Police Discrimination against GLBTs

Oooh, oooh, I have one.

I'm very open about who I am. Part of that is expressed by several decals on my car, which will be more easily shown than described.





It's sort of evolved, and basically as something negative has happened, I've just added to the car and become even more resolute and open.

So, I'm driving home on a Thursday night from hanging out with a group of friends at around 12:30 a.m. I made a right turn from a particular street (a major surface street here in Metro Detroit) onto the next road to head home. As I was turning, I had noticed a county Sheriff waiting at the intersection waiting for his side to turn green (I had the green light as I was turning). I turned, and I got going about 50-51 mph in a 45 when I realized I was at 50 and leveled off my speed. For the sake of reference, around here, unless you're doing at least 10 over, no one bothers you.

About 3/4 of a mile up the road was another intersection with a traffic light, which I caught red. As I was stopped at the light and playing with the radio, I noticed the sheriff stop in the lane next to me. As soon as the light turned green and I started to accelerate, he pulled me over. Right at the corner was a little business plaza, so I pulled into there so I wasn't blocking a five-lane road. Of course, he pulled in right behind me.

I've been pulled over before for both legitimate and illegitimate reasons (my driving record has been clean for 10 years now, though), and every single time, the officer parks their car pretty close behind me, of course with the spotlights and the flashers lit up. But this time, the officer stopped about three car lengths away from me, aimed his spotlights at me, got out of his car, and started walking up to me. About half way between his car and mine, he stops, grabs his flashlight, and spends at least 30 seconds looking over all the decals on my car.

He finally approaches my window and, after greeting me, asks me with a bit of snark, "Do you know what the speed limit here on XXXXXX is?" I answered that I did, that it's a 45. "You weren't going 45. How fast were you going?" I answered truthfully, that I had gotten to about 50-51 when I leveled my speed. He pauses briefly, then says, "Nuh uh. I paced you doing 56-57 past the old hospital." My car at the time was only a year old and completely stock, so I had no reason to believe my speedometer was off by six miles per hour. Surprised, and trying to be very polite and respectful, I responded, "56 or 57? Really?" "No, 56 and 57," he replied with quite a lot of snark. "Let me see your driver's license."

Again, having been pulled over before, I found it very very odd that he didn't ask for license, registration, and proof-of-insurance, all of which are required in Michigan. He looked over my license for about 30 seconds, looked me over a bit, hands me back my license, then tells me to watch my speed and have a good night.


Now here are my issues. For one, like I mentioned, he positioned himself very strangely when he parked and spent an inordinate amount of time on my decals. I also found the speed discrepancy between what he "paced me at" and what my gauge read to be completely unbelievable. Like I said, the car had less than 20,000 miles at the time, and I haven't had any issues before that or after that, so for my gauge to be off by six miles per hour is not plausible. The biggest issue, though, was that I had seen from where he had came, since I had seen him at the light 3/4 mile earlier at the intersection where I turned, and then he stated that he had paced me at 56-57 by the old hospital. In that 3/4 mile stretch, there is no hospital, current, old, abandoned, or otherwise. There are houses on one side of the road, and mostly a big empty undeveloped lot on the other side. How could he have paced me at six mph faster than my gauge read by a location that didn't exist? Also, I found it odd that he didn't even check the registration and insurance to the car to make sure it was mine.

I firmly believe that when his light turned green and he caught up to me, he saw my decals and decided to harass the gay guy.



Beyond that episode, I also have problems at the border. Remembering that Detroit is the busiest border crossing between the U.S. and Canada (I live 20 minutes from the Ambassador Bridge), and that I have friends in Toronto, I am in Canada reasonably often. I never have issues going into Canada, but with one sole exception, the U.S. border agents search my car every single time I try to return to the United States. The worst thing that I've ever done was a ticket for running a red light when I was 16. I'll sit in the lineup (which from Windsor into Detroit or Sarnia into Port Huron is usually a minimum of a 30-minute wait) and watch car after car after car go through with no problem, and yet every time, the guard will call over two more agents who search my car before they'll let me through.


Do you have any insights?

 

I was gonna suggest that maybe he was curious himself and took it as an opportunity. A sticker on your car confirms more than just a vibe you may get from someone.

As far as not asking for your other cards, we have computers in the cruisers that give us all your dl and reg info before even getting out of the car. You just hold the physical proof as required by law. Most states now have the same computer access, not sure of your area specifically tho.

As for the CBP, can't come up with anything on that one.

(Keith, what's fresh air? Lol. I'm hq personnel. Can't wait to get out lol.)

 

stilsurchin, im very interested to hear any stories you have about the RCMP in British Columbia on this subject. I am a lower mainlander myself. I think i might have seen some of your other threads, but if you explained anything like this before just toss me a link to the thread if you know were they are and ill read there

I have actually never had a bad experience with the cops, other than the one time a cop drove into my school parking lot and pulled up against a stone barrier wreaking the entire right side of his vehicle, but i have heard of many. Ive heard of a few stories of Vancouver police beating up gay people in parks or something, but thats about it.

But yes, seeing as your from the same province if you have any stories i would be glad to hear them.

 

that sheriff was totally hitting on u! if he really wanted to harass u, im sure he would have gotten u for some sort of bs.

 

12:30 am - my guess is he stopped you to see if you had been drinking. Your speed gave him probable cause to stop you. At that time of night, there are a fair number of drunks on the road. When he talked with you and did not detect the odor of an alcoholic beverage or see any other indication you were impaired, he let you go. He parked a bit further back than you are used to in order to provide a lighted area for you to perform field sobriety tests, possibly recorded on his dashboard mounted video camera, to see if you were impaired, had he smelled alcohol. Your stickers looked interesting to him, so he read them. There does not appear to have been anything more to it. If he wanted to harass you because you are gay, he would have cited you.

 

Nothing worse than a DUI at the end of a shift!

 

I have had 4 run ins with the local police back to back to freggin back a month ago. I really WAS beginning to think it was something racial or descriminatory...but really, I ultimately figured it was me causing it.

The first time ever running into a cop was when I got off the last bus and was walking home. It was 11:40PM (before midnite) and I walked through Briarwood (a retirement home) parking lot trying to get across to the apartments I live in...He pulled up beside me as I was walking and I pretended I didnt see him and he rolled his window down. It was like a few days before Xmas or Thanksgiving, I don't remember.

"What're you doing?"
Me "Going home."
"Do you know where you are at?"
Me "Briarwood?"
"NO!!!" I was like... WTF? ;
"This is a parking lot! It's a dangerous place to walk through."
I looked at him like....WTF? Are you high? I figured he was testing me or something.
"Oh, well I do apologize. Safety is a priority, wouldn't do getting ran over. Have a great night officer." He was like... O_O I worded it so perfectly like I rehersed it lol. He went away...But I think the thing that drew him was that I was wearing my hoodie thats all black, shoes all black, pants black, and had my hood on...not to mention I tower at a mere 6'6. XD

Then two days later I had a similar instance. I was walkin home with my friend and we seen a police car at the side of the apartments...so we decided to cut into the apartments quick because I was kidna paranoid from last time. He sped, I mean at least 50 MPH to cut around the corner and stop us...I was totally freaked. But really, I was safe now. I was in my apartments which are a closed community and I had ID and the gym keycard to prove everything. He pulled us over because we both matched the description of someone who ripped off a Taxi...and I had the receipts to Taco Bell that placed me elsewhere so I was thankful...not that...but I wouldnt need a Taxi to go 6 blocks down the road. Lol Again, this was late at nite.. but he called the Taxi driver, and for backup and told us not to move ike we were going to try something.

I showed him my wallet and Id and shit too but he got even more antsy like I was gonna shoot him or something. lol My friend had been drinking so I was worried though. The taxi driver cleared us both, but inspected me further. The guy he was looking for was a foot shorter, and white...but why he stopped to examine me for like 5mins baffles me. And why he called for 2 more cops to help him is beyond me as well. lol

Then less than a week after that one I got pulled over again by a cop, this time at probably 1AM when I was walking to a quickie mart trying to buy some Red Bull and Full Throttle and stuff like that. Lol He pulled me over saying someone reported someone suspicious walking around...Again, wearing almost all black and my hood up. -_-; I was like...oh shit. I told him:

"Yeah, that's probably me."

I told him where I was going and he looked over me probably trying to see if I was drunk or high and let me go. I wasn't doing anything illegal so he couldn't do anything. I got reported for being suspicious but that doesnt mean I was doing anything illegal.

Then another time going to and fro the gym at my apartments. Lol He was circling around in our parkinglot. Our apartment management got rid of the security and instead got cops to do recon instead and they pulled me over. I wear my hood alot and I looked suspicious again...Nothing happened but I was beginning to think they were purposely picking on me.

XD I guess I am a really suspicious person though.

 

I is good.

 

That's an interesting insight, as were stilsurchin's. I didn't think about the dash cam component. Realistically, my actual speed wasn't really a big enough factor on its own, since most police in Michigan won't even waste their time until you're doing at least 10 m.p.h. over (and most magistrates instantly dismiss the tickets if they're written for less than 10 over), but a bit of embellishment to cover for looking for a DUI makes sense, especially since police DUI checkpoints and and use of traffic cameras for purposes of ticketing are both illegal in Michigan by ruling of the Michigan Supreme Court. At the very least, I'm very happy that I didn't get a ticket that night.

As for the border agents, I know at least part of the issue is that I'm using either the Blue Water Bridge (Sarnia into Port Huron) or the Ambassador Bridge (Windsor into Detroit), which are the busiest border crossings between Canada and the U.S., so the officers are on super-high alert all the time. Given how high-strung U.S. Border Agents are post-9/11 and the fact that the NSA has all sorts of random people on terrorist lists, who knows what prompts them to search me.

 

I always try to do that too. And I think police get a bad rep thanks to movies like Lake View Terrace or Pride and Glory. They're real people and the vast majority of them are NOT dirty money launderers...I think a lot of people just don't fess up to the responsibility of their actions and blame cops for being jerks....

Ive seen people get busted for smoking weed, driving drunk, shit like that and they always say the cops were being dicks...but uh....Lol perhaps you shouldn't have been doing something illegal? Lol Its as simple as that most the time.

 

I think police get a bad rep from police that act like uniformed thugs, and unfortunately, there are a lot of them out there. Episodes where the police destroyed the interior of my friend's car because he got a bit smart with them do not endear the police to the public. He got a bit smart with them, so they called the K-9 unit and declared the dog had smelled something. After using a knife to slice every spot the dog stopped moving forward, they found not one ounce of anything. Episodes where the police pulled me over for the stated reason of a license plate light being out, but loe and behold it was working when I got out of the car (yes, I got out of the car while pulled over) to look, do not endear the police to the public. People like the park ranger I worked with that later became a police officer in the county where I grew up do not endear the police to the public. The police that tased the "Don't tase me bro!" kid for no reason do not endear the police to the public. They tased him because he yelled out, not because he was a threat to anybody, and as they were throwing him out, you can hear John Kerry (the presenter) saying to let him stay.

stilsurchin, I admire your efforts to put a better face on law enforcement. I know there are a lot of hard-working men and women that honestly want to help people, but there are a lot of ham-handed types out there too, unfortunately. I know the rates of divorce and domestic abuse are higher amongst police than the general population, stated reason being job-related stress. If the job is that stressful, I think officers should undergo annual psychiatric evaluations and have to maintain a certain standard in order to remain employed. Otherwise, these ham-handed uniformed thugs that are giving all police officers a bad rep will continue to hinder police work everywhere.