refreshing blip
about 45 minutes ago i was sleeping in my car, one of my favorite places to sleep. awakened by a knock on the window, i opened my eyes to a flashlight in the face. cop!
uh oh. not this again.
as usual, i give these immoral thugs the benefit of accepting them as the representatives of the property “owners” (no man in the US owns real property). since i’m often out and about late at night, cop encounters are more frequent than i’d like. still, i am polite unless further provoked by what are usually nazis, and don’t have a problem explaining why i’m somewhere i don’t “own”. as a private property advocate, i normally have permission for being places.
so i tell this guy that i couldn’t stay awake anymore at my computer, and went to sleep. then he does the usual, and asks if i have “identification”. having recently been rousted by the same “department” and threatened illegally with kidnapping if i didn’t produce “ID” while sitting in a parked car, engine off, i decided to go active on this one, not asking if he was demanding ID. gave him my name, said i had permission to be where i was, and reminded him, before he had a chance to demand it, that still in the post-2001 United State(.) a man is not required to even have ID to sit in a parked car, much less produce it. surprisingly, he said, somewhat defensively, “now you’ll notice i didn’t demand ID.”
“i appreciate that, because… do you know deputy [dipshit]?”
“yes, i do.”
“he recently came up to me in my parked car, keys not even in the ignition, and explicitly demanded ID, threatening me with kidnapping if i didn’t comply. you know how this goes; if i refuse his illegal demand, he asks me to step out of the car. if i don’t agree with that, we have a problem. for a cop, of all people, to make an illegal demand is a very serious thing.” blah blah blah. he wasn’t objecting.
i then did my usual education check, saying that i often open-carry a gun in his state, and asked what he’d have done if when i was awakened i sat up and my hand ended up closer to my gun. he said he’d probably draw, because he doesn’t know me. “oh, man,” i said. “i hope you’ll understand what that’s like from my point of view. i don’t know you guys either, and shouldn’t be expected to, upon surprise awakening, stay far away from a gun that i’m required to keep visible. in the case of deputy [dipshit], for example, you have a rogue cop, and it’s not a good mix.”
that reminds me of something. i don’t have any recollection of this guy slamming the fuck out of my car window — another very nice change. i awoke relatively smoothly, without unnecessary and escalating startling.
he related a recent story of his where he awakened a drunk guy sleeping in his car with an open gun nearby, and that while it was tense at first, the guy wasn’t a threat to him. etc.
he was ready to leave — always a good point in any cop encounter. since i spend some time at this location when i’m traveling, and because he was, force aside, the model of what security services should be (of course i’d highlighted this force monopoly to him. 
), i told him that i was going for my pocket. i then pulled out my “driver’s license”, asked him to not run it, but i wanted to introduce him to the property owner, who happened to be awake and working. he returned my “license”, and i said i was going to get out of the car. in a laudable show of respect through body language, he half turned his back on me, diverted his flashlight (which hadn’t been in my face for a while), and said it was fine.
took him in the building to meet the property owner, and let him know what hours we’re often there, and what to expect around the property. i also let him know i very much appreciated his handling of what should always be a casual encounter. sadly, he is not a normal cop. ignorant or not though, he’s still a thug. sadder still, i hope the cops stop patrolling this neighborhood.
when a man forced to pay for “services” would rather not have them, that is tyranny. i’d rather be not disarmed via legislation and practical result; it’s more dangerous, possibly deadly, to be armed around these “protective services”. they’re fine with that. you must trust them.