4 ms·

Never had a single encounter with the police in the US while I lived there. I do agree that the US border is the toughest. I assume much of that is because of

Never had a single encounter with the police in the US while I lived there. I do agree that the US border is the toughest. I assume much of that is because of how many people try to illegally immigrate to America (and how hard it is to get them out once they're in)[0]. America is perhaps the only country where pretty much everybody coming in is a potential future illegal immigrant. Some of it is perhaps indeed unreasonable but in no way does it represent the experience you'll have IN the country. But again, never had a bad experience with them. Always opt out of full body scanners and that has never been an issue. It just always feels much more crowded and slower than other places. That's my biggest complaint. Many countries essentially have the police forces you listed but they may just be a department in some bigger organization. The American setup is just much more decentralized. BTW China and Russia have perfectly boring borders. Yet inside of China I did have some not-so-pleasant encounters with the police just for failing to register my address with them. And again look at how the Chinese police is structured. It's pretty boring like most places, yet it TRULY is an authoritarian country. [0] which again just proves how not-authoritarian America is.

BrandoElFollito 6y ago
I traveled extensively to the US (I am French). The border is horrible. It is something which I hated, one feels like cattle and is treated worse. The other one similar to that was in Russia. The border authorities look all psychopathic and I wonder if they are selected as such. The agriculture guys after you pick your luggage are ok. As for the police inside the country, I had 3 encounters over 20 years and maybe 50 trips. One was when I asked for some directions on Phoenix. This is the normal thing to do in France but here the lady was perplexed as of why I am asking her. Nice but really surprised. The second one was on a road in the middle of nowhere in the SW. It was night, we were driving and ther was a single light on our lane. We slow down to a stop, look at the police car, no reaction on their side so we drive on. The car rushes after us, bright lights, the cop yelling at us with his gun out and my bowels almost giving up. He asked for our papers, I asked if I can move my hands which were on the roof and I think he recognized an accent. He relaxed a bit, said yes and I proceeded to explain every move I was doing. He had a look at the papers and let us go. My friend lightly peed himself. Third one, a year ago. I am driving with my family entering Paso Robles. My gps tells me to turn left. I go to the left turn lane but it was the wrong one, the right one is 20 meters further down the road. Quick glance around and I drive forward, against the rules. Sound and light signal, I see a big police car behind. A young cop walks to my car and asks me jhghjhffcjjhgvbk (this is what I understood). I ask him to please repeat slower, to what he glances inside the car, sees two kids grinning in the back, us in the front and says "you are free to go, have fun and drive carefully" So it is a mixed bag, based on three data points.

BrandoElFollito 6y ago

I traveled extensively to the US (I am French). The border is horrible. It is something which I hated, one feels like cattle and is treated worse. The other one similar to that was in Russia. The border authorities look all psychopathic and I wonder if they are selected as such. The agriculture guys after you pick your luggage are ok. As for the police inside the country, I had 3 encounters over 20 years and maybe 50 trips. One was when I asked for some directions on Phoenix. This is the normal thing to do in France but here the lady was perplexed as of why I am asking her. Nice but really surprised. The second one was on a road in the middle of nowhere in the SW. It was night, we were driving and ther was a single light on our lane. We slow down to a stop, look at the police car, no reaction on their side so we drive on. The car rushes after us, bright lights, the cop yelling at us with his gun out and my bowels almost giving up. He asked for our papers, I asked if I can move my hands which were on the roof and I think he recognized an accent. He relaxed a bit, said yes and I proceeded to explain every move I was doing. He had a look at the papers and let us go. My friend lightly peed himself. Third one, a year ago. I am driving with my family entering Paso Robles. My gps tells me to turn left. I go to the left turn lane but it was the wrong one, the right one is 20 meters further down the road. Quick glance around and I drive forward, against the rules. Sound and light signal, I see a big police car behind. A young cop walks to my car and asks me jhghjhffcjjhgvbk (this is what I understood). I ask him to please repeat slower, to what he glances inside the car, sees two kids grinning in the back, us in the front and says "you are free to go, have fun and drive carefully" So it is a mixed bag, based on three data points.