2011 Rant #3

OK....you had to know this one was coming.  While I was in Washington, out near Olympic NP, I was stopped by a State Trooper for doing 68 in a 55.  A place well known for its speed traps and for its overzealous troopers by the locals.  So much so that a local espresso bar offers a free bev with your citation.

I may or may not have been speeding.  I suspect I was following the flow of traffic and that I got targeted because I had a visible GPS marking me as an out of towner rather than a local.  I am not going to rant about the ticket.  Lord knows I have driven over the speed limit countless times, so I got caught this time.

Nope the rant is about what the officer said DURING the stop and I quote.  "I wonder if you are driving around taking pictures of OUR monuments so you can blow them up.  I have to ask - are you a terrorist?"  To which I spluttered and stuttered a No having never been asked that particular question EVER before.  He had already seen my license and rental agreement and knew I was from Kentucky here on vacation.  Why would he even think something like that, much less have the balls to ask?  I mean did he really expect me to say yes?

So that part you all probably know.  Today I am having my taxes done and the guy doing them I have known for 20 years starts telling me a similar story about a traffic stop in Indiana.  He looks as much a terrorist as I do and is a decorated Vietnam Vet to boot.  He informs me that this is now SOP for all traffic stops to ask if you are a terrorist.  I think he's pulling my leg because it's so ludicrous to consider it as truth.  I try to Google it, but have some qualms about even entering the word terrorist into the search window for fear it will flag me in a Homeland Security computer somewhere.

"Uh, Jim, looks like the suspected terrorist who was cited on the 101 in Sequim (pronounced SQUWIM) has now performed an unauthorized google search containing the word terrorism.  And...uh.....yeah, is currently writing a blog containing the same word."

I can't begin to tell you how appalled I am that this may be a policy that is enforced everywhere in the country to ask motorists who have just rolling stopped, or crossed the double yellow while answering their iPhone, or been pulled over for speeding if they are terrorists.

First of all.  Do they really think that ANYONE is going to answer in the affirmative?

"Why yes officer, I am a terrorist.  Could you please direct me to the nearest monument so that I can blow it up?"

Do they think that they are really gonna be able to tell anything from someone's response?  I think my response was pretty typical to the question asked - kinda pissed about the $150 ticket he just gave me, stuttering, shocked, biting my tongue so that I don't tell him what a stupid asshat I think he is, flustered beyond belief.  In other words, looking guilty as hell to the casual observer.

Do I really fit ANY terrorist profile?  Middle aged, mid-western, white, WOMAN.  I mean how many women terrorists have Homeland Security encountered domestically?  As far as I know that would be ZERO!

Why did the combination of the printed page with the Veteran's Memorial and my camera that elicited the terrorist comment not elicit one of compassion instead?  Why did he not ask if I were the mother, wife, sister or child of a Veteran (which I am)?  Why peg out to terrorist?  It doesn't make sense.  And things that don't make sense bug the snot outta me.

Mostly I am just sad that someone, anyone thought this was a good idea.  Much less wrote policy on it and encouraged it to be put into action.  Putting aside how stupid I thought it was, I was so deeply OFFENDED that a representative of my country would look me in the eyes and ask me that question.  Distressed at the thought of other people being asked it.  Wonder what people might think when they are visiting from somewhere else and are asked it.  I am afraid that the terrorist xenophobia is spreading to include everyone who isn't me.

I gladly tolerate having my shoes removed and my various body parts, sniffed, probed and felt up when I fly in order to possibly detect potential ill intent.  But I have to draw the line at being asked if I am a terrorist during a routine traffic stop.  That crosses a boundary for me.  It doesn't merely cross it, it explodes it.  What's next?  Will they knock on my door and ask me to stop writ........