This originally began as a response to:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2476085but as often happens with any of Wiley's scribblings it took off in various directions. Might not have been noticed so well as a simple reply. The following provided as what I want to call a Public Service Announcement.
Some thread I wrote a couple months back documented a new police search technique. It's not even clever, the search excuse that is. Not me. My posts are always interesting. Or at least provocative.
If i could review my old files here would re-post it. Am sure I discussed it before
Anyway what it was was this: My girlfriend and I are just killin time watching a DVD on a Saturday afternoon. Chillin, layin back and totally vegetating. Then some damn helicopter kept friggin CIRCLING my house.
Loud...
Over and over and maybe less than 300 ft. above the house. Annoying, distracting and giving me a headache. Not to mention that it made it nearly impossible to enjoy the movie.
About a whole hour AFTER the irritating noise began I get a knock on the door. Two Sheriff's Deputies, a man and a woman ask to come in and search for a missing and "abducted" twelve year old boy. They show me a photo of the kid.
It's a small Black child on a bicycle. I actually look at the situation positively: At least the authorities give a damn about an African American kid. Not just another teen age White blond...
I don't recognize the child as he lives a full block over. So the officers say anyway. Regardless I decide that the quickest way to get back to my movie and get these County Mounties the hell out of my house is to let them search the joint. Sure i could have bitched but WTF?
I want them gone. Had I demanded a search warrant they'd have brought in a whole posse, waited outdoors and made a stinking fuss for hours. Not to mention the bad P/R of having the Sheriff's dept in full force, SWAT team etc making me look like the dope dealer/bad ass of the neighborhood.
Publicity I didn't want. Also I reason that if I make a big fuss they'll bust me for not using turn signals the next time I'm at the mall. Or maybe just pulling into my driveway. I'm considered "uncooperative" at that point. An "undesirable".
And assuming there really is an abducted child missing this will allow the cops to check my residence off the list and go on with their search. Might help save the boy's life if the matter gets handled in a speedy manner. These were my thoughts anyway.
Glad i wasn't growing any of that whacky tobaccy like in my younger days. So I let them search fucking everything.
Linen closet
Laundry room,
All closets and all rooms.
Under all beds and furniture.
The water heater room.
Even the dog house in the back yard.
They then leave thanking me. Which is EXACTLY what i wanted: Make them believe I'm just an ordinary serf and of no threat to them. Probably a good definition of what i am anyway...
Tell ya what though: Next couple days I check the papers and internet for any missing kids, black or otherwise in the Santa Rosa area.
Guess what I come up with?
Nothing. No small twelve year old kids are reported missing in any local papers or crime blotter. Not even in the Press Democrat, The major newspaper out of Santa Rosa.
Here are the things I think COULD have been happening: They were looking for some other issue. Possibly a jerk down the street reported me for being a dope dealer. Of course I'm not but that woman is a certifiable nut case. A young alcoholic I used to hang with but we've since parted ways. Shortly after I learned that she calls 9/11 for someone just littering. And of course she drinks too much.
BUT... Maybe this is the new Homeland Security ruse: The Feds demand that ALL houses get searched once every couple years or so. The "missing Black boy on a bicycle" and effective ploy. Makes "Les Gendarmes" look sincerely interested in the welfare of the people. Hell even i was worried about the kid.
Problem is: No one one block over ever heard of the described twelve year old boy on the bicycle. While there are African American people in this 'hood, none of them fit the description of the child.
I smell a rat.