> Here in the states the police require probable cause to stop and=20
> question someone

One of the videos I watched was a man exercising his Open Carry
rights. That is, walking down the street carrying a firearm (actually
two). The officer had stopped him and asked for some ID.

The comments were in two minds -

Open Carry is not illegal, the officer had no probable cause because
there was no apparent offence being committed. Also, the interviewee
had no Concealed Weapon permit and to not carry them openly would
be illegal

or

The officer has a duty of safety to all citizens and a man carrying two
firearms is likely to cause concern (cf the recent Chipotle incidents)

IMHO I would have asked the man to account for himself. As did
the officer, who wasn't being particularly officious or impolite. To
which he got a load of case law thrown back at him by what sounded
to me like a bit of a provocative smart arse. Eventually the officer's
supervisor turned up and allowed the man to go with no more fuss.
Ultimately the sensible, if frustrating, thing to do because the officer
really did have no legal grounds to stop him

I think even if the officer had come at him nice as pie "Excuse me sir,
I know you don't have to answer this but ....." he'd have got no ID

> The police used to park across the street in front of bars just=20
> around closing time. The reasoning was that since someone is
> coming out of a bar they are probably under the influence

Story I heard on the radio went like this ;

A group of guys sent their designated sober driver out into the carpark
where they knew cops were waiting. He acted as drunk as, and of
course they pounced on him. Meanwhile, the real drunks are quietly
slipping away in their cars while the cops are busy doing a breath test
on a man who came out of the pub as sober as he went in

Even though I've lost two friends to drunk drivers that's still funny

Joe
--=20
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