Police harassment

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A theme I seem to keep hearing from fellow Aspies is concerning police harassment, where there was no grounds for suspecting any crime was committed, and they were just going about their business. How they seem to have been vulnerable to police harassment. Presumably because they are accused of looking different or odd? Sounds like a lot of Aspies are vulnerable to police harassment for whatever reason.

I recently had to experience a little police harassment myself, in San Antonio. So crucially, it happened not in this country but during 2 weeks in America. It never happens to me at least here.

Wherever it happens... is it just me or has anyone else noticed the amount of vulnerability we have to police harassment?

I personally haven't experienced it, but I would assume this would mostly be affecting men, rather than women. I would have to say it is probably the result of women being nervous and thinking the guy who they probably don't even know has AS is trying to stalk them.

After I moved to India I am often stopped and they ask my name and adress. Most often they won't give reason, just say they are being friendly as if I am stupid. But on a couple of occasions they told me. In both cases they said that my clothes were dirty and I looked like a homeless person. But, somehow, simply telling them I have a place to stay wasn't good enough, they needed to know WHICH place.

I think in the USA, it is hit or miss depending on the training of the police force. I never have any issues here in but I have heard of quite a few issues in the Twin Cities area (especially the suburbs).

I've not heard things like this... but I think it might be because allot of people/police are judgmental, and have an idea of how a "normal" human behaves and acts. So perhaps they are just weary of whether the person has a mental disorder, or has a pound of heroin down his pants. Police can't really get to know why a person behaves in a nervous/strange manor, unless they know who that person is... if that makes sense? Sorry if I imposed a negative image of policemen into your head XD.

Nope it's never happened to me. It kinda surprises me, because I guess it happens to a lot of others with AS (especially other guys).

I used to get a lot of attention from the police when they saw me working on my vehicle, or when I am on the road because of my unusual vehicle. The attention was never malicious. One time, I was pulled over after I bought a whole bunch of plastic pipe fittings that I was going to use for an invention I was testing. I'm guessing that the store employees might have called them to watch me because I get spacey when I am thinking hard. They might have thought I was high on drugs or looking to steal something.


Why do I even bother with trying to appear to fit social norms? If people are going to think I'm high or weird anyway, then why shouldn't I be? Why hold back? Shopping, driving, whatever!

http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/57903/detail/

did you know that you looking suspicious is enough grounds for an officer to be justified in being suspicious of you? Just ask black people. If you want this to stop you need to know what they're looking for. We're a lot luckier than black people in that we can pretend we're not aspies for long enough to walk past police.

If you look frightened when a copper looks at you he's going to think there's a reason for that and 'oh maybe it's aspergers' wont be one of them. To him you're hiding something and he's perfectly within his rights to find out what it is. It's his job.

Next time you see cops with a dog at the train station for example watch from a distance for a while and you'll se it's not the dog choosing people to be searched it's people choosing themselves. If you move your bag away from the dog, if you back away from the dog, if your feet are pointed towards the nearest exit but your body isnt, if you're avoiding eye contact with the cops, if you're staring nervously at the dog all those things and ore will get you searched. Did you know that although dogs noses are very sensitive they do get tired after a while? I guarentee the dog doesn't get packed away once it's nose has gets tired.

I see you're from Edinburgh. there's always a group of cops at Waverly when I go there and you have to walk past them to get to the stairs. I always walk straight towards them and one always looks directly at some point before I pass them, if I was to look away as he caught my eye that would be suspicious so I just stare right back for a second or two, maybe even smile, then look away but not down. Never been harrassed.

It probably doesn't help, when sniffer dogs are involved, if the person is very innocently just scared of dogs in general.

I have been subjected to fairly intense police harassment on two distinct occasions and for the very same thing. Dallas Police the first time. Austin Police the second. I have balance problems and what I would call a loping gait. I also slur or murmur my words when speaking. This has lead to me being harassed and given sobriety tests for public intoxication. I don't drink at all. The police also make me so socially agitated and "prickly" because they don't like it when you don't make eye contact. The last time this happened I told the cop I have Asperger's and he said "yeah right, that's not a real problem". I wish they had done something more so I could pursue litigation, just to put a public face on this issue.

One of the reasons that police officers are likely to pay attention to anyone "different" is that they are actually trained to. I encounter trainee officers regularly, I have seen the information they are given with regards to spotting someone potentially under the influence of any substances. The behaviour they are trained to look for - unusual gait, lack of eye contact, "odd" responses or slurred speech if the subject is stopped and spoken to, "fear reaction" and backing away, things of this nature - in some cases may be indicative of something going on that they need to deal with. That is part of what they do. One of the reasons I wear the medical ID is that I exhibit most of those reactions if stopped by officers, and it should at least alert them that something other than what they initially expect may be going on.

Part of my plan for this year is to try to raise awareness among the trainee officers that there might be a legitimate medical reason for certain behaviours, and how to make dealing with an incident better for all involved. Many of them will only have read the information in textbooks, and never "officially" encountered someone with a PDD and their potential reactions to being stopped. If I am allowed to carry out this suggestion, I hope that it might make things easier, both for the officers and the people that they serve.

Of course, after all that noble & self-righteous junk, it may turn out that no-one wants the additional input and the whole idea gets thrown out...!

Well good luck anyway Ravenchild, it's worth a try.

Yes and police can tell when someone is just scared of the dog. So could you. Behaviour is very different when someone is scared of the dog because they have drugs in their pocket rather than just being scared of getting bitten.

I just had to paraphrase this part of the bodylanguage book I'm reading to show why this happens


So you see I didn't just make this up to annoy you

On this topic... I was arrested by the anti-terrorism squad once... black listed and followed around for weeks by undercovers... in the end I have no conviction.

But I don't think it had much to do with me being an aspie, more to do with me being a prominent political activist.

Good work. Interested to hear which country this is, UK?

Nope, never had it happen in the US..

Had it happen several times in Europe when crossing borders by train (particularly the Swiss - German border), where I was pretty much the only one in sight who was questioned..

Might be part of a wider problem(police attention where no criminal activity is involved) look up gang or organised stalking. Good sites are targeted individuals and expose gang stalking