First time for me... Being checked out by a cop for being barefoot

Greetings, fellow barefooters,

I always thought that the tales of over-concerned police troopers pulling up next to a barefooter and asking about his/her well-being and checking their ID in order to ascertain (s)he has not eloped from the funny farm were something that would happen in the US only...

Today I was proven wrong. On my way to work on a cloudy but mild morning (temperatures around 9°C/almost 50F) I had my regular stop at the little
mall at the main station in Muelheim an der Ruhr (Ruhr area, mid-western Germany) to buy some provisions for the day at work (ice tea and some nicely caffeinated cold caramel milky coffee in bottles) and then to change from the
subway to the bus which takes me to the office building I work in. There were no hassles at all at the Edeka supermarket, and since I had enough time left before the bus was to depart, I stepped outside the mall building, in view of a parking lot and the post office, to have a cigarette.
As it is the norm in the US for many years now, Germany (along with the other EU members) has issued no-smoking laws for public buildings, so
that smokers have to step outside to pursue their admittedly unhealthy habit.

Just as I was standing outside the building and having lit up, I saw a motorcycle trooper on his green-and-white BMW motorcycle slowly passing
the parked cars in the parking lot, then briefly looking over to where I stood. He continued passing the parked cars slowly - most likely to check for illegaly parked cars, then took another glance, directly at me, as I could see, and after a third glance turned his bike and slowly rolled towards
me. I took my earphones out of my ears (as I still have my trusty little MP3 player with me to blank out comments by shoddies), and nodded a
greeting as he stopped his bike directly in front of me. He began the conversation with a general and noncommittal "How do you do" while glancing
at my bare feet. To my reply "Fine, thanks" he got more direct by asking "What are you doing here?" I blinked, and then aswered, truthfully, that I
was having a smoke before taking the bus to work. His next question was now getting to the heart of the matter, as he asked whether my feet weren't
cold... I gave the standard barefooter's answer of the core body temperature that has to be kept high in order to feel warm overall, to which he
remained skeptical, as could be read in his face most easily. Next was his question about dangers like broken glass or dog poo on the sidewalk, to
which I gave the standard barefooter's answer of looking ahead on the way being the trick to evade something unpleasant before stepping in it... his
face remained just as skeptical as before. As if he hadn't heard my reply about being on my way to the office, he then asked, whether I had
a job, and I answered, again truthfully, that I work in a call center, currently doing quality management work in an outbound telesales campaign.
Basically, it entails listening to the sales calls recorded and checking whether the agents did their job right as to follow the rules of valid
sales calls.
I also added, that for the office work I do carry shoes with me in my bag. Today it were flip-flops, actually, due to the relatively mild weather.

It sure seems, that he was thinking along the lines of bare feet equal low social standard. After another silent second, he then asked for my
ID and checked via radio, whether I was a harmless citizen or the aforementioned nutcase on the loose from the funny farm.

Even though I was giving what we might think were textbook answers to shed some light of information on curious and interested people, including to
state my preference of barefooting as it feels better concerning my ankles, knees and back and even though I was dressed normal enough (jeans, a regular olive-green t-shirt and a dark grey hooded zippered jacket) - casual, but not sloppy, that trooper was clearly one over-concerned person.
I found his final question particularly funny, as he handed me back my ID (after the ID check via radio had proven me to be harmless) and said:
"I bet you are checked by the police quite often, aren't you?" to which I again truthfully and quite cheerfully responded "Actually, this was the
first time".

To be honest, I felt more amused by the situation than harrassed, and I can now count myself among those barefooters who had been asked by over-
concerned LEOs (law enforcement officers), whether they were OK or their feet were cold.
At least he wasn't asking questions like today's date or the current Bundeskanzler's (German chancellor's) name in order to make sure, that I
was mentally sane and sound. I wonder what he might have done, had he met
me being barefoot last week, as we had morning temperatures of 2°C (35F) then.
It isn't a club I'd willingly join, but as I wrote in the subject line: there's always a first time for some things.

Wiggling bare toes innocently, even in sight of LEOs,

~*Ganesha*~

 

That sucks, G. Good for you for staying cool and finding humour in the situation. I think the cop was probably bored and looking for someone to pick on. I don't think that scenario is peculiar to Germany either... I can imagine the cops here (UK) acting similarly. Keep em bare!

 

I got stopped on my way to work by the police here in the UK a little while ago too.

It was a random check at a railway station.

I was asked my name, address and to provide ID which they checked by radio before my bag and my person were searched.

The policeman was polite at all times and the only reference made to my barefoot state was when, as he looked through my rucksack, he joked "I'll be careful not to tread on your toes with my big heavy boots" before confirming I had nothing untoward on me and I could go on my way.

How pleasant that there was no 'third degree' about my personal choice of footwear ( i.e. none ! ) just a simple, quick and light hearted acknowledgement and nothing more.

It made a pleasant change from some of the stories of harrassment and 'interrogation' that some of our fellow barefooters get subjected to by those 'in authority'.

 

i hate cops..
why is it, its like they dont have anything better to do ever, then sit around, and try to find something to bust people for..

just last week, i was sitting at the beach in my car with my friend and girlfriend..
cops pull in the beach, gets out, and starts checking cars for bad inspection stickers..
they come up to me, check my cars inspection.. and the one cop says.. you guys arent doing anything illegal in there are you? i replied in a sarcastic voice, 'apparently not.. im sitting at the beach enjoying the day, is there something wrong with it?' story go's on and on..

freaking cops.. yea i know just doing their job.. Protect and serve lol what a joke.. more like Harass and sit at the donut shop, drinking coffee for a few hours on the job.. our tax dollars at work!

if your a cop, fuck you, you lazy bastards :>

 

Well quite frankly, as bad as our stupid US attitudes are, Ganesha's story is FAR worse than anything I've experienced here in the states. And I have been here a long time!

It's stupid business owners and their minions, and the phantom laws, and then, the inexplicable jaundiced view of the American people against bare footing that causes the discomfort over here. There may be police harrassment here, too, but I don't know of it.

 

Remember:

Silence is the best weapon in a police state!

 

I've heard elsewhere of other people's experiences going out barefoot in public places being stopped by the police. More often than not, the calls are made by "concerned" citizens seeing barefooters in public, and the cops have to investigate every call. Fortunately, it hasn't happened to me---yet.

 

The police have checked me out at the park. After a call came in. They are obligated to investigate calls. They knew it was me and we ended up having a pleasant conversation. It was a mild day with a foot of snow on the ground.

 

Oh, well, us barefooters have a somewhat different temperature scale... mild can mean anything above freezing level.



Interesting side note about that cop who checked me out: as I told the story at the role-playing game group we have regularly, one of my pals (working as a gardener in the same town) asked me, what that biker cop looked like, as recently he met one in roughly the same location, who just seemed to be bored with his usual routine (checking for illegally parking people), that he spotted their truck with a small backhoe on the load platform, and just took the opportunity to get over there, and harrass them about securing the load on their truck (although it was secured proper)... it seems, that this particular trooper has a quite boring job routine and just jumps at any opportunity to spice up his job... unfortunately at the expense of other people. If it ever comes to that guy checking me out again, I'll get a little more direct.


wiggling toes on a mild Wednesday morning (7° C/ around 44 F - mild enough for me to be barefoot) ,

~*Ganesha*~

 

i been stopped by the cops for being barefoot as well. i been asked all of the standard questions the shoddies ask. i too was required to furnish my id so the police could check me out. after determining that i was not on "america's most wanted" i was allowed to go on my way. the good ole us of a: the land of the police state.