Stalkers

So, the other day, I thought the police were following me. Not the "we're just waiting for you to stop and we'll nab you" following, but the "this person looks shady, maybe they'll screw up if they see us behind them" following. Seriously, I am twice as likely to do something stupid while driving if I see a cop behind me. I've gotten pulled over once for running a red light (I do that sometimes when I'm distracted) and I honestly can't tell you the color of the light because I was too busy watching my rear view mirror at the cop behind me.

Little paranoid much, yeah? I drive just fine, for the most part, except when a cop is behind me. Then I drive awful.

Anyway, I had just turned onto Main Street and saw the cop coming down the street. I pause for a second and then figure "Eh, they're going so slow, I'll just pull back to the parking area." So I do so. Then driving along the parking space set just south behind the buildings of Main Street, I'm edging along trying to figure out what would constitute the back of the buildings I was interested in when I glance in my rear view mirror and see the cops, following me. Keep in mind this is a completely different direction... they were heading east, now they're heading west behind me. Now, I am painfully aware of my tendency to screw up when followed, and I was fairly sure they didn't have anything on me yet, they had just seen me maybe something piqued their curiosity. There weren't any other cars moving back here.

So I pull into the nearest open parking spot thinking I'd walk. I park, get out of my car (while double checking that I was in fact allowed to park there) and head west again walking. I might not be less suspicious walking, but I1 feel there are fewer rules you can break while walking. And the police car has pulled over just a short ways from where I parked and is just sitting there, breaks on. I try not to look at them as I pass. As I turn up an intersecting street toward Main Street again, they pass me, turning south toward Lincoln Way. Which is still not the direction they were originally going.

Now, I believe two things. One, I believe police, when they don't have anything to do, stroll/sneak/cruise about just waiting for people to screw up. I've ridden with police men (not in the back) and while the ones I rode with seemed decent, there was still that element of just cruising around, waiting. And two, I have dreadlocks and believe there is a high(er) likelihood that I will be profiled.

Could that be their motivation? Maybe it was just because I hesitated before pulling in and they thought that was weird.

So, obviously, not the most interesting story. I knew someone who told me about them hotboxing in a car and getting pulled over but not getting arrested or anything. Much more interesting. But the thing that makes me think about it is simply that I couldn't figure out how to tell something this story remotely, i.e. not in person. At first I thought about calling someone, simply to relate that I felt I might have been profiled. But then I remember that Big Brother is listening to my phone conversations. The story itself has no wrong-doing in it, but how do I know they'll listen to the whole thing? Maybe they'll just hear that I was being following by the police. Same goes for Gmail, although while I figured people at Gmail can read my emails, they're probably cool enough not to turn me in for whatever presumed crime misreading this story might imply.

When something as extra powers, I simply assume they are always working to the fullest. When I get home, I assume the dog can hear me open the door to the garage or open a package downstairs with the door shut. She's got extra powers of hearing. So too, I assume the government is somewhat stalking all of us. Someone said, "The government is going to have files of us all!" and I'm like, "They don't already?"

What is really bad is that I got followed by police for no real reason and then cautious about telling anyone because of the government listening. And this is America, land of the free...