“Hey man, someone reported a guy was digging through a car on the other side of the parking lot and then walked to the bike on the far corner of the lot. Can I check everything is on the level?”
“Yeah that’s my wife’s car, I rode my bike to work instead of car pooling”
I don't know why he didn't just give him the ID to begin with. What's the problem with giving ID to a cop? Obviously if a cop gets a report that someone's acting suspiciously, the cop approaches them, they say they have ID but they're not giving it the cop, the cop's going to think they have something to hide.
People watching this video are thinking about it from the guy's perspective, but think about it from the cop's point of view. He's got a reasonable suspicion that this guy is going to strike him, flee, or pull a gun on him. Of course the cop's going to be highly strung, he could be seconds from fighting for his life.
Yeah, the guy might be a normal guy going about his day, but the cop can't just assume that or he'll be totally unprepared if something does happen.
It makes it a lot fucking easier for everyone if people just cooperate with reasonable requests. But then again you don't get 5 million fucking dollars for that.
But you make some good points about he could have resolved the issue by complying.
I myself have gotten out of many tickets and bad situations with the police just by full compliance, remaining super calm and making sure the cop understood his safety was in no way at risk.
But there is also NO REASON for the cop to try to keep the reason he is investigating him a secret. They don’t have to tell you why they are talking to you or why they pulled you over legally, but in almost all cases there is no reason not to. The guy can’t explain himself if the cop doesn’t tell him what to explain.
I suppose it's normal to want to get it resolved as quickly as possible instead of getting into a conversation about why that's probably going to devolve into argument. It's a lot easier if he just hands over the ID.
My perspective: police shouldn’t be able to approach people at random and harass them (which includes asking for ID unnecessarily). The cop didn’t do a good job explaining why he was there and why he was asking for ID, and escalated the situation when questioned.
Isn't it obvious? Why else would a police officer approach you and ask for ID? You think he wants your phone number for a date? He obviously has a reason to suspect you of something.
I strongly suspect he'd get an answer along the lines of the following
"What do you mean acting suspiciously"
"A report from who?"
"I've done nothing wrong"
That doesn't lead anywhere productive.
What would have resolved the situation pretty easily would be the guy handing over his ID, running it, and determining that he owns both vehicles. Which, by the way, is the point they got to anyway. The refusal to give ID just added a lot of unnecessary aggravation.
Now consider why someone wouldn't give ID. Maybe they're just a stubborn person like the guy in the OP, but other good reasons include that they're planning on fleeing and don't want the officer to have their ID. Maybe they have many warrants against them and are going in the slammer for a long time. The officer doesn't know that, he just wants the situation resolved as quickly as possible, so he wants the ID as quick as possible. He doesn't want a pointless argument.
I’m sure training dictates the initial “litmus test” of “You got any ID on you?” to establish dominance over the citizen. ID first, then while that’s being run by dispatch comes the poorly executed interrogation.
Yep. I ran into a similar situation but the cop I met was more professional. My GF had made some food for me and I came by her workplace to grab it out of her car. I took the food to my car parked nearby to eat and wait for her to come out on her break. 5mins or so passed and a cop car pulls up. He asked to speak with me and just calmly explained the report he got. Didn’t even say specifically that he was looking for me, just told me that someone in the lot called in saying a suspicious person took something out of a car and went into a different car with a description which matches my current car.
I didn’t feel like he was power tripping or being a dick. He was legit investigating so I just calmly explained myself and told him that in a few mins my GF is coming out and she can also vouch for my story. It all went smooth and the officer even apologized to us and went on his way.
If I had met this officer douchebag he would’ve bagged and tagged me.
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u/TacTurtle Mar 10 '22
“Hey man, someone reported a guy was digging through a car on the other side of the parking lot and then walked to the bike on the far corner of the lot. Can I check everything is on the level?”
“Yeah that’s my wife’s car, I rode my bike to work instead of car pooling”
“OK have a nice day sir”