Posted by Thom_Fowler at pool0291.cvx4-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net on September 18, 2003 at 02:37:37:
I was heading home from a screening of kick-ass animation shorts at the Silver Lake Film Festival (which has got to be the very best alternative/underground yet totally "Industry" film festival) and it was like 2 am and I was driving back to my home in Malibu when I get pulled over by the police.
I figured it was because I have expired registration tags. Since my car is "late model" and certainly not Malibu-chic, they asked me step out of the car and held my hands behind my back and kicked my legs open and started to search my pockets.
"I don't remember giving you permission you search my person." I say. This is something I learned in civil disobediance training.
"I smell marijuana," he says.
I don't smoke pot, or even drink. But his lie was a convenient way to push aside all my rights.
They then ask me to stand near the police car while they search my vehicle. So this is illegal search number two. Even though, technically, they established probable cause by simply saying, "I smell marijuana" which they couldn't have because a) I don't smoke pot. But I don't want to anger the people who I have discovered have the power to detain me without arrest and search me without a warrant.
And I know that I don't have proof of insurance or registration, which means they can tow my car, which would suck, because if I can't afford car insurance, I certainly can't afford to get my car out of the pound.
I spend some time fantasizing about what exactly I would do if I was suddenly left stranded on the side of the road. And how would I ever get back to San Francisco?
So I'm standing by the police car with a searchlight in my face and I'm amused and angry and the police officer in the car starts talking to me.
"What do you do?"
"I'm an entertainment writer."
"Who do you write for?"
"I write for a website called Movie Poop Shoot.com and a couple other websites and I do a lot of freelancing."
"Who have you interviewed recently that was cool?"
I rattle off a bunch of stuff I'd written lately. He's starting to get that I'm not a stoned vagrant heading off to spread crime and pestilence among the Malibuians.
"Isn't movie poop shoot that website from that Jay and Silent Bob movie?"
Oh, a fan. I try not to think and just roll with it. I know I could still be fucked and I have no idea how this is going to play out.
"Yeah" I tell him. "But it's now a real webzine" and I take him on a little tour of the website.
So then he starts talking to me about Kill Bill and tells me he just pulled over Daryl Hannah. And then he says to me, "There's nothing in there, is there?", referring to my car.
"No." I tell him. I hate to dissapoint him. I could tell they thought they were honing in on a serious bust.
He tells me how much it will cost me to pay the lack of proof of insurance ticket. It is almost the same amount as what my car is worth and I have maybe 30 dollars walking money. (see the "I write for websites and do some freelancing" comment)
He asks me where I live.
"It's pretty quiet up there. We don't get a lot of calls to go there."
I agree with him. It IS pretty quiet. I live in a quiet, affluent neighborhood. Somehow, my newly discovered legitimacy shifts his attitude. He starts talking to me like a peer, rather than a detainee.
"I know, it's weird. I live in Malibu but I have no money and I drive a shitty car. It's just that I'm a really good lay and there's this rock star ..."
So they send me back to my car and tell me to wait and the one who searched my person and my car (illegally, mind you, under some loophole pretense) comes back and writes me a fix it ticket. I paid my registration and have the insurance but I haven't taken them down to the DMV to get the actual stickers. And it's been nearly 9 months.
Now, I'm really grateful that all I got was a fix-it ticket. But what do I do about the blatant violation of my legal rights?
I mean, do I say, "hey, I support your anti-vagrancy efforts and if I have to be a victim of it in order that all of Malibu will be safe from late model cars and impoverished writers, then so be it."
Or do I stand on principal and file a complaint to reinforce the idea that due process is a cornerstone of our justice system? I think I should get the tags, take care of the fix it ticket and THEN call the ACLU for legal advice. At least that would protect me from legal harrasment and retaliation.
What do YOU think I should do?