It is with great regret that I have to write this post. Chillicothe, Ohio is made up of good people. Good hard working people. Chillicothe is a caring and giving community rich in tradition. The one thing they do not deserve is questionable law enforcement department known as the Chillicothe Police Department. I discovered this on April 1st, 2014. And no, this is not an April fools joke. Oh, how I wish it were though.
Let me set the scene:
I traveled to Chillicothe, Ohio from my home in Piketon. As usual, I left to go visit my mother and take her out to lunch. We always go over my financial affairs on the first of every month. She is, for the better part, my accountant.
Once we concluded lunch, I then went to go visit a good friend at The Pump House Art Gallery in Chillicothe, Ohio. It sits on the edge of Yoctangee Park. The park was brimming with hundreds of people out that day to enjoy, for once in a long while, some good weather finally. People having picnics, playing basketball, skateboarding, jogging, you name it. Everyone was seemingly having a real good time.
I got to speak to my friend, and in doing so, was invited to sit in with some members of the local art league meeting. However, it was about five o'clock and the meeting wasn't to start until around 6:30 PM or 7:00 PM.
I accepted the invitation.
To kill some time until then, I went to the library and hung out for a while. Then I went and bought a DVD, "Ironman 3". I then arrived back at the parking lot of the gallery, which was full of cars and people still scattered all about, where I parked my car, got out and sat on the back, on the trunk. I wasn't sitting for three minutes at best when a police car drove by, making the rounds. The officer inside looked right at me for some reason. It wasn't like I was sticking out or anything, but he stared me down as he passed by none the less. I was wearing my sunglasses and smoking a cigarette, and drinking a Mountain Dew. I was enjoying the breeze on such a warm day.
I didn't think much about it when he passed, and continued to sit there quietly, keeping to myself as I waited for my friend to show up so I could volunteer my time to help him with a project.
About ten minutes later, that same police officer made another pass. Like the first time, his eyes looked straight at me. This time, I got an uneasy feeling inside. It was at this moment when I realized what was about to go down. My instincts are almost always accurate. I know law enforcement all too well. The bad side of it, anyway. I used to assist law enforcement back in the day in Columbus. I know all of their tricks and tactics. I also knew what this officer was up to.
No more than five minutes later, the officer came back around again. This time, however, he pulled into the parking lot. Another police vehicle followed closely behind him. He pulled up to me, stopped the car, and got out. The officer in the other vehicle doing the same.
He approached me slowly. I studied him as in depth as he studied me. He stood for about five seconds in front me, about ten feet away, and waited for the other officer to approach before he opened his stupid mouth. "How you doing today?" He asked. I slid off the trunk and stood there before him, looking down at him. "I'm doing just fine." I replied.
Then he went into explaining his presence. "Got a call into the station. Someone reported a strange man going around and talking to people at random in the park. I was wondering if that was you?"
"No you didn't." I shot back. The officer cocked his head. "Excuse me?" He uttered. I rushed to clarify for him. "You didn't get a call." I informed him. "I saw you pass me twice in the past fifteen minutes."
"We got a call from a concerned citizen." He lied again. (I knew he was lying, and so did he.) "You weren't going around talking to people?"
"I haven't said one word to anyone," I told him, "nor has anyone said one word to me."
The officer persisted in playing his little game. "So what are you doing here?" He questioned.
I chuckled mockingly while shaking my head. "Well, it is a public park, I could just be enjoying the weather, but if you must know, I am waiting for my friend to arrive so I can help him with a fund raiser. Or is that against the law in Chillicothe?"
"You have an ID on you?' He pushed. I nodded my head and answered. "Yes."
The officer waited for a few seconds. "Well, can I see it?"
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet. "The proper way to ask is, may I see it, and yes, you may."
I handed it over to the other cop who was standing to my left. He took it and walked to his vehicle to run a check. The officer in front of me went right into explaining once again, the purpose for the intrusion. "Like I said, we got an anonymous complaint by a concerned citizen of a suspicious character and you match the description. Blonde hair, black jeans, sunglasses and wearing an Ohio State Buckeyes jacket."
I lifted my hand up to stop him. "No you didn't." I again called his bluff. "You didn't get a call. You and I both know what's going on here so quit your lying. But hey, it's okay, I'm used to law enforcement violating my rights. Why should you be any different?"
The officer gave me somewhat of a dirty look. Up to that point, I was nothing but smiles. Well, a smirky kind of smile anyway, maybe a smug one. Only when he gave me that dirty look did I transform my smirk into a dirty look of my own at him.
A few minutes later, the other officer approached and handed me my license. I took it and placed it back into my wallet and placed that back in my pocket. I quickly responded. "Are we okay here, gentlemen, or what?" - Emphasizing the "or what".
The two officers convened for a few moments before breaking up the punk fest. One of them simply gave me a nod and they both walked back to their cars. "Have a nice day, boys." I uttered. The officer I had been speaking with stopped suddenly and turned around to face me. He still had that dirty look on his face. It appeared that he wanted to say something. I kept returning that dirty look. "Something else on your mind?" I asked him.
He didn't respond. He turned away and got back into his car. They both pulled out slowly, still giving me the once over upon their exit of the parking lot before driving out of sight.
My evening went on as scheduled without further incident. When my time was finished, I returned home. I gave a friend of mine on the police force a call to inquire about this alleged complaint. My friend checked into it and then told me that no complaint was recorded for the incident. I knew then that my gut feeling was correct, I had just been punked by the Chillicothe Police Department. That officer was lying. For had there been a complaint lodged, it would have been recorded in their daily log.
This is very disappointing. That officer had no right to approach me what so ever. It's always disappointing when a tough guy wannabe wearing a badge violates an American citizens constitutional rights. Even more disappointing that it was a punk law enforcement officer of the Chillicothe Police Department. Then again, I shouldn't have been too surprised, after all, it all begins and ends with leadership, and that would be the chief of police. The chief himself was investigated about a year or so ago for an assault at a local bar one night after he went out and got all liquored up. He picked a fight with the wrong man and got his ass whipped something awful. Story has it that when he reached for his gun, he got his ass whipped even more, and the man that did it took his gun away from him. He was also under investigation for other offenses as well that included speeding, reckless driving, and abuse of power. I suppose with leadership like that, it's no wonder that the Chillicothe Police Department would be nothing more than a bunch of rogue cops on a power-trip.
This action, accompanied with my documented run-ins with local officers in Piketon, is further proof for me that America is not a free country. Law enforcement has way too much power and they are abusing it across the land. Incidents like this are not just isolated in Ohio. It's in every state and every city and town in America. I estimate about 90 percent of all law enforcement, local, state and federal, are corrupt. But for anyone living outside of the USA thinking that they would like to come to America and get a taste of freedom, they will be sorely disappointed. Freedom in America is just a myth, I'm sad to report.
One thing is for certain though, the good people of Chillicothe, Ohio do not deserve this kind of police department. They deserve better. I'm pretty sure all law-abiding Americans deserve better, but this is what you get when a country like America runs scared after the beat down it received from the terrorists years ago. And make no mistake, we got our asses kicked by those people. The whole entire nation is living in fear of everything that blows in the wind. However, all that aside, it's still no excuse for law enforcement to go around and violate the rights of its citizens. It's also no excuse for those law enforcement communists of Chillicothe, Ohio to go around violating the rights of its citizens, and in broad daylight at that. No excuse what so ever!
If by chance anyone from the Chillicothe Police Department is reading this, and wishes to contact me to discuss this matter, you can find my contact information up top of my blog. I'm not difficult to find. However, if you do contact me, and think intimidation of threats will scare me down, think again. I am not one who is easily intimidated by anybody. I don't fear law breaking punks. Thought you just might like to know.
Meanwhile, my advice to the Chillicothe Police Department, and all law enforcement across America at any and all levels is; STOP VIOLATING THE RIGHTS OF YOUR CITIZENS!!!!!
In essence, stop being communist cowards that hide behind your badges. But hey, that's just my advice. And since I can't fight back in the streets without getting gunned down and murdered in cold blood, I will just have to settle with fighting back on this blog. My blog. In the end, I think the message will be sent loud and clear. That message is this: You can't police your community with fear. Trust me on this, it's better to police with respect. Try it sometime, you might be surprised at the results.
You're lucky they didn't murder you when you went for the wallet.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing. But it was in broad daylight with many people all around so, that might have been why they didn't. Ha-ha. Come to think of it, the primary cop OI was speaking to did project some nervousness about him, although I couldn't imagine why. I was just sitting on my car smoking a ciggy and drinking a Dew. There were other people just sitting in their cars nearby, parked. The cops didn't find that "suspicious"? But it was a bit too warm for me which is why I sat on the outside of mine.
DeleteMaybe it was because I was smoking? I seem to have been the only one doing that.
Funny story though, one time I was waiting on a corner in Columbus for a friend to come pick me up when a cop approached and said that someone called in a suspicious person, but after he ran a check, he apologized to me for any embarrassment and offered his hand. Of course I shook with him and that was that. No problem. But that was pre 9-11. Post 9-11, and in the past six years, I have been stopped / approached for "suspicious" activities in Piketon three times. Once on my way home from the store, carrying a couple of bags, once on my way to the store on Valentine's Day around 4PM and another time when I checked my mail. Those are "suspicious" activities? And now, the fourth time in six years, in Chillicothe, sitting on my car in a park next to an art gallery in broad daylight with so many people and other cars around, smoking a cig and drinking a soda, I am engaging in "suspicious" activity? Something stinks to high heaven. It doesn't take a 3rd grade education to know what that smell is. Commonsense is the only education one needs to figure it out.
Post 9-11, strangers are no longer looked upon as potential friends anymore in America. We are all suspects in each others eyes. The culture in America these days is that when someone sees a stranger, they think the worst of them. There's too many people going around paranoid of everyone. Too many nosey Nancy's. Everyone trying to stick themselves into other people's business. It's a sad state of affairs for Americans. But in the eyes of government and the law, everyone is now a suspect instead of a citizen. And that's scary.
The situation I speak of in this post wouldn't be tolerated by pre 9-11 America, and now it is commonplace. In the seventies, communist countries were condemned by America for practicing this sort of behavior against its citizens, and now America participates in it.
The terrorists didn't win you say? ...... Wishful thinking. The terrorists did exactly what they set out to do, scare the bejeezus out of Americans .... and it worked! TSA used to fondle children in airports in such ways that if anyone else did that, they would have been arrested for sexual assault. You still can't take on board a plane a tube of toothpaste, or toothbrush, or mouthwash or even soap. Then there is the NSA spying on Americans, and IRS targeting political groups, this entire nation is falling apart. Make no mistake, the terrorists did exactly what they set out to do. So much so that they don't need to attack us anymore to destroy us, we're destroying ourselves more than the terrorists could ever do.
Oh, the point I forgot to make about that incident with the cop pre 9-11 was, that officer apologized and offered his hand, and post 9-11, the four incidents I spoke of, including this latest one, none of the cops apologized nor offered to shake my hand. That speaks volumes to me. No one can just be decent anymore folk anymore. Cops today - more than ever - walk around with a superiority complex when in fact, they are beneath me now. I say that because when it comes to common thugs, I am more superior in my mind.
DeleteMy biological father was a cop. He died in the line of duty before I was born. I can only hope he wasn't a punk with a badge. I like to think he was one of the good ones who respected the laws and the constitution of this nation. I used to be a huge supporter of law enforcement, but now, when I see a cop, I feel like Batman looking at The Joker. I see them as bullies anymore. That is a shame. But I know I am not the only one who feels this way by a long shot. Especially where I live. There at least a dozen people who feel like I do about our local department and yet, I'm the only one who stood up to them when they got out of line. Everyone else was too scared. Citizens of America should not live in fear of law enforcement yet a higher percentage of them do. What's wrong with that picture?