Held at gunpoint over my hookah.

[Yonatan]

once a cop asked me if he could smoke with us for a few minutes while he was on his lunch break...

i love Israel.

[SanguineSolitude]

in the cops defense he was probably a rookie and a bit of an asshole. bursts into a party where he thinks drugs are being used and is quick to assert total control. lets for a minute assume this was a druggie party, whats to say theres not some dealer who doesnt want to go back to prison there whos gonna do something stupid. It was completely out of line of the officer to be such a dick, but they are taught to gain complete control as quickly as possible.

police are a neccessary evil, like government. i dont have anything against them really though some of them(like at any other job) are complete douchebags

[Lakemonster]

A better way of handling that would have been:

As soon as he saw the hookah.... detain you under suspicion and wait for another officer to get there and enter witout a warrant as they have probable cause.

You would have sat in the back of a police car in cuffs till they figured out that it was not, in fact, dope.

[OPR234]

in the cops defense he was probably a rookie and a bit of an asshole. bursts into a party where he thinks drugs are being used and is quick to assert total control. lets for a minute assume this was a druggie party, whats to say theres not some dealer who doesnt want to go back to prison there whos gonna do something stupid. It was completely out of line of the officer to be such a dick, but they are taught to gain complete control as quickly as possible.

police are a neccessary evil, like government. i dont have anything against them really though some of them(like at any other job) are complete douchebags

That made me laugh, the finest defense i've ever seen Although you do make some valid points.

[cabanapatio]

Well Hell. I am going to pop my head above the parapit on this one.

To the original Poster :- I feel for you. You were taking part in a legal activity in your home. That's totally out of order..

To the other's proporting to be hassled whilst hookering in the public...

Surley you know public opinion and stupidity? To my mind taking my hookah into St James Park on a sunday afternoon is going to be akin to flicking a lions balls with a wet towel. Pointless and can you really be surprised at the outcome?

JD

Actually it occured in an area with a LARGE population of arabs and people of middle eastern descent. Because of this population, two hookah bars with open air patios opened next door to the police station *no joke*. Sometimes you see off duty cops join in. I failed to mentioned it.. my bad.

My part of town, we hookah pretty much everywhere smoke is tolerated and nothing awful goes down! I actually do recall the police officer yelling at me when I was trying to explain to him what shisha was. Thats why I found it odd!

"SHUT THE HELL UP. I KNOW WHAT A HOOKAH IS!" - police

[Shavo989]

i love Israel.

I am so pissed that I'm not there right now. Israel's the shit.

[DarthHookah]

yeah, my friends and i got some crap while we were smoking at an IHOP. granted, we truly were there to make some commotion, but they obviously told us to take it down., it was fun. here is the thread for it-
http://hookahforum.com/prejudice-at-ihop-t6048.html

[imonlyapuppet]

That's what you get for talking back to a cop.

If somebody didn't say this, I was going to. Yeah, the cop was out of line by immediately pulling his firearm out, but if you've got a gun pointed at you, it's pretty much common sense to sit there and shutup until the situation calms down. It's cocky and stupid to say to a cop, "you need to calm down" hell, if you have to say something, phrase it differently so you're not issuing a police officer orders.

That said, he was still in the wrong and you have a right to file a formal complaint. Just be more careful next time.

[[LB]]

that cop should be punished to the full extent. If he doesent get reprimanded by the system get yourself a lawyer.

[Hookah_Bob3]

You can't sue a cop, unfortunately.

[CaliforniaRose]

i love Israel.

I am so pissed that I'm not there right now. Israel's the shit.

I miss Israel too, my boyfriend and I went their this summer. I can't wait to go again.

[azcoyote]

Agreed, a cop who pulls you over or enters your house doesn't know what he's about to find. When cops act this way they are really scared to death, and can't respond like a normal person would. They feel they must assert their authority to be in control of the siutation. To diffuse this quickly, demonstrate your submissive side much like a dog would when being disciplined by the alpha male. Attempting to "level the playing field" like demanding the badge number will get the response you are now familiar with. They hold all the cards until you are booked. Then you can get sue them for false arrest, excessive use of force, unlawful search, etc. Municipalities settle these case out of court for millions (of tax dollars) every year. Too many of them and the officer becomes a libability to his employer and then he's driving a desk.

[Pieces]

You can't sue a cop, unfortunately.

You can, however, sue the city.

[DizzyGuy]

Is it really worth that just to get a formal appology?

[lilbrownindian]

on saturday me and 6 of my friends were at this gazebo in my town. we always go there to smoke hookah at random times of the day. usually 1-2 people would pass by. we were just hanging out and this random guy runs up the hill to the gazebo from behind us and starts to walk casually like he was already on the sidewalk. he comes over and sits down with us. he looks like hes about 35ish years old and he had like the most odd clothing style, like something you would give a tourist to wear in a low budget tv show. He had a diet coke can that was bent in the middle, and then he just starts talking to us and kept calling us the hookah guys. hes like how do you like that molasses stuff, and that he has his own "special" tree that he likes. He takes out A HUGE baggie of "weed" and put it on the coke can and smoked it that way, the weed looked like it was some sort of chew or tobacco. we were all just like wtf is going on man. he offered it to one of our friends and he said no. then he started to ask us if we are turkish, arabs or watever, seemed like he was trying to get us angry. he was like i always see you hookah guys here (never have any of us seen him anywhere near us) and that he sees our "residue" that we leave behind. in the backround we heard a faint sound of a radio which made us all very confused. so i killed the coal and we got the hell outa there.
well long story short it was a police setup, atleat we think so because these other kids trash the gazebo and smoke weed up there so they probably assumed hookah=bong=weed

[nasirjonesether]

If I was the cop I would've slapped you down for talking to me like that.

[gunsboy]

cops are like anyone else... there good cops and asshole cops. I have been arrested for callin a cop a racist pig because he was. and I have been helped by cops beyond anything i expected. ...

[Shavo989]

on saturday me and 6 of my friends were at this gazebo in my town. we always go there to smoke hookah at random times of the day. usually 1-2 people would pass by. we were just hanging out and this random guy runs up the hill to the gazebo from behind us and starts to walk casually like he was already on the sidewalk. he comes over and sits down with us. he looks like hes about 35ish years old and he had like the most odd clothing style, like something you would give a tourist to wear in a low budget tv show. He had a diet coke can that was bent in the middle, and then he just starts talking to us and kept calling us the hookah guys. hes like how do you like that molasses stuff, and that he has his own "special" tree that he likes. He takes out A HUGE baggie of "weed" and put it on the coke can and smoked it that way, the weed looked like it was some sort of chew or tobacco. we were all just like wtf is going on man. he offered it to one of our friends and he said no. then he started to ask us if we are turkish, arabs or watever, seemed like he was trying to get us angry. he was like i always see you hookah guys here (never have any of us seen him anywhere near us) and that he sees our "residue" that we leave behind. in the backround we heard a faint sound of a radio which made us all very confused. so i killed the coal and we got the hell outa there.
well long story short it was a police setup, atleat we think so because these other kids trash the gazebo and smoke weed up there so they probably assumed hookah=bong=weed

Wow, haha, that's crazy.

[DarthHookah]

i cant wait until the next american revolution. Sic Semper Tyrannus!

[Sayishere]

If I was the cop I would've slapped you down for talking to me like that.  :lol:

That looks painful
Well, if the cops have a reason to do something id say its alright

[Barnzy02]

Cops have a tendency to be way too overzealous, especially when they think drugs are involved. There was an incident last summer when my g/f and i were on our way to my parents house while they were out of town for the weekend. We had forgotten her sleeping meds, so i ran back to our house to grab them met back up with her. I had put the pills in her purse and we continued on our way to the train. All of sudden two cars sped up pulled over and people in regular clothes were yelling at us to put our hands on the wall. I was so completely surprised and confused that i was just asking what was going on. They then searched us, took her pill bottle (with her name, her doctors name, and her prescription clearly marked on the bottle) and asked what it was. Told her she was too young for the medication, and preceded to say she shouldnt be carrying pills in a bottle, but in an unmarked plastic bag (cuz that makes loads of sense). Another car now pulls up, and this is when the loud mouth asshole cop shows up, we are still trying to figure out if these guys are real cops. My g/f asked for a badge number, and the guy turns asks "you wanna see my fucking badge," flashes his gun then cuffed her and put her in the back of the car. It was the most ridiculous situation i had been involved in. Not to mention, they then arrested the guy who was stuck behind their cars in the middle of the street, for simply asking if he could get by. The same angry cop went over to him, pulled him out of his car, threw him down on the hood and cuffed him for doing absolutely nothing.

[azcoyote]

The "war on drugs" has been a real windfall for every cop shop in the country. They get to seize and sell all assets of accused drug dealers. This buys them spiffy new cop equipment - guns, radios, cars - that they would not otherwise be able to afford. Also explains their overzealous inforcement of drug laws. If we ever succeed in decriminalizing possession of drugs, they will have to find honest work like the rest of us.

[Sonthert]

Hate to say it, if we support the troops for doing their jobs in Iraq, shouldn't we support the police for doing theirs? All dumb trigger happy cops aside.

[Shavo989]

Sic Semper Tyrannus!

Even when the they're little goofballs *cough Bush cough*

[azcoyote]

Hate to say it, if we support the troops for doing their jobs in Iraq, shouldn't we support the police for doing theirs? All dumb trigger happy cops aside.

I wholehearted support police who are doing their job. Hear Hear, Hip Hip Hurray!

Maybe in addition to dumb and trigger-happy we can exclude from our support cops who are gratuituously profane or verbally abusive , those who shine their flashlights in your face at night when they pull you over, those who are on the take, those who file false reports and give false testimony, those who plant or tamper with evidence, those who siphon off a share of seized money or drugs for their own use. Those who use department resoursces and technology for personal purposes.

And of course every cop who conceals information relevant to an investigation into police misconduct.

But if we exclude all these, who will be left to support?