Dylan picked up for street walking (Aug 2009)

Subject: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 10:11 PM

Bob Dylan was picked up by police while walking the streets of Long Branch, NJ today.   He was killing time before a concert in Lakewood, NJ and wandered into a low income housing area of Long Branch, looking at houses. Someone reported him as suspicious and called the police. Two twenty-something cops picked him up, had no idea who he was, and Dylan had no ID. They drove him back to his hotel where his crew vouched for him.

Only in the Garden State!!!!

"In Long Branch the way things go, if you're Bob you might as well not show up on the street unless you want to draw the heat...."

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 10:17 PM

"Someone reported him as suspicious and called the police."

Ha! ;-D Bob Dylan is suspicious....of the crazy society that's all around him. He always was. I can't say I blame him.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 10:21 PM

You are putting him on a pedestal again LH. He just loves blending in to society, always has. Most of the time he is left alone.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 10:35 PM

oops... I said "today" in the initial story, it actually happened in July. The story was reported today.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 11:30 PM

No, I'm just saying that he's suspicious OF society. I'm not saying he doesn't want to blend in (and not be noticed), I'm saying just he's suspicious OF society, that's all. And why wouldn't he be? Have a listen to the songs he writes, after all. Consider songs like "It's Allright, Ma" or "Desolation Row" or a great many others. It's pretty clear that he thinks things are kind of weird out there, and he's right. They are.

I am suspicious of society....but I blend in and don't get noticed, because I am not particularly suspicious myself from society's point of view. It's a play on words I'm doing. There are 2 ways of being "suspicious". One means the way you might seem to others. The other means the way the situation around you might seem to YOU. Are they questioning you? Or are you questioning what's out there?

But just think. We could waste a whole lot of time here arguing it back and forth. We could go on for days about it. Why don't I just instead say, "You're so right, Ron..." and we can save ourselves all that needless effort. ;-)

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 11:41 PM

Comeon LH, just busting your chops. You are right, as usual.

As he says, he is a great song and dance man.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: mg
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 11:49 PM

I have no idea why a younger policeman should have any idea what Bob Dylan looks like, or even if he is still alive. This has similarities obviously to the professor incident in Cambridge and it is good that we are all subject to being questioned, rather than just some, inconvenient though it may be. It is the price of public safety. mg

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:26 AM

Yeah, mg...but it can sometimes be pretty scary when it happens unexpectedly to you. I know. I've had it happen to me, and one is never expecting it. The important thing is not to lose your cool when it does.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: open mike
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:33 AM

wonder if his i.d. says Dylan or Zimmerman?

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Barry Finn
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:39 AM

I am very suspect of having it be a justifiable reason to be hauled off to a policce station just because you don't have an ID in your possession. Suspicious or not. A simple asking of a few questions should surfice. I'm no wonder Dyan, LH, me & many others are suspicious of society & those that think this is an approprate response.

"it is good that we are all subject to being questioned"???? Why is that good in a society where once apon a time one was innocent until proven guilty. Did 9/11 wash away everything?

Barry

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: mg
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:46 AM

It is not good we are all questioned. It is good that if anyone is questioned, we all are, so as to avoid profiling, targeting certain groups etc. I as a 60ish female should take my turn, even though I am probably not as likely to commit certain crimes as an 18 year old male..I am also not as likely to be as heroic in pulling people out of burning cars etc...   mg

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Kent Davis
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:04 AM

So, has President Obama invited Dylan and the officers to the White House for a beer yet?

Kent

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Dead Horse
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:32 AM

I bet he was casing the joint with a view to stealing pump handles.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 02:22 AM

The story is here: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/08/14/youre_bob_dylan_nj_police_want_to_see_some_id/?s_campa

The police didn't take him to the police station, but to the resort where he was staying, and where people vouched for him.

I'n a little surprised he was walking around without any ID.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 03:12 AM

"To live outside the law you must be honest..."

I always liked that line.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 03:46 AM

Holy frigging Crap!
You can get picked up in America, just for walking down the street? Can't get my head around that one.

What kind of freaky control state stuff goes on over the pond? I guess I was naive about the Land of the Free.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 03:53 AM

I wasn't aware that it was law in US to carry ID everywhere, or be at risk of being hauled of too a police station if caught by police, whilst taking a walk.

Must say I loathe the UK gov's ID scam myself. No-body here wants it. Most glad to see the UK gov's plans fall through.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: kendall
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 03:54 AM

Come on people! Cops have to respond to complaints. If they don't they get grief. If they do they get grief.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 03:58 AM

Is it suspicious to 'walk' in US. I seem to recall hearing that no-body does it.

Maybe that's why they took the call seriously enough to bung him in the back of the van for further questioning, rather than just accept that he was simply taking a walk.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Dead Horse
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 08:16 AM

Quite right Kendall,
It was a concerned citizen doing his/her neighbourly duty.
Was Dylan wearing a short sleeved shirt, I wonder?
It is every Americans right to bare arms ;-)

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 09:06 AM

I read the news report. I am wondering with this is even worth comment.

The cops were considerate. Dylan was considerate. The cops followed a procedure that in my experience has been considered acceptable police procedure all my life. ( Cops have always asked for I.D. unless the person in question was personally known to them). A six year old isn't breaking a law playing on the grass between the side walk and the highway. Every cop I know would take the kid home after asking his or her name. Dylan was not breaking a law but he was out of place and worthy of a question or two. At 68 he could be guy with Alzheimer's lost and looking for a home that might be his. Then he tells the truth to the cops who have no clue still who Bob Dylan is, "I'm on tour and just killing time."

Here you have two young cops who are clueless as to who Bob Dylan is. Is that why we are even commenting? I wouldn't recognize him. And if some told me they were Bob Dylan I'd say "Sure your are."

I'm pleased we have two young cops who acted correctly and didn't create yet aother Youtube event.

Don

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 09:19 AM

It's pure barmy that someone simply wandering down a street doing absolutely *nothing*, should be picked up, questioned, asked for ID (for what, to "walk"?), compelled into a police vehicle for having no ID, and then taken for further questioning (be it to the police station, or his hotel).

I don't give a damn whether it was Dylan, or just 'some bloke' walking down the street.

And as for "Alzheimers"?!! What nonsense. Sure if the guy was obviously *confused*, but he wasn't confused: he answered the questions the police asked him, fully and lucidly.

He was walking, killing a bit of time, before going to his job. What's so 'suspicious' about that? Jeez I walk places all the time, no-one's ever questioned me for doing so.

I've never been to America, I doubt I ever will. But this is an eye-opener as to what a police state it evidently is. And also quite an eye-opener as to how American posters evidently think about their imagined freedoms.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: open mike
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 09:59 AM

i hope the young coppers were smart enough
to ask for his autograph while they had the chance!

hey this was good for publicity now everyone knows
Bob is on tour

maybe we all could "drum up" a little interest
by similar attention getting stunts for our gigs!

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 10:00 AM

Do you need a licence to breathe now in the States?

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Jeri
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 10:43 AM

I see an AmEx commercial in his future. "Don't leave home without it!"

This wouldn't have happened to Bruce Springsteen!

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Bobert
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 10:59 AM

If you think that song he wrote on "Time Out of Mind" to that waitress was wierd just think of the song that he's gonna write about this little situation...

I can't wait...

B~

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 11:20 AM

You Brits who can't wrap your heads around how this could have happened apparantly don't realize how unusual it is for a white guy to be observed walking around a "a low income housing area," i.e., a black neighborhood.

Walking, in and of itself, is (as at least one of you intuited) somewhat unusual in a morotized nation with little or no relevant public transit.

For a retirement-age white man to be walking alone in such a minority community could very easily be interpreted as evidence of dementia or worse (e.g., abduction followed by being rendered unconscious).

Long Branch is a beachfront city that was a fashionable resort in the late 19th century. By the time I first became aware of it, in the mid-1950s, it had gone to seed ~ badlly ~ and was eclipsed by any number of other Jersey Shore destinations. I haven't been back for years and don't know exactly how things stand today, but I imagine that Long Branch is still a less than desireable place to be. Ron culd probaly elaborate.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 11:31 AM

Poppagator - very interesting - indeed, we probably wouldn't realize it - because in the UK, "low income housing area" would never automatically mean "black neighbourhood". Here there are just as many white or mixed low income housing areas as black ones.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Ebbie
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:13 PM

Two thoughts here:

1) Many cities and towns have 'Neighborhood Watch' volunteers who commit to observing and monitoring persons from 'away'. Such neighborhoods commonly have placards posted in prominent places.

2) I understand that many celebrities - even political figures - don't carry money or much of anything at all in their pockets. That's the job of their staff and security.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: kendall
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:20 PM

While riding through east London with my wife, some thug dropped a rock on our windshield from a bridge. Should I declare that I will never go to England again?

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Amos
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:25 PM

Every day is the same thing, out the door
feel further away than ever before
Some things in life it just gets too late to learn
Well I'm lost somewhere, I must have made a few bad turns

I see people in the park, forgettin' their troubles and woes
They're drinkin' and dancin', wearin' bright colored clothes
All the young men with the young women lookin' so good
Well I'd trade places with any of 'em, in a minute if I could

I'm crossin' the street to get away from a mangy dog
talkin' to myself in a monologue
I think what I need might be a full length leather coat
Somebody just asked me if I'm registered to vote

The sun is beginnin' to shine on me
But it's not like the sun that used to be
The party's over and there's less and less to say
I got new eyes, everything looks far away

Well my heart's in The Highlands at the break of day
Over the hills and far away
There's a way to get there, and I'll figure it out somehow
Well I'm already there in my mind and that's good enough for now...


I am glad they didn't bust him hard.


A

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:27 PM

I'm sure that Poppagator is aware that there are many low income housing areas (also known as "housing developments, "housing projects" or "projects") which all the residents are White.

I suppose that there are also some housing projects which are integrated.

Also, "low income" is relative, and some people who live in those housing projects consider themselves to be middle class, though they may actually be the working poor.

I was raised in an all Black housing project in Atlantic City, New Jersey called "The Village". At that time, these projects were more a more desirable place to live in for the working poor than some rental properties "uptown". These projects covered many city blocks and each resident had a porch (though some porches were shared with two families) and a small front and back yard.

Even in the 1950s and 1960s when I lived there, some of these rental projects were considered by community members to be better than others. Measurements for what was better was how well people maintained their yards (including whether the people who lived in the houses planted flowers, and whether that area had people who were known to be "rowdy".

For what it's worth, I can't remember the projects being known for being violent. The only fights I remember were kids occassionally fist fighting. Unfortunately, hearing guns being fired is not an uncommon sound in some housing developments- in Atlantic City, in my adopted city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere in the USA. Note that I said "some" and not all.

As to neighborhood watches being alert to "observing and monitoring persons from 'away', the problem occurs when the definition of a suspicious person is one whose skin color is different than that of other people (or most other people) who live in that neighborhood.

And though it's only speculation, in addition to transporting Bob Dylan to his hotel or wherever to verify his identity, it may be possible that the police officer may have felt that she or he was offering Bob Dylan some measure of protection by picking him up and transporting away the that "minority" public housing development.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:27 PM

Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?

Seriously, though, it shows how terrifying this new Depression is. The cop was so shocked to see someone apparently considering buying a house that she immediately got suspicious.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:30 PM

Well, let's see here. Dylan takes a walk and stops to look at a house for sale. A lady sees a stranger peering through windows in her neighborhood in the middle of the night and calls the cops. The NJ cops respond just as promptly to the call in her poor neighborhood as the Mass cops did to the call in Professor Gates' rich neighborhood. Dylan and the cops are civil to one another. His story is that he is an international superstar on walkabout but doesn't have ID on him. This story might sound a wee bit hinky to the cops, but they take him back to the tour bus or hotel or whatever to get his ID. Turns out he is just who he says he is. Everyone says goodnight and goes about their business.

Personally I think it's wildly funny that the young cops didn't recognize Dylan and made him cough up some ID, but otherwise it's not much of a story.
- Phil

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:35 PM

The caller was probably a disgruntled fan from the mid-sixties, still pissed off 'cause Dylan plugged in.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:52 PM

Dylan may not have been arrested for walking in a public housing community. Yet there are cases of people who have been arrested for walking in their communities.

The DC 6 LAW Walking While Black
Posted by: wordonthestreetsmag 5/27/2009

"As of right now if you live in what is classified as a drug zone you no longer have any rights and you are susceptible to police harassment which could possibly lead up to police brutality or worse. It is very imperative that African Americans in particular or people who live in neighborhoods that are classified as drug zones (DC 6) that you know the law and or ordinances...

There are many countless reports of citizens in the Atlanta area that are being harassed by police and residents want to know why their areas are classified as DC 6 zones. What is the DC 6 you ask? Here is an excerpt of an article that was written in creative loafing back in 2007 DC-6 is the most frequent non-traffic offense cited by Atlanta police. As of Dec. 18, 7,551 DC-6 arrests — about 22 a day — were made in 2006, outpacing criminal trespass at 5,407 and drinking in public at 4,621. It is 2009 and those numbers have tripled. Some City Council members and city officials weren't even familiar with the ordinance until it came to their attention at public meetings organized in the wake of the Nov. 21 home-invasion killing by police of an 88-year-old woman. At the most recent Jan. 6 public meeting organized by state Sen. Vincent Fort, residents from Vine City, the West End and other neighborhoods demanded to know why they and their neighbors have been "DC-6'ed" so often...


According to the DC-6 ordinance: "It shall be unlawful for any person [to] … be in or about any place where gaming or the illegal sale or possession of alcoholic beverages or narcotics or dangerous drugs is practiced, allowed or tolerated[.]" What that means, essentially, is that a person can be arrested simply for being in what police designate as a "known drug area" — even if he or she just walks down the street or chats with a neighbor. That's problematic, says American Civil Liberties Union Legal Director Gerry Weber, because the law is so ambiguous that it invites discriminatory enforcement and therefore may be unconstitutional. "It's one of those catch-all laws that police use when they can't think of any other charge," Weber says. "It's a street-clearing device." Weber says the ACLU is seeking the right case for a legal challenge. A police employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says there's no official list within the city that would designate a location as a hot spot for illegal activity. Instead, the employee says, identifying known drug areas is "all up to the officer's discretion." There are signs that the topic has become a sensitive one for city officials. Atlanta Police refused to comment on DC-6. And another department employee, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, says police Chief Richard Pennington scolded zone majors at a recent staff meeting for citing DC-6 too often. The scolding came after one of the meetings in which residents complained, and the same day that CL requested DC-6 records. It seems that this law is starting to spread all across US cities as their are continued reports of unnecessary police harrasments, shootings, killings in what is classified as drug zones. What are African Americans going to do to protect themselves against the police?"

http://globalgrind.com/content/672910/The-DC-6-LAW-Walking-While-Black/

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Howard Jones
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 12:53 PM

I don't usually carry ID, unless you count credit cards, but usually nothing with a photo or address. In the UK there's some uproar because the government wants to introduce ID cards. Many people are opposed to the very idea.

Not being black or Muslim, I expect to be able to walk down the street, even in an ethnic enclave, without being pulled up by Old Bill.

It is striking that those in the Land of the Free seem to find nothing remarkable in this incident, even approve of the police's actions, whereas those in the UK seem to take a completely opposite view. On the other hand, we have the highest proportion of CCTV cameras per head of anywhere in the world.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:01 PM

LOL!

Well, Dylan and the cops both had the sense to stay cool and not get upset. That might be a lesson for the rest of us, hmmm?

But, Crow Sister, it actually is getting kind of unusual (in a sort of general sense) for people to just go for "a walk" in North America. It's not done nearly as much as it was done in my father's and mother's youth, that's for sure. With the universal advent of the TV and the automobile this has become a more and more sedentary society. So a person who is just out "going for a walk" to pass the time quite likely may seem suspicious to some observer who's peering out her window or some cop who's on patrol.

Example: I like to go for walks at night sometimes. Why? Because it's quiet out there at night (I live in the country, outside a smallish town). It's peaceful. I like to look at the night sky. I enjoy the solitude.

So, one night I took a walk down our laneway and over to the main road. Everything was still and lovely, a gentle breeze blowing. I decided to cross the road and take a stroll through the parking lot beside the storage units that are over there. Why there? No particular reason. Just felt like it. All of a sudden a cop car comes flying up the highway at high speed and whooshes into the parking lot. I realize it's because of me. ;-) He's probably expecting me to run for it at that point, but I just stand there calmly and wait for him to get out of the cruiser. He does so, watching me very closely, and begins asking me what I'm doing there. I tell him I'm out for a walk.

I can see him saying to himself, "Yeah....right!"   He doesn't think it at all likely that anyone would just be out for a walk at around midnight.

So I get out my I.D. and show him that I live right across the street. He questions me at some length, calls up the station to check if I have a record, eventually decides that I must be out for a walk after all, strange as it is to him that I would be. Why am I not at home, glued to a TV or a computer screen???

He advises me that it's probably not a good idea to go for walks after dark, because people might think I was up to no good. I thank him for his "assistance" and I walk back home.

I have since restricted my night walks to just our own property and the laneway right by my house. It's getting weird out there. ;-)

When I think of the freedom people used to have and how different things used to be around here in this beautiful North American land, it makes me sad. The boundaries keep narrowing with every passing decade, even every passing year.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:05 PM

So, it's evening (do concerts in America start in "the middle if the night?") A woman see's a guy looking at a house up for sale. And she wonders why. She calls police about this suspicious behaviour, and they come and question him. Once he'd answered, they should have apologised and explained that no matter how trivial, they are required to respond to all calls. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Sir. We have to respond to all calls." they should say, "Have a nice evening."

Did he state he was an "International Superstar" or did he simply give his name (which no-one recognised anyway), the latter I think.

In my world, I call picking up a guy for the crime of walking down the street, and looking at a house up for sale, Police Harrasment. Of course we get petty crank calls to police to, but they usually consider them to be a nusiance, even though they are also required to respond.

I didn't say I wouldn't go to the US just because because I appreciate the freedom to walk, unmolested by police. Please re-read my post. FYI I totally think it's brainwashed police state nutsness that anyone would find this kinda stuff perfectly OK.

Having said that the UK is becoming increasingly careless with it's liberties too. So far, gladly though, there is still enough cynicism of politicians in the UK, for people to resist being totally brainwashed and compliant. I guess we live in different worlds. And thank feck for that. Sorry if I seem to be quite curve-balled by the typical American posters response to this incident, I thought the US prided itself on "Liberty". Liberty is something I believe in greatly. So I hate to the erosion of it, let alone complicity in that, from people themselves.

I know we are in many way's oppressed in the UK too. Lot's of CCTV, which I loathe. And that Nazi institution called the NHS (please, that's just a joke, following another thread! ;-) ). But I'm a believer in Liberty, and the US supposedly prides itself in the same. I'm stunned to see so many US posters condone police harassement of a "stranger" taking an evening walk, and looking at a house up for sale.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:09 PM

To clarify my previous statement, though it's only speculation, in addition to transporting Bob Dylan to his hotel or wherever to verify his identity, it may be possible that the police officer may have felt that she or he was offering a White man some measure of protection by picking him up and transporting away from the that "minority" public housing development.

**

My assumption is that the police officer in that case is White. But even if the police officer was non-White, my theory might still have been true.

Given the reality of race in the USA, I wonder if the results would have been the same if the lone person walking had been a Black man in a White neighboorhood-

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:12 PM

LH, thanks for your post explaining that "walking" is increasingly unusual. I'm afraid Liberty is one of my personal hobbyhorses - hence my strong feelings here. Anyhoo, I'll back off the thread now. It's not really my place to argue over how another country prefers to do things.

:-)

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:14 PM

Look who is doing the over-reacting. I can't believe the crap I'm reading on this thread. Bunch of ambulance chasers looking for any excuse to jerk your knees in response to anything that bares the slightest case of civil rights infrigment.

If you read this story and grow indignant that someone is asked a question by those in authority, you are either walking through life with blinders or are part of some extreme cult.

Look, there is no doubt about it - police can over-react and often operate with stereotypical response.   Yet if someone was wandering the streets suffering from a medical condition, or if they were indeed were up to no good - you bastards would weep and moan that no one is doing their job of protecting people. No one was arrested, no one was hurt, and it was s simple misunderstanding that ended well. Don't blow it out of proportion!!!

For fucks sake, everyone in this case appears to have been treated with dignity and respect and everyone worked in the spirit of cooperation. Take it for the laugh that it was - a couple of 20 something cops had no clue as to who they were speaking with - and there is no compelling reason that they should have known.

I posted this story because I thought it was worth a chuckle, not a bunch of bull shit from fist pounding over-reactors.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Charley Noble
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:14 PM

Well, Dylan is lucky he wasn't walking down the street in neighboring Red Bank. He probably would have spent the night in the slammer.

There's been a rivalry between the two towns for years, commemorated in the song about the Long Branch branch of a bank in Red Bank as I recall.

I used to take a stout 6-foot stick with me when I went walking the neighborhood in the evening, but that was in a rural village in Ethiopia and there were hungry hyaenas prowling about.

In the States I seldom take more than a cellphone.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: gnu
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:18 PM

Oh come on.

A stranger is walking around a neighbourhood and one of the residents becomes suspicious for WHATEVER reason and calls the police. The police arrive and ask the guy for some ID. No ID.

Now, I am very much against any "police state", but walking around ANYWHERE without ANY ID is just stunned. I think the caller and the police are to be commended. I think Bob should carry his ID at all times, as do most peeps.

As far as racist innuendos or Yankee bashing or anything else other than the simple fact that Bob happened to forget to carry ID, well, I needn't comment further. That would just be more ammo.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:19 PM

For some reason my entire post didn't take, so I'll write that last portion again-

Given the reality of race in the USA, I wonder if the results would have been the same if the lone person walking had been a Black man in a White neighboorhood-particularly in if the White neighborhood is middle class or upper middle class, and regardless of whether the Black man had ID or was civil to the police officer.

Indeed, Black men have been killed for happening to wander into White middle class neighborhoods, and vice versa I'm sure.

There was one case of two Black men who were killed in New York City some years ago when they walked through a White neighborhood because their car had broken down. I don't remember the names, but I recall that a group of men chased them to a highway, and I believe that is how at least one of the men died, though my recollection is that two men died.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:20 PM

Hey LHawk, actually a mate of mine was once 'accosted' when out in the early hours of morning. He was sitting in his car in a beauty spot known for ocassional late night trouble with youths & drugs.

The copper shone a torch in the car, and said: "Can you identify yourself please sir?"
My mate looked in the wing mirror, and said: "Yes Officer. That's me alright."

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:23 PM

Most Americans are accustomed to carrying around a driving license, which serves day-to-day as id for cashing a cheque, etc. Here is Texas you can also get an id from the department of public safety, for your convenience, if you don't have a driving license.

No one is required to carry an id, but we are required to carry a driving license while driving.

The alternatives to the police establishing a suspected prowler's identity and verifying their story are: 1. Believe whatever story the prowler tells them (which doesn't seem like a good idea since some prowlers really are criminals) or 2. take everyone down to the greybar hotel and let a judge sort it out later (which doesn't seem like a good idea since some suspected prowlers are really not criminals).
- Phil

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:23 PM

And for those who think this is racist innuendos then try being Black in the USA.

Oh that's right. You can't.

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:30 PM

Come on Gnu, this is not a "police state".

Subject: RE: Dylan picked up for street walking
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 01:32 PM

Ron Olesko - "I posted this story because I thought it was worth a chuckle, not a bunch of bull shit from fist pounding over-reactors."

LOL! Yeah, Ron, I can imagine just how you feel about that. It is a story worth a chuckle or two...but remember: this forum is like a large arena full of idle dogs just sort of sitting around with not much to do at the moment, and they're waiting for something to happen...something they can fix their attention upon. Maybe something to bite or bark about? You just threw a fresh bone into the arena when you launched this thread, and...

......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

You see what happens. ;-) Each dog reacts in its own particular fashion, and some are a lot more hyper or combative than others.

**** By the way, I fully understand why the cop that accosted me thought I might be up to no good. He no doubt figured I was planning a break-in at the storage place. But what I feel sad about is that I don't live in an environment where one can just go for a quiet walk at night and not arouse those sort of suspicions. I wish people were not so afraid of one another.