pd I don’t know if it’s the best in the world but if it is, I think that’s a horrible statement about the world.
I was crossing the street downtown and my walk light was green. All the cars turning left in front of me kept turning, none of them stopped for me even though my light was green. One of those cars was a cop. He rolled down his window and said I better not j-walk. I pointed out that my light was green, it was a crosswalk, and that HE was turning on a red light and cutting me off. He told me if I’m going to mouth off like that he’ll arrest me next time he sees me. That’s my experience # 1.
Experience #2: I was scuba-diving, hunting for lobster. To hunt lobster you must follow these laws: they must be in season, you must have a fishing license, it must be an unprotected area, and the main lobster carapace must be 3 & 1/4″ or bigger. I caught a lobster and thought I met all of those. When I got out of the water, the department of fish and game swooped down on me (it was night) armed like a swat team. They measured my lobster, to them it was 1/2mm undersized. It is well known that when the water drains out of it, the lobster shrinks a bit but even then, come on, only half a millimeter off? I had a permit, it was a legal area, it was in season, and it was clearly a borderline offense. One thing was clear: I tried my best to follow all the laws. So they cited me and in the process threatened to “confiscate my gear” which is worth about $3000.
Then I had to go to court. First, the court lost my records so when I showed up, they said to go home and forget about it. I had taken the day off thus lost income. 6 months later I got a letter, they found my records and wanted me to come back to court. Another day away from income. I met with a prosecutor who gave me a “plea” bargain that she would only charge me with an “infraction” and I’d pay $300. I accepted but in the courtroom was disgusted to see that a man who had repeatedly been caught poaching all kinds of animals, and who was caught with a truckload of baby lobsters and other creatures, was given the exact same deal. Knowing that they treat people who try to follow all the laws the exact same way they treat flagrant violators, do you think I’m going to care enough to be such a good “law-biding” citizen any more? I think our justice system actually CREATES criminals.
Now, when someone does a background check on me, I have to explain that this “criminal” infraction is about a lobster. I usually get a laugh out of it.
