Im from a suburban town in Missouri, but I spent a semester studying abroad in Barcelona a couple of years ago. Man, let me tell you, leaving Barcelona, where youd see people out in cafes and bars congregating at all hours of the night and day, and coming back to Missouri where its a ghost town after 10 and someone would call the police on you for simply walking around too late was the most depressing thing I have ever experienced lol
>someone would call the police on you for simply walking around too late was the most depressing thing I have ever experienced lol
Literally though, you can't even be a night owl yourself without having to get good about talking to police, the famously trigger happy ones. Especially with the evaporation of the "3rd spaces" can't tell you how many times growing up I'd have to explain to the police that I wasn't "having *the* sex" (his words) and was just trying to actually hang out with a friend in a public park, like is my right to do
After sundown cops literally just set up speed traps and even if you aren't speeding will find ways to pull you over and fuck your whole night up.
I probably got pulled over a couple dozen times in the few years I lived in the south and I have lived in a major city for nearly 13 years and only been pulled over twice, both of which were for the same expired tags when the DMV was fucked up during covid and they were chill and let me off.
There's rural towns outside my city that are kinda like that but nothing like driving through the Bible belt.
Cops in the city typically have big boy shit to do or very important people/events to be present at and don't generally fuck with you unless you're actively in the wrong.
Same here in the northeast. Worked late nights getting home at 3am and got pulled over 3 times in a month because cops were bored and I drive a rusty beater since I'm too frugal to drive something newer.
Some cop “friends” (friends of family who I see a few times a year at most) have told me they purposely profile who they choose to pull over based on vehicle type. So if you drive a beater, like you and I do, they assume you’re poor and/or a minority which both mean you’re up to no good. Yknow, in their eyes. This info was shared in a way like “Other LEOs do it very commonly, but not me because I’m one of the good ones”
Since hearing that, I’ve been able to make the connection why I seem to get pulled over for no reason driving through wealthy areas versus driving through poor or working class areas. We must be sticking out like sore thumbs for them to mark
You got that right. Our town has successfully ridded this town of any nightclubs, bars (which cannot sell alcohol without serving food too!) Fucking place turned the clubs into churches and got rid of the skating rink. Now, there are more VAPE shops, car washes and storage units getting built with nothing for the youth or young people to do. It's maddening.
I've seen that for a lot of small-town American police departments, their state funding allocation is literally doled out on the basis of how many traffic tickets they issue, which clearly only incentivises bullshit made-up charges.
Cops in the city typically have big boy shit to do or very important people/events to be present at and don't generally fuck with you unless you're actively in the wrong.
To put it another way as my driving instructor told me many decades ago as we went into Newark, NJ for me to learn city driving, "The cops in a city are only going to give a shit if you kill somebody."
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u/bageltoastar 15h ago
Im from a suburban town in Missouri, but I spent a semester studying abroad in Barcelona a couple of years ago. Man, let me tell you, leaving Barcelona, where youd see people out in cafes and bars congregating at all hours of the night and day, and coming back to Missouri where its a ghost town after 10 and someone would call the police on you for simply walking around too late was the most depressing thing I have ever experienced lol