My experience is quite different. In Peru, for example, I - and numerous other motorists - were pulled over for "routine" checks, where police or soldiers with military rifles stood guard around the vehicle while an officer checked papers. This happened three times on a two day drive down the Pan American Highway from Lima to Tacna and twice on the way back, via Cuzco. Chile wasn't much different. In Panama - especially Panama City - after the fall of Noriega (just to put it in perspective) armed military patrolled the streets.
I - and no one I know - has ever just been pulled over and questioned by the police here in the US for no reason. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I've travelled through 37 of the United States and have never encountered what you claim is normal. Well, there are sometimes sobriety checkpoints around California during major holidays when drunk driving incidents are usually high, and I'm all for that. The one time i got caught up in one of those checkpoints the police were very nice - all they were looking for was open bottles of booze, whether the driver had been drinking, and whether or not the occupants were wearing seat belts. Never even asked to see a drivers license. Is that an invasion of privacy? Is that a police state? I suppose had the officer asked to see the photos I could have declined, but he didn't. I volunteered to show him a few pix because I knew it would make my life - and his - simpler and easier. It was clear he didn't want to make a big deal out of this incident. Am I a wuss for "giving up my rights" so willingly, or am I clever guy for making sure that my day went smoothly and that I now have a cop on my side. I'm also willing to bet that some of the people who are the most vociferous about wanting to protest and demonstrate to the police that they know their rights, have never been cuffed and tossed into the back of a patrol car, had a nervous cop stick a service revolver into your face, or spent time in jail. Those are very sobering experiences and I can assure you that if such things have ever happened to you, you might decide to choose your battles with greater care. Shel > [Original Message] > From: dave g > > I agree with Tom (below) First of all, it is a police state. It's normal > to be stopped by the police, questioned about this or that. In other > countries, i.e. it is not a normal occurrence that the police pull you > over driving or walking. Sunbath naked on a deserted beach with no one > around and watch how fast police appear. Secondly, I think especially > when you are innocent of something, i.e. taking photos near a high > school, is when you need to politely decline to show photos or be > detained etc. It comes from the guilty until proven innocent idea. You > don't normally risk being "taken down to the station" or having a camera > confiscated for knowing your rights and expressing them calmly and > respectfully. It's like giving permission to have you car searched at a > routine traffic stop - If the police have probable cause they will just > do it, they don't need your permission. > anyway, just a pre-coffee rant.
