I've had several unpleasant experiences with suspicious police officers, and they were unpleasant precisely because those particular officers had immediatly decided that I fit a certain profile (long-haired person who is probably a drug user and up to no good). Their decision was based on my appearance not my behaviour. I've had police go fairly far out of their way to provoke me into doing or saying something stupid so they could take some aggressive actions against me.

I never allowed myself to be provoked. I always remained calm and cooperative. As a result those particular incidents did not spiral into some kind of very bad situation. In every case the officer in question eventually decided that there was no grounds for busting me (sometimes to their fairly obvious frustration). In every case the officer let me go on my way eventually without further harassment...once after wasting my time for at least 25 minutes and attempting to provoke me and a friend of mine into some kind of altercation by calling us "assholes", etc. We did not react in kind.

But.....I have also had an even greater number of pleasant and helpful encounters with police who behaved excellently, and I have had several good friends over the years who ARE cops.

Thus, whatever statements I have made here about the police, it would be a mistake on someone's part here to assume that those statements are intended to cast all police as either bad (one extreme) or good (the other extreme).

It would be a mistake to assume that I am talking in all-or-nothing terms, though it might be convenient for YOU if you wish to put my statements in that light just so you can convince yourself I've said something that you have a big issue with.

Police are like other people. They run the gamut. They come in all flavors, so to speak. They sometimes abuse their powers, they sometimes don't abuse their powers. Some are bullies, some are not. Some are honest, some are corrupt. Their behaviour varies from the extremely good to the extremely bad and everywhere in between, all depending on the individual cop, his department, and what's going on and how he or she deals with it.

So don't misinterpret my statements here by putting them in black and white all-or-nothing terms, and then we'll probably understand each other just fine.

Dylan conducted himself well. So did the police. There is no fuss here as far as I'm concerned.