and file a complaint or something? Will it even do any good? I can see getting stopped once but this is a Really small police force. Don't they communicate at all? Should cops be allowed to stop you just for being out late when you are minding your own business? Thoughts?
    You have done nothing wrong.

    But, I will say, choose your battles wisely. Unless it is a real inconvenience, I would run somewhere else. More than likely these small town LEOs will not change for the better even after a complaint.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

      May I make a suggestion.... for the next couple of times stop by the locals and let them know you are going to be running and your general route. that way dispatch will at least be aware and be able to let the LEO know...and it never hurts to get friendly with them anyway. Secondly, and this is coming from a former EMT, carry your Id with you please. What if you are hurt or hit by a car while running. If you are found on the side of the road with no form of Id they have no idea who to notify or how to find if you have any medical conditions. Please carry some id.
      Ever notice how friendly folks are at a shootin' range??.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

        I wouldn't necessarily consider this to be harassment. I think they're just playing the odds, meaning that in general if someone they don't recognize is out in what would be considered late at night for most folks, typically that probably means they may be up to no good. Now that doesn't prove anything, but then again they didn't detain or arrest you, either, beyond stopping to have that talk with them, right? I think they're being cautious, and I think if you are cool/friendly with them and talk to them like they're on your side, I would imagine most would return a similar attitude.

        I would agree with indygeezer, too, that it's probably best to have ID with you, even if you just throw your driver's license in your pocket rather than taking a full wallet. Makes it easier for both parties if you happen to be stopped again.

        :2cents:

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

          Originally posted by indygeezer View Post
          May I make a suggestion.... for the next couple of times stop by the locals and let them know you are going to be running and your general route. that way dispatch will at least be aware and be able to let the LEO know...and it never hurts to get friendly with them anyway. Secondly, and this is coming from a former EMT, carry your Id with you please. What if you are hurt or hit by a car while running. If you are found on the side of the road with no form of Id they have no idea who to notify or how to find if you have any medical conditions. Please carry some id.
          + a 1000!!!!
          You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

            You guys all make good points and if I start going there often again I will certainly go by the station. Should I really have to inconvenience myself is the real question.The only thing I was guilty of is being outside at midnight. I don't care what anybody says that is not probable cause. When the cop said he saw me running from a church he was "making up" probable cause. I tend to think officers do this a lot unfortunately. You guys are taking this lightly but I posted this topic on another board and it's now a 3 page discussion on individual rights and such.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

              Originally posted by presto123 View Post
              Ok.....where to begin. I've been dealing with runner's knee for a year now and after six months of long walks for rehab I've progressed to the point where I can run/walk. I do a lot of my exercise late at night.(between 10PM and 1AM) I have always preferred to run at night as it is cooler and less traffic/more peaceful although maybe not quite this late.

              I do a lot of my walk/runs out of my neighborhood and have no problems. But that gets boring after a while. I like to drive to a neighboring town to walk to break up the scenery maybe once a week. So I've been going to this town that I used to live in by the way to do my walks and lately it seems I can't go there without being harassed by local Police. I don't understand it. When I lived there I ran at night all the time and never got stopped once.

              I've been stopped 3 times over the last 6 months and been followed a couple other times. The first time the cop said he saw me running from a church. That was an out and out lie because my knee wouldn't even allow me to run at the time. He asked me for ID but I don't carry any when running so he took my name down. When I asked why he wanted my name when I was doing nothing wrong he said......"in case you are lying to me". Left a bad taste in my mouth for sure. Just last Sat. night a different cop(I think) was following me acting like he was checking parking lots and such but I knew what he was doing. When I took off on my running portion he pulled up beside me and said "what are you doing just running". I said yep. So he goes on down the road and pulls in somebody's driveway so I just run on by him as I have already said what I was doing.

              He pulls out of the driveway and pulls up behind me down the road and at that point I have to stop. He asks me for ID which I don't have on me so at this point I feel like I'm on the defensive all for exercising. I tried to explain that I used to live there and ran at night ALL THE TIME but I'm still not sure he believed me. He said....."so you are headed back to your vehicle?". I took that to mean this workout is over lets wrap it up.This is getting to the ridiculous stage. It is not a crime to exercise at night. Not everybody works first shift. I'm nowhere near people's property. I'm usually on the side of the road or on a walking path. If I am doing nothing wrong I don't feel like I should even have to explain myself to these cops. Some of you might think it's weird to run at midnight but I doubt there is any serious runner that hasn't at some point. It's more common than you think. I guess they are just power hungry guys probably new to the force that have nothing better to do.

              Should I go to the station and file a complaint or something? Will it even do any good? I can see getting stopped once but this is a Really small police force. Don't they communicate at all? Should cops be allowed to stop you just for being out late when you are minding your own business? Thoughts?
              I used to ride my bike or walk at all hours of the night. What I did was wear one of those flashlights like miners wear, I did it for 13 years until I moved from the area and was never stopped. The only problem I ever had was I didn't like the light around my forehead because the strap was to tight, so I just pulled it down around my neck. I had cops drive by me but they more or less ignored me. I guess they figured someone advertizing his presence with a light wasn't up to no good.

              Do I think you are being harassed? Not at all. To me it would signify I was running in a safe area. However, I would wear light colored clothing, or get a light like I did.
              Last edited by Will Galen; 07-27-2013, 01:04 AM.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

                What Will say's makes a lot of sense. If you are wearing reflective clothing or a light or something that clearly marks or identifies you as a runner I think they will notice you but pay a lot less attention to you.

                I feel for you but I look at this from both points of view. By technical standards you are absolutely within your rights to jog at night and the Supreme Court has upheld over and over that you are not required to carry identification on you unless you are operating a motorized vehicle.

                However there is the practical side that say's these cops wouldn't be doing their jobs if they spotted an unknown person running at night in an area that is not known for running.

                Remember Police work is hard, very hard work. Not in physical labor but the amount of judgment they have to make on a daily basis is absurd.

                Put yourself in their shoes. It's a small town, you probably know most of the people who live there and you see an unknown person doing an activity that is not normally done at that time of day. Would you be wrong if you stopped and asked the person what they were doing?

                Now where I think you have a real case is when you explained you were running, proved you were running and the guy ran you out of town anyway. That was wrong on his part.

                But to check you out, while technically it's not right, I think it's hard to fault them. Imagine if they didn't check on someone and that person ended up committing a crime.

                But again I get your point, this isn't the Soviet Union where they go "citizen produce your papers".


                Basketball isn't played with computers, spreadsheets, and simulations. ChicagoJ 4/21/13

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

                  My perspective growing up in small town Indiana is that people are quite suspicious of perceived "outsiders." If you just go to the police station once and explain what you're doing and wear reflective clothing while running (if you don't already) I think you'll be fine. My best friend from Indiana is a sheriff's deputy in a rural county, and just knowing the way he does his work (I have gone on ride alongs with him) that's really all you need to do.

                  I know what you mean though, a couple years ago in Indiana a few friends and I went out to the boonies to fish and hang out. This was in the middle of the day too. A few bored cops came up on his, questioned us and even searched us. I have one friend who is very anti-social and not good around people he doesn't know, which was enough to make the cops think we were "suspicious." It was a crappy experience.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

                    You guys kill me. How many of you saying the cops are just doing their job are card carrying members of the "don't tread on me" crowd?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

                      If the questioning stops at asking for his id/name, then I don't feel like it's treading on his rights. If the same cop was doing the stopping, then it would ping my radar more.
                      Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.” ― Ricky Gervais.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

                        I would agree IF that's all it was. Except he clearly stated that one of them made up probable cause by saying he saw him running from a church, which clearly wasn't true because at the time an injury prevented him from running. Another time he was followed after already explaining himself. To me, both of those go beyond just asking for name and ID. And legally, he doesn't have to even show his ID. Unless an officer makes up probable cause that is...
                        Last edited by travmil; 07-27-2013, 07:48 PM.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

                          Originally posted by travmil View Post
                          You guys kill me. How many of you saying the cops are just doing their job are card carrying members of the "don't tread on me" crowd?
                          It's one thing to know I'm a stranger in their town walking or running around in the dark after midnight who they decide to watch or question, and it's another thing if they're truly 'treading on me' in some more meaningful way. I wouldn't feel oppressed in this situation any more than I do when I enter the courthouse and have to be stopped and wanded if I set off the metal detector with my belt buckle. It's reasonable and it's understandable, even though I haven't done anything wrong.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

                            Originally posted by travmil View Post
                            I would agree IF that's all it was. Except he clearly stated that one of them made up probable cause by saying he saw him running from a church, which clearly wasn't true because at the time an injury prevented him from running. Another time he was followed after already explaining himself. To me, both of those go beyond just asking for name and ID. And legally, he doesn't have to even show his ID. Unless an officer makes up probable cause that is...
                            I agree with you about the lie regarding probable cause.

                            As for still following him, generally speaking people lie all the time (people up to no good who claim otherwise until caught), so I don't necessarily blame them for not totally trusting someone who is, to them, still essentially a stranger out at what is generally an atypical time of night. They have to play the odds to do their jobs well.

                            That all being said, if he starts wearing reflective gear or a light, that would likely make them ease off because odds are a would-be criminal would not advertise themselves in such a way, and cops know that, thus they would again play the odds and probably relax/ease off.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: In Your Opinion Is This Harassment By Small Town Cops?(running at night)

                              Originally posted by Hicks View Post
                              ...so I don't necessarily blame them for not totally trusting someone who is, to them, still essentially a stranger out at what is generally an atypical time of night...
                              Don't you find it upsetting that the only individual committing an illegal act in this scenario is the policeman who pressed him for ID and lied about his probable cause? This isn't a two wrongs don't make a right situation. There's only one wrong here. Maybe he could grease the wheels so to speak by communicating with the local police, but by absolutely NO means should he HAVE to do that to avoid being stopped by them for doing nothing illegal.

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X