Stopped by the Cops. Mini's have their place.

[Jim Davis]

Relaxing in Front of the Best Western Hotel in Los Alamitos, CA, when a Police car pulled in. I was asked to interlace my hands on my head. I put my Nocostick in my shirt pocket and complied. He held my hands, and said I was not being arrested, only detained because of a question. He took my Nicostick from my pocket, and asked what this device was.

To make a long story short, he was familiar with E-cigs, but thought I may be doing drugs with my little black box. After I opened it, and explained the "device", showed him the battery connector, and atomizer, he apologized and explained how he thought it may be a drug device. We talked for a few minutes, and he took my e-mail address to pass along to his "smoking" friends.

I have my 510 packed now for use in open public areas. Watch the mods when the cops are around.

 

[four2109]

Wow Jim, Hands on your head! I hope he didn't think you were going to shoot him with it!! And all you can do is smile. Spreadin' the word.

 

[julalew]

Ah, I was wondering if people were going to run into this kind of problem using a mod out in public. Can't say I'm too surprised, but sorry it had to happen to you! At least it sounds like it turned out to be a fairly positive experience. The cop was willing to be educated and let you go.

 

[Jim Davis]

The "hands" thing is mostly normal procedure. If it *were* a drug thing, he thought I may break & run. He was totally polite, and we had a good talk afterward.

 

[killdozerd11]

Scary to know that there are some people willing to listen and learn

 

[Mac]

I am breaking my silence to comment on this. That cop was dead wrong. He saw you with something in your hands that he didn't recognize and therefore has the right to detain you question you and make you put your hands on your head? This is wrong. This is exactly the type of invasive intrusion that the police should not be allowed to do upon whim. Unless what you were doing is obviously a crime he should not be allowed to do this. We as americans are watching our personal freedoms disappear and what you have described is a prime example of it. This sickens me.

 

[Jim Davis]

I was told that there were a couple of drug busts on that block on that same day. I get into a lot of "shady" areas during my travels, and I've been stopped before while being lost, and wandered into some bad areas.

It's part of traveling on business, and I expect it on occasion. I've also seen the business end of an Uzi in Mexico. (That's a scary story for another day.)

 

[BigJimW]

It's part of traveling on business, and I expect it on occasion. I've also seen the business end of an Uzi in Mexico. (That's a scary story for another day.)

8-o

My landlord is a cop for the Providence RI police force and Jim is correct, that it is normal procedure to interlace the hands on the back of the head when walking (backwards) to a cop with a big suspicion.

He also vapes too. And probably has converted 3/4 of the force smoking into vaping. Don't worry Jim if your travels ever bring you into Providence. They got you covered.

 

[Mac]

just because something is "standard procedure" does NOT make it ok.

 

[brownbrown4]

I am breaking my silence to comment on this. That cop was dead wrong. He saw you with something in your hands that he didn't recognize and therefore has the right to detain you question you and make you put your hands on your head? This is wrong. This is exactly the type of invasive intrusion that the police should not be allowed to do upon whim. Unless what you were doing is obviously a crime he should not be allowed to do this. We as americans are watching our personal freedoms disappear and what you have described is a prime example of it. This sickens me.

lol, try driving through malibu with dark skin on your way to a NAVAL base(at 2am(went to San Diego to see my kids) and getting pulled over for no reason. wasnt speeding, car had all papers. and then getting asked if i had marijuna in the car ?!
or getting pulled over in burbank,ca for having 2 motorcycles in my truck? (oh there have been a lot of bike thefts according to the police).( but both bikes had the plates clearly showing)
or getting followed by the police for miles upon miles (i follow the laws pretty well)....
then you can complain my friend.....

 

[nubee]

I'm laughing 'cause I'll bet there were 5 or 6 510 kits purchased that night all by the PD.

I will admit though, I'd be a bit freaked out by the hands on the head move myself. Not too sure how 'well' I'd have handled that.

You've got nerves of steal man (pun intended)

 

[Mac]

lol, try driving through malibu with dark skin on your way to a NAVAL base(at 2am(went to San Diego to see my kids) and getting pulled over for no reason. wasnt speeding, car had all papers. and then getting asked if i had marijuna in the car ?!
or getting pulled over in burbank,ca for having 2 motorcycles in my truck? (oh there have been a lot of bike thefts according to the police).( but both bikes had the plates clearly showing)
or getting followed by the police for miles upon miles (i follow the laws pretty well)....
then you can complain my friend.....

I won't get into my personal experiences with being harrassed by law enforcement. I will say that I believe the police in this country have far too much leeway as to what their personal perception of a situation gives them the right to do to an individual. Although the scenarios you described are by order of magnitude far more intrusive then that of the OP none of the above are acceptable in my opinion. I fear that our society is spiraling into an orwellian police state. I also fear that there is very little any of us can do about it.

 

[wrecktangle]

Vaping devices, and especially some of the mods, are notoriously similar to crack pipes.

That being said, I'm happy to see the OP complied with the direction of the police officer. As I've always said, the street is not the place to argue your position. More people are taken to jail only because they didn't do what the nice police officer said to do.

If you disagree with the officer, there will be plenty of time after the confrontation, to further your complaint about how you believe the situation should have been handled differently.

And brownbrown, sorry to hear you were stopped for DWB (driving while black). Perhaps one day we can put all this racial profiling behind us and get on with life.

(argggg.. didn't expect my first post to be on a topic like this!) anyhow.....

 

[Elokin6]

People have been shot by the cops here for wielding objects the police didn't recognize (like a coke can). I would rather put my hands on my head and have a little chat.

 

[Talen]

I am breaking my silence to comment on this. That cop was dead wrong. He saw you with something in your hands that he didn't recognize and therefore has the right to detain you question you and make you put your hands on your head? This is wrong. This is exactly the type of invasive intrusion that the police should not be allowed to do upon whim. Unless what you were doing is obviously a crime he should not be allowed to do this. We as americans are watching our personal freedoms disappear and what you have described is a prime example of it. This sickens me.

You should move to another country then because that cop was doing his job. The fact is that 90% of the modded devices look like drug paraphernalia.

 

[brownbrown4]

I won't get into my personal experiences with being harrassed by law enforcement. I will say that I believe the police in this country have far too much leeway as to what their personal perception of a situation gives them the right to do to an individual. Although the scenarios you described are by order of magnitude far more intrusive then that of the OP none of the above are acceptable in my opinion. I fear that our society is spiraling into an orwellian police state. I also fear that there is very little any of us can do about it.

agree 100%
i have nothing against legit police.... but ur right, the direction america is headed is very close to Mr. Orwell's views. Hopefully we can prevent it.... as long as the "press"(love them or hate them) keeps running off every bit of these actions, we might have a decent chance...

 

[brownbrown4]

And brownbrown, sorry to hear you were stopped for DWB (driving while black). Perhaps one day we can put all this racial profiling behind us and get on with life.

(argggg.. didn't expect my first post to be on a topic like this!) anyhow.....

lol, i didnt want to say it (DWB) hehe,funny thing is , im only HALF the other half is WHITE. where's the love!

 

[kabomb]

I had 2 contacts with police and security today. First with 3 officers at the scene of my wife's car accident. She totaled the car, hit a boulder, she's ok. They didn't ask questions about my PV, so I showed it to them and neither of them ever heard of them. The one cop said "if only they could come up with a simulated beer can".
Then outside of hospital with security. He was on me right away, might of been his sole purpose. I was about 100' away from door. I showed it to him and he said he saw smoke. I told him it was vapor. I blew a hit in his face. He said he was sorry and away he went.

 

[Jim Davis]

I won't get into my personal experiences with being harrassed by law enforcement. I will say that I believe the police in this country have far too much leeway as to what their personal perception of a situation gives them the right to do to an individual. Although the scenarios you described are by order of magnitude far more intrusive then that of the OP none of the above are acceptable in my opinion. I fear that our society is spiraling into an orwellian police state. I also fear that there is very little any of us can do about it.

I understand there are two sides to everything Mac, but in my case, I travel 100% for work. My wife is alone in the house for weeks at a time. I welcome any cop who will stop to check out anything suspicious looking in my neighborhood.

 

[brownbrown4]

You should move to another country then because that cop was doing his job. The fact is that 90% of the modded devices look like drug paraphernalia.

not to start a debate : but from MPOV
Back before my Military days i have "seen" lots of drug paraphernalia(good thing for the quote because i cant spell that),
anyways, NONE have looked like any of the mods i've seen here.
crack pipes can look like pens(or be pens), .... pipes are ALWAYS glass, and weed pipes are generally pipe looking. execpt for the seak-a-toke devices.
but none resemble a big box, or a screwdriver, ect.....

So a cop can pull anyone over that "may" have a pen in their mouth. got it