I work part time for a water treatment company. I’ve been with them for 16 years or so. Right now I work 2 hours a day 6 days a week operating a regeneration plant for ion exchange resin bed. It is one of my 4 jobs so I often fit the hours in at odd times of the day. Usually somewhere between 9pm and 2 am. Sometimes when I get to the business I might have to wait a few more minutes for a regeneration to finish or make phone calls before I go inside. So I do these things while sitting in my car.
The business is on the main road in a town of 7000 people. the police station is less then a mile down on the same road.
In the past two months I’ve had police officers show up. Each time they seem to get worse.
The first time I had arrived and was searching my passenger seat for my gloves. When I got out of the car I noticed a cruiser had pulled in the parking lot. The officer waved my over and asked what I was doing there at that time of night. I explained I worked there. He asked a few questions about what I did. I answered he questions. He told me to have a good night. I thanked him for checking in on the business and went on to do my job. I felt this was a reasonable action. He didn’t take any real amount of my time was just checking to make sure I wasn’t robbing the place or something.
The second time, a week ago, I was on the phone in my car, in the parking lot. A cruiser pulled in behind me shined the spotlight on my car. I noticed it but didn’t rush to finish my conversation when I was done I got out of my car and went over to talk to the officer. I told him I worked there. He demanded to see me license. I gave it to him he told me to wait while he ran it. I stood around in the cold waiting. Eventually he gave it back and went on his way. This upset me a bit. I don’t think they have any right to demand my license and I don’t want my time wasted while they do whatever it is they do.
This morning once again I was in my car, in the parking lot. I had to wait for a regeneration to finish so I was playing a game on my phone. A cruiser pulled in flashing blue lights parked behind me. I went to get out of my car. The officer said on the loud speaker to remain in my car. I sat for about ten minutes. She came over to my car I opened the door so I could speak to her. The whole exchange she was very rude.
She asked ‘your window doesn’t work’.
I said ‘not when the car is off.’
She said ‘why are you sitting in your car with it off.’
I hesitated not really knowing how to answer that then told her I worked there and had to wait a few minutes before starting.
She told me she needed to see my license to run it to make sure I wasn’t wanted for anything.
I asked if I could go inside while she did so. She told me ‘no, remain in your car’
I sat for a good long time, eventually she came back with my license. She handed it to me. She asked why I was there at this hour. I told her that it is a part time job that I fit in during odd hours.
She then noticed boxes in my back seat and asked what was in them. They were mostly lighting fixtures for my other job. I told her as much. She then shined her flashlight on a open box of toy transformers I’m holding for my friend for her 4 year old. She said those don’t look like lights. I was getting quite annoyed at her attitude at that point. I told her ‘no that box is toys. Do you feel the need to search my car now?’ She said ‘no’ and left.
I can’t imagine they’ve never seen my car there before. I don’t really want to be interrogated every time I go to work there. I’m considered calling up the police station and asking what I have to do to stop them from wasting my time. I’m thinking the way this is progressing it won’t be long before they start handcuffing me and dragging me down to the station.
I’ve never been arrested for anything. I’d lived in this town for a few years.I don’t live that far away now. I’d think just running my plate would give them enough info to not have to bother me. Just fucking leave me alone.
Ask your job if there’s some kind of authorization sticker or company logo you can temporarily paste into the back window. Make sure the cops know what that sticker means.
Go down to the station and explain your position to them, but don’t be rude. Provide them with your work number, or your boss’s number or whatever. In a town of 7,000 people there can’t be that many police officers. They’ll all soon get to know you. You might be surprised; they might even get accustomed to seeing you and get worried about you if you aren’t there.
The company is me and 3 other people. I think a sticker might be overboard. Apparently they haven’t managed to get accustomed to seeing me there in the past 16 years. I think there are 25 officers in the town at this point(I have no idea why!) They seem to have too much free time on there hands and talking to other people in town this type of activity is not unusual for the police department.
First of all, I can understand your annoyance with the police, but they have a legitimate interest in your presence there late at night and have no reason not to believe you aren’t up to no good there. It’s stupid, but the burden of proof is on you, and you aren’t exhibiting any signs of the kind of behavior they expect from someone not out to cause trouble.
Never get out of your car to approach an officer. Ever. Let them come to you. If one of them let you do this, they’re an idiot and aren’t doing their job properly, even if part of that job includes aiming a bright fucking spotlight in your face and not turning it off. Just look away and wait for them to approach.
Do not hassle them or give them lip. This applies to tone of voice as well. I know it’s hard when you’ve done nothing wrong, but if you cooperate, they will not be as dickish to you.
Ask the officer for their name and badge number, particularly if this happens more than once. You should’ve started doing this on the second occasion. You also should’ve mentioned to the other officers that you’ve been questioned previously by other officers, which you could’ve corroborated if you’d had the other officers’ names.
Call the station and speak to a police chief immediately. Inform the chief of your work situation and that you’re being hassled during your shift. Give them the number to your employer and whatever other information they need to corroborate your legitimacy. On preview, Fish already alluded to this. I think more than anything this should be your first step. The first three are just for future reference in dealing with police.
Go to the police station and tell them while you’re appreciative of their efforts to safe-guard the community, being interrogated by their officers night after night is starting to have serious ramifications on the quality of your work.
I think I know the problem. Late at night, water treatment plant, 25 officers for a town of 7000, just down the road from the station. They are bored/just finishing their shift/just starting their shift and there you are lookin’ all suspicious and up to no good.
You need to speek with the police department, and make them aware that you do this regularly, and you’re getting questioned a lot, so could they please make a notation, and inform the officers you do what you do. They patrol at night looking for robbers and when a vehicle is parked outside a closed bussiness it gets checked out. It’s something the owners expect to be done. You’ld have a reason to be upset if the same officer was questioning you. Never exit a vehicle and start twords a police car, and don’t start digging on the floor or such. That’s what happens before cops get shot at, and they might shot you first.
Perhaps a simple email to the department may do the trick, politely and kindly worded, explaining who you are and give a description of yourself, vehicle and parameters of employment. This will likely end up as a notation in a few of the roll calls before folks go out to work and it is likely you will see some officers and they’ll give you a wave (now knowing who you are) and may come over to see if you are okay.
Not that I am a big fan of authorities nosing into my business (whole other story) but there exists a great liklihood that something untoward has happened there or near there and the patrol has been asked to step up their checks of the area. Therefore what was once not of interest now is to the law enforcement brigade.
You work at a water treatment plant. And you think there is a problem with them checking out a suspicious vehicle in the middle of the night? I would check you every night and twice on Sunday. They are doing their jobs. They are not bored. They are not harassing you. They are doing exactly what they are supposed to do. You don’t like it, stop parking there for long periods of time in the middle of the night. If you have some down time before work go to a dinner. Or put up with them checking up on you. Of course they are going to check on any suspicious activity at the local water treatment facility. You think they shouldn’t?
I’m with Loach on this one. Go ahead and try to let the police chief know about your circumstances but, other than that, just be glad that the cops in your town appear to give a damn who is screwing with the water supply.
You are not helping your case with your behavior, starting with the second officer. I find it interesting that you don’t want your time wasted, yet “didn’t rush to end your conversation,” thereby wasting the officer’s time. Your tone of voice, snarky “Do you feel the need to search my car now?” comment, and overall attitude is what is escalating these encounters.
There are several very good suggestions here that you should consider following, including talking to your boss and asking him/her to file a statement with the police that if they see X car with Y plates and a person fitting Z description, that’s an employee. But I’ll add that if you’re really concerned about being harassed, stop sitting in your car. Surely there’s a chair somewhere in the plant where you can play a game on your cell or make phone calls.
Incidentally,
They have every right to “demand” your license. You are sitting in front of a business, well past business hours, doing… something, but they aren’t sure what. All they have to go on is your word, and from your description here you’re behaving kinda like a prick. They don’t have a right to search your car, but they sure as hell can make sure you are who you claim to be.
The cops have the responsibility to keep the town safe so they are doing a good job protecting the water supply, but you also have every right in the world to sit around in the parking lot for as long as you feel like it. You are a law abiding citizen, and the police force is there to serve and protect YOU from the criminals. They want to make sure you get to your job safely and easily. But in their position they just don’t know any different and take the safer route of protecting the health and lives of 7,000 people first and then worrying about your time and energy being wasted second.
You suggested it yourself, call or go to the police station and ask them what the best course of action is. They want to help you while catching the crooks and do that all as efficiently as possible. I’m sure they will have some good suggestions for you.
Don’t discount the possibility that your presence there is being phoned in to the police station by Concerned Citizens (either neighbors or people driving by). When Concerned Citizens call it’s a miracle if they can give more vehicle description than “it’s some kind of car”, and we have to dispatch officers out to check on it. If the cops don’t know you by sight, then yeah, they’re going to I.D. you.
Yeah, you’d think after 16 years the cops would be familiar with your habits, but maybe they just had a mass hiring or something and the rookies are being overzealous. Call the P.D. and let them know what’s going on; give them your name and vehicle description and tell them you’re there every night, and ask them to please pass that on to their night officers (and the night dispatchers; no one ever remembers to tell us anything ). Then instead of bored cops pulling in to harass you you’ll have bored cops pulling in to shoot the breeze. They’ve got good stories.
There are only 25 cops in the whole police force. You have met 3 of them in the past few days. So you only have 22 more faces and names to learn. That shouldn’t be too hard. Drop by the police station in your spare time(during day-shift hours) and explain your situation. The 2 or 3 cops on duty will remember you. Now you only have 19 names to learn. Drop by again, (during night-shift hours). Two more cops on duty to chat with. Now you only have 17 more people to meet…
Seriously–learn their names, and greet them with a friendly smile . “Hi, officer Johnson, I haven’t seen you for a couple weeks. I see you’re working the night shift again. like me. Sure is chilly tonight, but at least it isn’t raining like when Billy-Bob checked up on me last night.”
Or am I missing something here?
why? Haven’t you ever called a plumber to your house? He may be a one-man business, but he still has his name and phone number painted professionally on his pickup truck.
A plumber has his name and number on his truck because it’s ADVERTISING. When you need a plumber, and you look in the Yellow Pages or online, a semi-familiar name is more likely to get called.
However, in the OP’s case, yeah, go ahead and let the PD know that you’re gonna be there, waiting for the machine to get through with its business, and your car is more comfortable and has more fun stuff in it.
I’m a water guy too. All of the professional education and magazines lately have been hugely emphasizing security at water plants, although I didn’t know that it had trickled down to local police departments too. That makes sense though, as it’s all come from 9/11, and has had enough time to percolate.
And I run a one-man business too, working by myself at odd hours and in weird locations. I have my name on my truck and usually an orange light on the top. Mostly for advertising, true, but I’ve had more than a few cops drive by me, take a look at my branding, nod, and drive on by. I’ve never been stopped. I get nodded at by cops and other utility workers on the road, which always surprises me, until I remember that I’m nowhere near as anonymous as I think I am.
See if that company will make you a magnet sign. Then you don’t have to advertise for them on your hours off. They’re not too expensive. Talking to the police department sounds like a good idea too.
Jules, Water Distribution Operator (among other things.)
). Then instead of bored cops pulling in to harass you you’ll have bored cops pulling in to shoot the breeze. They’ve got good stories.