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As a Canadian I would often take what people from the US say about police with a grain of salt but recently it's seems to have become much worse, even my own go
by dghughes 12y ago
As a Canadian I would often take what people from the US say about police with a grain of salt but recently it's seems to have become much worse, even my own government has warned Canadians.
I have to wonder though is this not just policy but also a cultural thing on the far-left side there's the 20-something Occupy 1%, pro-weed crowd is this the same thing only on the far-right?
As far back as 1999 my first time to the US by myself I was held at the border for no reason other than I was traveling alone, I was going to visit a friend for US Thanksgiving. My car was searched, my suitcase torn apart, held for an hour. Now I wonder if that means I will be flagged on the system as someone who was searched even though it was for no good reason.
- joesmo 12y agoWe live in a police state where the police are allowed to legally rob and even kill people. The sad part is that hiring "Sparkles the clown" actually makes people forget this and trust the police. Stupidity of the people is on par with the vileness of the police. You should consider yourself lucky that that is the only thing that happened to you, which BTW is standard procedure. I would say that's SOP only at the border, but it is becoming more common everywhere within the US, regardless of alleged constitutional rights that are no longer considered by the police or courts.
- dghughes 12y agoI don't think it was SOP, as you say, since I was about to go through when I casually mentioned to the guard at the booth a woman I know invited me to Thanksgiving dinner. It was the last question of a series of questions the guard asked me. The guard at the border said "I think you're going to stay with her and not come back but there is nothing I can find that will prevent me from holding you." I can't see what going through my entire car would accomplish I had one suitcase, which they took into the main building, and nothing else was in the car yet it took them an hour to search it. Anyway a big FU to the St. Stephen border guards at the crossing in Maine. I honked to them as I drove back into Canada.
- joesmo 12y agoIt's very possible they just didn't like you and wanted to make your trip miserable. Or they were just hoping to find contraband, mainly drugs. Or they were bored. Or there was no reason. Who knows? From my experience and research, that is SOP for law enforcement in the US. If they can harass (or worse) you, they will.
- dghughes 12y agoI'd agree, I got the guys working the Thanksgiving weekend and they were pissed, took it our on me. I don't even fit into any often searched groups I'm a pasty white Canadian who speaks nothing but English. I'm so common and dull I could be a spy and blend in anywhere.