I may come off as over-critical of government, my views may even be considered 'extreme' by some, but everything I write about it here is for the sole purpose of obtaining peace. Perhaps my lack of faith in the establishment stems from my younger years when I was incessantly harassed by the local police. I was harassed for years, so often that I could, and very well may, write a book about my experiences.
For example, one day during the summer of 2012 I was cruising down the road with a friend from New Ipswich, NH to Milford, NH. We were on the back roads in Wilton when suddenly the world became black, and then painful. I started to come to, and realized that we had gone off the road, and were now in an upside-down car in a river-bed. The windows had shattered, and water was rushing into the vehicle. I had my Canon EOS camera in the car, which I paid about $800 for, so I instinctively grabbed the camera and managed to exit the vehicle without ruining the camera, and I put in on the side of the road. I then realized my friend was screaming in pain, he had broken his thumb pretty bad so I called 911. The police arrived, and I was being loaded in the ambulance when I remembered my camera. I asked an officer to please get my camera and put it in the ambulance with me. I do not remember much else, as I had a concussion. My friend and I were taken to the hospital where he was charged a DUI, and after several hours my friend picked me up and I went home.
The next day I realized I never got my camera, so I called the Wilton PD and asked about it. I was told that the chief would call me back. He never did, and over the course of a month I played phone tag with the cops, always getting the same run-around. Finally, about 6 weeks after the fact I got a call from the Chief and he asked me to come down to the station for questioning. I said "Okay, is this about Mr. X's ( my friend who was driving, who's name I've held for privacy reasons) charges? I'm happy to answer questions, but I really just want my camera back." He replied "No, Mr. Young, this is about your criminal charges."
My heart sunk as I realized that I was being targeted again, about to go through months of bullshit for no good reason at all. I said "What are you talking about? I have broken no laws." He told me that my camera was missing a sticker with the serial number of the device, and in NH it is a crime to possess an electronic device without a serial number. I thought this was a bad joke at first, but it turned out he was serious. I then remembered that the sticker he was referring too was in fact on the camera, and that the corner had begun to peel off from age. It was incredible. They were seriously going to drag me to court over a missing s/n on a camera that I had owned since 2008. I had bought the camera from a well known and respectable photographer named Peter Simon whom I had worked for during the summer of '08 on Martha's Vineyard. I told this to the Chief, and he said that I needed to get a notorized statement from Mr. Simon to prove that this was indeed my camera, or else they would forever confiscate it and charge me with a misdemeanour level offence. It was simply unbelievable. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or scream.
I called Mr. Simon, and he told me he would get me the document. He was aware that the police had been harassing me with stupid nonsense for years, but thought that this was just frivolous. So I contacted my lawyer, who told me how to word the sworn statement that I would then have Mr. Simon sign and get notorized, which to my everlasting gratitude, he did. But when I went to court the judge (Judge Crocker of Milford District Court), who never really liked me very much was not happy with the document. She wanted Peter Simon to come to her court in New Hampshire and testify! Can you imagine? I told her that he is an older gentleman in his 70's, and that this was a lot to ask over such a small matter. Eventually she said okay, but you need to get me another statement from him, because this one was not official enough. I honestly can't remember her reasoning for that. So to make a long story short, Peter had to go out of his way to do the exact same thing again for me, and finally after a third court appearance, and 6 months after the accident, I was able to get my camera back. If this is not a perfect example of jurisprudence, than I don't know what is.
Why do police terrorize civilians?
Surely one can agree that the experience I just explained is not an example of our boys in blue either protecting or serving anyone. And this just one incident, if you continue to follow my blog, I'll be writing other stories of other ridiculous police related shit-shows I've dealt with. So the question remains, why? Why do police go out of there way to make citizens lives difficult? Why do they constantly pursue petty crimes like pot possession and 'possessing an electronic device without a s/n' when there are people being raped and murdered all the time? I used to think it's because in a rural, small town like Wilton, there really are not many real crimes to go after, leaving them bored with nothing to do. But this happens all over the country, in many different places. It turns out that when a cop makes an arrest, he is paid overtime for all the paperwork, booking, processing, court appearances, and so on. So there is a money incentive built into the system that ensures this kind of thing will continue. The starting salary for a cop in a town like I grew up in is about $25,000. That's hardly enough money to raise a family on, and I think it's actually an insultingly low figure. The police ought to be the backbone of a free people's society, not the tumour. The current system encourages petty non-violent drug arrest, does not honour those who put their lives at risk for us, and turns good men into criminals.
Pay Them More
I believe that we ought to at least double police officers salaries, after all it is a risky and honourable job to protect and serve the community. Furthermore, we need to remove incentives that do nothing other than increase the number of arrests that police make. Perhaps there should be a bonus if a cop manages to bring to justice violent criminals, rather than ordinary people. If a Judge signs a warrant and it does not produce results, than he is held accountable. Shouldn't police be held accountable for frivolous arrests as well? How about a system where the bonus for catching a real criminal is worth the time it takes to do so. It does not take any skill or real police work to catch drug offenders. All you have to do is start shaking down people on the street any time you need to make an arrest. Furthermore, if we paid cops what they deserve, than they would feel like society appreciates what they do. Then they would start to see themselves more like members of a community, working together with their brothers and sisters to make their community a better place.
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