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[bart1997]

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[MuddyEddie]

That's one of the small advantages of being in the 'States. The police must have probably cause to pull you over and "interview" you.

If there's no probably cause we have the right to refuse to cooperate with them. At that point the police must let the person go. Most people here forget that, and always bow down to the thugs, I mean police.

It is possible that a person saw you trespassing on someone's property and notified the police. And the police have a right to stop you if they see your car. However, unless the person making the call has stated that they wish to press charges against you then the police can just stop you and ask for your license. Then cannot do anything further without probable cause.

Even a backpack in plain view is not probably cause. Only if they see an illegal item (drugs, a known stolen item, &c...) or a visible weapon (weapons carried in a vehicle must be concealed from outside view) can they ask you to step out of the car. Of course, if the check on the license turns up a warrant they can arrest you. But that's the limit.

Sure, there have been cases of police harassing people without cause. And in most of those cases the people have challenged the police in court and won a judgment. It's also legal in all cases to record (either video or audio) the stop. The sight of a camera or recording device will usually force the thug, I mean police, to act more civil.

Eddie

[Nessie]

Wow. Can't say I've ever had a run-in.

I've ignored more police on the way to and from mudpits than you wanna shake a billy club at. I've got one place at a park that's hugely popular for fishing and boating, and that cop just parks in the speed trap all day, plus there's often a ranger right in the lot where I usually park, plus, late in the day there's a herd/flock/swarm/whatever of police directing the traffic as streams of boaters leave.

And my prime filming spot? Last year I had a sheriff. He parked in the hiding place in the lot on Saturdays. Him, I'd just go somewhere else for half an hour...he was probably just sneaking a break...probably coulda used him, though, on the day The Intruder came.

It's really funny when you hear sirens go off in my clips.

Hey...you could try...

Cops: That someone has a name?
me: "Wild Bill".
Cops: I see, i presume your friend is living in ...(generic townname)
me: Gee. Don't know. I see him all the time at (any plausible hangout...bars, coffee shops, meat raffles, church outings...).

But I guess the police at the fishing lake have no time for me. I'm always carrying two bags, too.

Nessie

[tempman]

I've never had a run in with the police but I am sooo glad they're there.

What country did this happen in? Since the only Western Europe region with peat bogs is the UK and Ireland, or at least I thought they were. And from memory Ireland doesn't have "highways" (just very very long and straight A-roads). And I've never heard of anything like this happening in the UK unless you had been trespassing beforehand.

[Mynock]

If that had happened here me and my lawyer would've gotten rich off it.

[Aiko]

I'm glad nothing of that sort has ever happened to me. It sounds like they were looking for someone specific, and possibly you/your car came close to the description.

Good thing you came up with that story. Even though there's no law against sinking in quicksand (unless it involves trespassing), I would not want to find out how the police would react to that.

[PM2K]

That hasn't happened to me, but I am worried about what the provincial police would think of a guy carrying a muddy backpack into the woods. Around here, they'll likely suspect I have a grow-op going...

[jadokast98]

18 months after the Oklahoma City bombing, I was returning home to Utica, NY from Oklahoma. I got pulled over just north of Columbus, Ohio. I had luggage, a Duffle bag, and some rifles in the trunk. ( An AR-15A2, Chinese AK-47, Romanian AK-74, HK-94 and two Ruger 10-22s, along with a book report binder with copies of associated Sales Receipts. The poor state trooper stammered a bit trying to
a) ask me to step away from the vehicle.
b) call for assistance and shift commander.
c) taking a step backwards, placing his hand on his Glock, and trying to keep his eyes from bugging out while keeping track of me- just standing there, at the side of the road, hands out of my pocket.

Lucky for both of us (Me primarily), I had advised him that I had those in the trunk as we had walked back there. The only gun he had ever seen was the AR 15. So... after an hour and a half impromptue "show and tell" to the entire Ohio State Police (it seemed to me at the time) I was allowed to leave. I have no hard feelings and look back on this event in a positive way. Timothy McVeigh had not been executed at that point, and wouldn't for 8 more years or so. (I would love to piss on his grave)

[bart1997]

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[Nessie]

And then
@Nessie: I have never seen that a cop has randomly stopped a woman without any suspicion (obviously DUI or something similar), you know, there are no female criminals (well okay, some, but much less than guys).

Very sadly, I suspect that this is true.

But there are a few female criminals. What female criminals exist are just young whippersnappers...you know, those troublesome rowdy teenagers and those hard-partying college-age binge drinkers.

Once the middle-age years have been entered, though, there are no female criminals at all.

Well, yes there are, and if you read the news you'll find that out, but if you're over forty and a female, they never, ever bother you, unless, well, ONCE, and only ONCE, a Park Patrol officer pulled over and asked me if everything was okay.

It was. So I thanked him and he drove off.

Nessie