Illegal parking. Apparently.

[giant_mtb]

This is more of a "rant" than anything, and it's not a police bash.  It's me questioning why this particular officer had to be so rude and uptight towards me.

So, last night, at around 8:30, I was waiting for a friend to call.  This friend and I were planning on hanging out.  Cool, whatever.  So while I was waiting, I decided to go park in the (large) elementary school parking lot that is on the lake and gives a great view of the sunset across the lake.  The same lake where I take a lot of pictures that I seem to submit for our photo competitions here at CarSPIN.  Now, last summer, they "closed" this parking lot because a large group of stoners would congregate there nightly and do stupid things like crank their music, spin donuts, etc.  There're houses bordering the lot, and they got fed up with it.  They put up signs saying, essentially "Lot closed from 11PM-6AM, for beach and school use only."  Right, cool.

So I parked in this parking lot and went down to the beach to take some pictures of the incoming sunset (it was about 8-8:30).  After I'd done about 80 pictures, a friend of mine drove by, noticed my car, and pulled in next to me.  I walked back up to my car to talk to my friend.  Not 3 minutes later, of course, a cop rolls by.  He pulls in, and this is the conversation that ensued:

Him: "Lot's closed."
Me, turning to sings: "The sign says it's closed from 11-6..."
Him: "It's for school functions only."
Me: "It says school and beach."
Him (with a tone, of course): "You're not swimming."
Me: "I was just down there taking pictures 5 minutes ago..."
Him, as he starts pulling away: "Time to leave."


Seriously?  What if my friend and I met there and we were going to take a walk on the beach?  What if, uh, my friend saw me there and decided to stop and talk to me?  Is it illegal to stand in a parking lot and talk to somebody?  I was ON THE BEACH TAKING PICTURES.  What if he hadn't been so uptight and actually asked me what I was doing?  Why didn't he track down the owners of the other two cars that were parked there?  They weren't at the school or the beach.  It's as if you're not allowed to stand in a parking lot next to your car and talk to someone that simply pulled in to say hi.  Or, wait, this guy didn't even give me a chance to explain anything.  I guess I have to instantaneously transport myself from my car to the beach or else I'll get in trouble for it.  Much less talk to somebody who's there with you!  OHNOES.

So, in the end.  My friend left (she was scared), and I didn't move.  I just went back down to the beach and took more pictures. 

10 minutes later, the same cop drove by and did nothing.  And he didn't seem to do anything about the car full of underage teens sitting there smoking later on in the evening, either.  Let's be a dick to the kid taking pictures and let the smokers slide.

[Eye of the Tiger]

If you go to the beach, you have to swim. Everyone knows that.

[sparkplug]

If you go to the beach, you have to swim. Everyone knows that.

hehe

I agree. Wear a swimsuit.

[Catman]

Classic case of idiots ruining things for others.  The cop is so sick of dealing with morons in that location that he has resorted to making sure no one goes there.  I know both sides of this.  But, from a police perspective we have this one park where closeted gay men meet to shake their willies at each other.  It got to the point that if you were just hanging around I would "move you along".  Not a great solution and I am sure some people who were not doing anything wrong got kicked out.  Oh well, there's no perfect solution.  If you're not proactive then you'll have these people snapping carrots all over the place.   

[dazzleman]

Well, at least you didn't have to solicit them Greg.  There was a well-publicized case a couple of years ago in New York in which an officer was aggressively soliciting male partners in a park where gay male liaisons were taking place.  Apparently, the officer went too far toward entrapment and ended up being kicked off the force.

This same officer had pulled over a friend of mine from work and slapped him with 4 or 5 tickets for various infractions.  He says that the cop came racing up behind him and aggressivelt tailgated him, forcing him to speed up in order to move over.  He was then charged with speeding, reckless driving, unsafe lane change and a couple of other things.  He was probably speeding, but the other stuff is highly questionable.

[dazzleman]

The good news for him was that the officer got fired before my friend went to court for those tickets, so they ended up being dismissed.

[Catman]

The good news for him was that the officer got fired before my friend went to court for those tickets, so they ended up being dismissed.

Not sure why he was fired?    Sounds like good police work.  Was this in Maine?  Sounds like Nick's local PD.

[dazzleman]

I don't remember the particulars, but I think he may have been exposing himself to the people he was targeting for solicitation charges.

[dazzleman]

It was in New Jersey.  Big surprise.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Not sure why he was fired?    Sounds like good police work.  Was this in Maine?  Sounds like Nick's local PD.

My local PD is on the ball. They keep the hookers off the streets by soliciting them into their cruisers, scare the Somalian kids back onto the sidewalks by speeding through the neighborhood and blowing through stop signs, and they only made me pay one ticket so far. I still haven't heard if they caught the gang-banger that held my neighbor up at gun-point and stole their rent money, but I can't complain.

[dazzleman]

Lewiston sounds like a hellhole, dude.

[Raza]

My local PD is on the ball. They keep the hookers off the streets by soliciting them into their cruisers, scare the Somalian kids back onto the sidewalks by speeding through the neighborhood and blowing through stop signs, and they only made me pay one ticket so far. I still haven't heard if they caught the gang-banger that held my neighbor up at gun-point and stole their rent money, but I can't complain.

And they say you can't find paradise on earth.