Increased police annoyance

[Trus'Me]

I was on a beautiful Gulf Island on the weekend, sitting in the bar of a marina, having a nice chat with an old sea dog kind of guy who was skippering a 42 foot power cruiser that was built in 1926. This boat was just stunning. He was from Seattle and has been cruising and sailing the west coast for the last 40 years, he told me. He had some great stories, no doubt.

He asked me what the hell is going on with the police in Canada of late, and said he feels like he can't even turn around without a "Blimmin Cop breathing down my neck". He's had the police board his boat twice in the last two weeks and was fined for driving his electric scooter on a local road that has a speed limit of 60km/h (electric scooters are only permitted on roads with a max of 50km/h)

I have to totally agree that it's getting ridiculous out there. I was on my friends boat a couple weeks ago off the east coast of Vancouver Island and we were chased down aggressively by an RCMP boat, boarded and searched. Thankfully my friend had his license, but one of our life jackets wasnt approved so he ended up with a $200 fine. The cops chewed us out, and told us to head back to shore and get a proper jacket or we'd face more fines. They were rude and treated us like criminals. Day ruined.

Then just yesterday, as I was leaving the tiny island with a population of 5000 people, I went through a massive road block. The cops were checking everyones insurance, licenses and handing out inspections on any car that looked a little rough and ticketing anyone not wearing a seatbelt. When we pulled up to one the several cops, he leans right in to my window and starts barking questions at me. He stank like cigarettes. All my shit is together so he had nothing on me, until he saw my wife's dog spray on the dash. She walks our dog every night downtown Vancouver and buys those keychain pepper spray things from the 3 Vets.

This prick actually reaches across in front of me and grabs it from the dash and says, with this tone like he's got me, "And what's this??".

"Dog spray" I deadpanned.

"Where'd you get it??"

"3 Vets"

Then he just stared at me for a while before he says, "You had anything to drink?".

"Nope"

"Ok you can go..." And he thrusts the dog spray at me and waves his arm impatiently for me to move on.

Who the hell are these guys protecting us from anyway? Who the hell do they work for? It seems like they're there to simply take our money and treat us like shit. And to hear an old American guy saying he's getting sick of the way the cops treat him when he comes to Canada really nails the message that something just ain't right around here anymore.

I'm no cop hater. I know it's a tough job and yada yada... But it's getting a bit ridiculous. Has anyone else noticed the increase in police meddling of our day to day business? Really starting to get on my nerves, especially when we have gangsters shooting each other in the streets. Go get THEM! Not me and my friends hanging out on a boat for the day.

 

[uncleg]

Give them a bit of authority and every so often they like to take it for a walk.

 

[shyboy123]

Many of the newer police would have been turned away in previous years and would have had to stick with private security etc.

There are always people that look for any form of authority to throw around and there used to be more screening for that

 

[HankQuinlan]

Not to mention border guards. I am actually finding the Americans friendlier than the Canadians recently.

 

[aznbabes]

Not to mention border guards. I am actually finding the Americans friendlier than the Canadians recently.

Absolutely agree with you. Its easier to cross into american territory then it is to return to canada.

 

[Trus'Me]

Not to mention border guards. I am actually finding the Americans friendlier than the Canadians recently.

I mentioned this to the old guy and he said it's the same for Americans. The Canadian guards are friendly to them, but returning to the US is often humiliating.

 

[laurel love]

Same here. I had a cop start yelling at me in the station when I quizzed him on a procedure a certain cop said he performed on the light bulb of my car. I asked to speak with someone else...preferably with a post secondary education.

Our family has several friends in the police department. They are all retired now. They were gentlemen to a 'T'...professional, and, intelligent.

I remind myself that the police force is financed by ICBC.

 

[treveller]

Who the hell do they work for?

The municipal police work for the provincial government because the provincial government, effectivly the premier, appoints the majority of the police board. It seems the appointments are junior political hacks or others who can be trusted to do nothing significant.

Not so sure about the RCMP but I think they are under contract to the provincial government.

I expect there are worse systems but I wish we had a better system.

 

[bud68]

It was the old guys at vimy ridge ( who were shot.. had rats chew on their feet when they were dead tired trying to sleep, fighting in the trenches.... who made and saved this country..... and now it is these types of people(topic) who for the most part will ( and are) playing a big part in bringing this country down.

 

[emilioa4]

Yeah I've seen them become more and more irritating over the years. And like stated above, the worst are the border gaurds. I frequently travel to California and Vegas, this one time coming back home I was harrased because I didnt purchase anything (which is what I declared on the form for customs). The thing was, i really didnt buy anything to bring home because I go so often as it is. But the chewing out and questioning I had to endure made me feel like I should have stayed in Vegas. Hmmmmmmm....maybe not a bad idea........

 

[JamieA]

Yeah I've seen them become more and more irritating over the years. And like stated above, the worst are the border gaurds. I frequently travel to California and Vegas, this one time coming back home I was harrased because I didnt purchase anything (which is what I declared on the form for customs). The thing was, i really didnt buy anything to bring home because I go so often as it is. But the chewing out and questioning I had to endure made me feel like I should have stayed in Vegas. Hmmmmmmm....maybe not a bad idea........

The same thing happened to me. On a trip from the US from a while back, I had only bought a magazine, so I declared $10 on the form. The Canada border services agent at YVR seemed skeptical and said in a harassing way, "You only spent $10?!". I just handed him a envelope of all my receipts, he looked at them, these receipts were for many restaurant meals, some bar bills, transportation and entertainment - it was a lot of receipts. The agent seemed really frustrated that the receipts didn't have any merchandise and while skimming through my receipts, he said in a rude way, "These receipts are for meals!", I told him that I didn't shop, he let me through but he seemed disappointed and unhappy that he didn't see any merchandise on the receipts. I didn't like the tone of the agent.

In the last dozen trips to the US, I've found the US border agents rude maybe twice, but the Canadian border agents almost every single time, its like they are trained to be a bit rude. I've actually been using those automated machines that scan your passport and customs form at YVR the last few times I've returned home.

 

[HankQuinlan]

Just once l would like to be questioned by someone who was born in this country. Once I had to cut a trip short due to a family emergency. They really hassled me asking why I took such a long flight and returned so fast. I was tired and pissed off and I said the to gentleman with the foreign accent, "Unless you can tell me who won the 1967 Stanley Cup shut the fuck up and get me someone who was born here" I barely made my connection but it was worth it.

I would certainly have to google to find the answer to that question, and I was definitely born here.

 

[wilde]

Just once l would like to be questioned by someone who was born in this country. Once I had to cut a trip short due to a family emergency. They really hassled me asking why I took such a long flight and returned so fast. I was tired and pissed off and I said the to gentleman with the foreign accent, "Unless you can tell me who won the 1967 Stanley Cup shut the fuck up and get me someone who was born here" I barely made my connection but it was worth it.

I wasn't born here but I know the answer to that question. If I was that border agent though, I would have said I understand your frustration, being a laffs fan and all.

 

[InnocentBoy]

With a nexus pass driving back and forth i'd have to say the americans are ruder and never have anyone attractive working the booth. The canadian booth however has had some real cool dudes and some nice looking ladies.

 

[AznPleasure]

You know, it's interesting, I've always had the opposite experience with border guards.
Getting back into Canada for me has always been a breeze, I've had some with attitudes or just have no emotion, but it's always been quick and easy.

Going into the US, my friends and I tend to get hassled more often than not.
Just recently, on a trip with two other friends, the American guard asked one of us why he hadn't been to the US in over 6 months. What kind of question is that!? It was weird because the other two of us hadn't been over in probably longer than that!!

Anyways, knock on wood, Canada's been much friendlier to me. haha.

 

[Lancaster]

From my experience at the borders, usually folks who are Caucasian are more rude (with exceptions of course). Every time there's some asian guy or some EI dude, they just simply wave me in no problem. The other folks, they obviously treat me like as if I'm shipping drugs or something. At the airport, I bought back an extra bottle of tequila and I even declared it! But that douchebag of a border guard went all, "You said you brought more alcohol? How much exactly?" I was like saying maybe about an extra 750ml or something, but he went all anal asking why I brought back more than what was exempted, and kept telling me how there is no unofficial "2 bottle limit", etc.

In the end, nothing really happened except the crap I received.... I guess that's what I get for being law-abiding....