Manoj VS The Monster

So this is what the Polices' business card look like if you ever have the pleasure/displeasure of encountering them on your travels. Or as they called it "a receipt" for you to keep and treasure forever to show that the police decided to humiliate you, an innocent person on a certain time, on a certain day and at a certain location. The official term is a "stop and search" but you know what I mean. The reason why I am sharing this with all of you is so you can learn from my experience and be better prepared, which is what I wish I was.

The incident occurred this past Wednesday at 815am and if you know New Street station, I was coming down the escalators like I do everyday. I was wearing my work uniform and carrying a large Adidas holdall as I was going to Leeds straight after work to see This is Hell (slightly ironic don't you think after what happened?) As I got to the bottom two Police officers pounced on me, one with a sniffer dog and the other with a PDA. Then the following conversation took place.

Copper: We need to have a look in your bag under section 44 of the 2000 terrorism act.

Me: Ermmm. Well I need to be at work in like five minutes. I don't really have time.

C: It will only take a minute. We are conducting random stop and searches today and you are exactly the kind of person we are looking for as you are carrying a rather large holdall.

M: O.k then.

Then the copper made the sniffer dog have a good whiff of my bag. Afterwards, the other copper asked me to open up my bag and to go through it and show them exactly what was inside. And remember, this was at 815am in the morning, during a busy period of the day. As I was doing this I looked up a few times to see hordes of the general public staring at me.

At this time I was thinking about how embarrassed and humiliated I felt, as I knew some of these people were my customers too. I felt like a fucking terror suspect for goodness sake. Was this right that I was going through these emotions?

The whole process lasted about 15 minutes then at the end of my ordeal one copper asked me if I "wanted a receipt of being stopped" As this time I was still shocked at what was happening to me. so I duely obliged.

When i first got stopped my instinct was to not cooperate, as you can see from my initial answer. But then another thought entered my mind very sharply. The Police shooting an Innocent man on the tube in front of members of the public in London.

I was thinking "If I walked away or ran away from them now, would they chase me, throw me to the floor and take me some where to interrogate me?" This is what I was thinking. I was thinking if the Police can get away things in the past, then what else can they get away with? Should I just co operate? With only having a split second to react I took this stance.

After reading what people have said on my page, maybe I should have stuck to my fucking guns and not sold out my values and principles. I might have been a martyr for the innocent people in the world. But I really did know what was for the best. I am not scared of the Police but I am scared of what they do to people like you and me.

Did I look like was going to blow myself up? Did I look suspicious? Because the Police didn't find anything on me, could I be done for wasting Police time?

I really don't know...

Section 44 Stop and Search





Currently listening to Get Jealous by Tegan and Sara