Hey everybody. I went to the PD this morning! Here's what happened...
Okay, so I spoke to one Officer Johnson about what had happened yesterday. I brought my kit with me, along with a printed copy of that poster that shows the health effects of smoking compared to
vaping. I also brought my smartphone with some vendors' websites loaded up, and this forum, and a business card for the only
shop in town I've found thus far that sells more than disposable e-cigs. I explained what I had been doing, and how the officer had treated me, and how much it had upset me. This whole time, I was very sweet and polite. Officer Johnson was polite as well. He told me that there currently wasn't a policy for e-cigs that don't look like e-cigs, and that he wasn't aware such a thing existed. "Normal" e-cigs are treated exactly the same as
tobacco cigs. I educated him as much as I could, and told him that there clearly NEEDS to be a policy about it. Things like what happened to me shouldn't happen to innocent citizens. He agreed, and apologized, and said he would bring it up with his superiors to work on getting something in writing. He took the materials I had offered, and I prayed he wasn't just being nice to get rid of me.
The only thing that ...... me off was that when I asked him what steps he thought I should take to ensure I didn't run into this trouble again (should I carry the labeled bottle with me, should I carry business cards, what?) he told me that, "Honestly, if
want to quit smoking, should just try some Nicorette and leave this controversy alone."
I told him that I wasn't trying to "quit smoking" so much as I was trying to "replace smoking." For people like me, I explained, it's not just the nicotine that's a factor. It's the hand-to-mouth thing, and the warm inhale, and the mental break that comes with stepping out for a smoke. I'm under a lot of stress as a performer and a student, and I don't really have the fortitude to just "quit." I've tried patches and lozenges and gums in the past, and I've always gone right back to the pipe as soon as life gets hairy. Vaping is a way to get off of the pipe for good, but still keep the behavioral aspects of the habit that are so much more important to my ability to cope with stress. It's much, much healthier for me and everone around me, and totally legal. I told him all this with as gentle a smile as I could muster, even though I sortof wanted to bludgeon him to death.
He didn't give me the officer's name. I told him that a youngish (maybe 25-30?) hispanic officer in an unmarked black SUV had pulled me over as I was leaving Walmart Neighborhood Market, and that I had been so upset I forgot to get the officer's name. Officer Johnson said he would "look into" who had been in that area at the time, and see if he could find out who had pulled me over. He asked me why I had been pulled over in the first place, and I had to admit I didn't know. The officer in question pulled up next to me at the traffic light, rolled down his window, flashed his badge, and yelled at me to pull over, which I did. Then, the situation I described in the first post happened.
When I was pulled over, I was driving an enormous and ancient Ford F250 (circa '81). I was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and a hooded sweatshirt with my college's logo on it. I'm young, white, and VERY babyfaced (as in, I routinely get carded to see R movies, and have been pulled over before for looking like a runaway that's too young to have a driver's license), especially when I'm not wearing makeup, like last night. I didn't tell the PD this, but I'm telling you guys so that you can understand the situation a little better. It also helps to know that I live...Well...There's no polite way to put this, so I'll just say it: I live in the barrio. When I went to the Walmart, I'm pretty sure was literally the only white person in there. Not to be racist, but I think that's part of why the cop pulled me over. He saw a little white girl and figured I wasn't from the area, and would therefore be a good target to bully. Not to mention that the poor little white girl is probably going to run back to Baldwin Park and cry rather than actually do anything about his ***hattery. *grumblegrumble*
So yeah...That's the update. I'm in contact with the CASAA currently, and hoping that maybe they can help me figure out where to go from here.
Thank you guys again for all your support. Reading this thread gave me the guts to vape all the way down to the PD this morning, and go in with confidence and a smile. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU all for backing me up. I am so glad I found this place. If I hadn't, I don't know if I might have just let the incident go, or if I'd have been too scared to keep vaping, or what I would have done. Thank you all.
