Fun with Homeland Security
Aug. 11th, 2004 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
patgundHad something rather.....interesting......happen to me on Saturday.
As several of my friends know, I have a hobby of traveling old highways, (Route 66, Hwy 80, Hwy 99, etc.), and taking pictures along the way. Saturday I drove along Old Highway 80 down to El Centro.
Just outside of Jacumba, I was taking pictures of some abandoned buildings, and parts of the 1910's alignment. This was interrupted when a Border Patrol truck drove up and stopped behind my car.
The nice gentleman in green came out to have a very polite "what the hell are you doing taking pictures out here in the middle of nowhere this close to the border" chat with me. I told him about my hobby, and between pointing out details of the old road, showing him the pictures on my digital camera, as well as the information I showed him on that route on my laptop, he said okay, we exchanged business cards, and he wished me a nice day and drove off.
The civil libertarian in me was tempted *not* to give him any sort of ID, but he already had my license plate, and since we were in the middle of nowhere, I didn't want to run the risk of any problems. He was a fairly polite officer though, and I think I ended up on his "harmless nutball taking pictures" list.
Note - the border is visible (like less than a 1/4 mile) from the old highway at this point. And I did have mapping software on my laptop - though I didn't show them that.
I suspect I may want to create a website of my old highway photos. Partly out of interest, and partly as a alibi.
Had a talk with the Border Patrol again today via phone. Asked how I should handle future encounters like this, and they basically told me that I did everything right and just repeat what I did should I ever get questioned by them again. And, to their credit, they apologized for any hassle this may have caused.
Still somewhat unsettled by it though.
As several of my friends know, I have a hobby of traveling old highways, (Route 66, Hwy 80, Hwy 99, etc.), and taking pictures along the way. Saturday I drove along Old Highway 80 down to El Centro.
Just outside of Jacumba, I was taking pictures of some abandoned buildings, and parts of the 1910's alignment. This was interrupted when a Border Patrol truck drove up and stopped behind my car.
The nice gentleman in green came out to have a very polite "what the hell are you doing taking pictures out here in the middle of nowhere this close to the border" chat with me. I told him about my hobby, and between pointing out details of the old road, showing him the pictures on my digital camera, as well as the information I showed him on that route on my laptop, he said okay, we exchanged business cards, and he wished me a nice day and drove off.
The civil libertarian in me was tempted *not* to give him any sort of ID, but he already had my license plate, and since we were in the middle of nowhere, I didn't want to run the risk of any problems. He was a fairly polite officer though, and I think I ended up on his "harmless nutball taking pictures" list.
Note - the border is visible (like less than a 1/4 mile) from the old highway at this point. And I did have mapping software on my laptop - though I didn't show them that.
I suspect I may want to create a website of my old highway photos. Partly out of interest, and partly as a alibi.
Had a talk with the Border Patrol again today via phone. Asked how I should handle future encounters like this, and they basically told me that I did everything right and just repeat what I did should I ever get questioned by them again. And, to their credit, they apologized for any hassle this may have caused.
Still somewhat unsettled by it though.
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-11 06:19 pm (UTC)The "joys" of homeland insecurity
Date: 2004-08-11 07:44 pm (UTC)That's a pretty unsettling story all right--and the civil libertarian in me isn't a very happy camper experiencing it second-hand. I don't mind doing *practical* things to insure national security, *if* those things don't trash the Bill of Rights, but honestly! I don't feel safer at night knowing that highway patrols everywhere have nothing better to do than roust citizens (or even tourists!) who are simply taking snapshots of scenic America. *sigh* Good luck in the future--as in, may Goddess bless the nice officers and keep them far, *far* away!
*hugs & kisses*
Vi
no subject
Date: 2004-08-12 10:29 am (UTC)That's all that matters. I feel safer after hearing your story, not threatened.
---
However, I have another story to tell from 1987 or so...
It involved me giving a late-night ride home to a friend of my roomate's during college, someone I didn't know very well at all, and I was stopped by police for being in a very suspicious situation.
You see, it was about 1am and my passenger asked me to stop at someone's apt saying he was trying to collect money from a friend who owed him, and he'd pay me for my time giving him a ride.
We pulled into that appartment complex, and he went upstairs and knocked, but got no answer. As I was pulling out of the parking lot, an LAPD police car pulled in and blocked my path.
I cooperated fully with them, including letting them search my vehicle, as they had me and my friend sit in the back seat of the police car. When they were convinced that we didn't have any drugs on us, I returned to my car to discover that it was completely trashed. The back seat was flipped over, the spare tire from the trunk was sitting out on the ground, and the contents of my glove compartment were strewn out all over the dashboard... and more... it was a mess.
I walked over to the officers car and asked that they clean up their mess, and the reply I got was "No. Go find your drugs somewhere else next time."
Now THAT was a case of misconduct, and if I knew then what I know now, it would have gone a lot farther.
I wasn't mad that they stopped me. I was in a suspicious location, and someone else in the same position most likely *would* have been looking for drugs (in retrospect, my passenger may have been doing just that). BUT when they failed to find anything on me, or in my car, instead of being courteous, they were complete assholes about it and then *still* accused me after finding no evidence to support their claim.
This apparently is not what happened to you, and so I don't see anything wrong. Unfortunately, your *right* to not being stopped and questioned end where everyone else's rights to feeling safer begin. They were courteous and apologetic afterwards, and that's all that matters.
--Darrel.