What the fuck's going on over there?

[Peter]

[Peter]

And what the fuck's going on over here?

A STRUCTURAL engineer from Kent claims he was held in a police cell for 18 hours after being mistaken for a terrorist.

David Neale, who lives in Rainham, says he was driving through Cornwall when he stopped with a friend to take a picture of a pylon and suddenly found himself surrounded by armed police.

Mr Neale says he was arrested under the Terrorism Act, but, after 90 minutes sitting in a police car, the charge was dropped to conspiracy to commit criminal damage.

Police have denied his arrest had any link to the act.

The 32-year old was arrested with housemate Jay Curtis and taken to Newquay Police Station where they were questioned and left in the cells overnight before being released without charge.

Mr Neale suffers from a rare form of epilepsy and says he suffered a fit during the night.

He also says he returned home the following day to find police had raided his home and seized his computer.

The engineer had been enjoying a holiday in Cornwall with Mr Curtis when he spotted the pylons and stopped with his camera.

Mr Neale said: “I design and analyse pylons for a living so have a genuine interest in them. That’s why I stopped, but the next thing I knew six cars had pulled up and police were brandishing guns.

“They just didn’t believe it when I told them what I was doing. They were convinced I was trying to blow them up.

“I was standing in a bright red fleece and Jay was sat in the car so it wasn’t as if we were trying to be secretive. We weren’t doing anything wrong.

“There are lots of people out there interested in trains and airports. Does that mean they’ll be arrested for taking an innocent photograph?”

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed David Neale was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage on April 4, at 3.50pm.

[Alex179]

All he has to do is tell her where he is a citizen lol.

[Parts]

They can't catch that many by the look of how many illegals are here in CT.  looks like one big pain in the ass the worst we get are DUI check pionts

[Peter]

All he has to do is tell her where he is a citizen lol.

No, he doesn't.  The officers just want to make people think they do.

[Alex179]

All he has to do is tell her where he is a citizen lol.

No, he doesn't.  The officers just want to make people think they do.

Probably, but we can't know until he follows their entire series of questioning.   Both parties were just doing their job, so to speak.   As a journalist, his is to be a pain in the ass obviously.   

If you cross state or national borders with drugs, you deserve to get fucked over.

[Parts]

You know all the guys there where laughing at the woman they sent up to him probably new to it they all seemed to know who he was.  This would drive me crazy I am sure I'd be pulled over into the secondary area every time as I always fuck up these conversations.

[Callaway]

My husband used to get questioned in great detail every time he crossed the border from Mexico into the US.

They would ask him what he did for a living, for example.  He would say that he was a mathematician and then they would ask him to say somethng mathematical.

[Peter]

All he has to do is tell her where he is a citizen lol.

No, he doesn't.  The officers just want to make people think they do.

Probably, but we can't know until he follows their entire series of questioning.   Both parties were just doing their job, so to speak.   As a journalist, his is to be a pain in the ass obviously.   

If you cross state or national borders with drugs, you deserve to get fucked over.

He's not crossing any borders; it's an ad-hoc checkpoint that's been set up along an ordinary stretch of road, and he's under no requirement to answer their questions or cooperate in any way.  To interrogate him or search his vehicle, they'd need to have a credible suspicion of criminal activity, but they get around this 'technicality' by relying on most people not knowing their rights and voluntarily answering questions and permitting a search.  This guy knows what his rights are and would have video evidence of any infringements on those rights, so the officers know better than to detain him, since then they'd be slapped with a lawsuit.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if sticking up for his right not to be unreasonably detained and searched has landed him on the no-fly list and other lists of 'political undesirables'.

[Peter]

This would drive me crazy I am sure I'd be pulled over into the secondary area every time as I always fuck up these conversations.

You should be fine with the "Am I under arrest?  No?  Bye then!" approach, depending on state laws where you are.  A camera or 5 to record the event would expedite things a bit.

[Parts]

I almost always travel with my camera   Still I'd do something and end up shot that's why I avoid airports even my wife has expressed this fear to me

[Pyraxis]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if sticking up for his right not to be unreasonably detained and searched has landed him on the no-fly list and other lists of 'political undesirables'.

Yeah. It's worrisome. Personally I can just switch countries if this place goes too much to hell, but that does strike me as the coward's way out.

It's good to be certain that I don't have to consent to a search or even questioning. I didn't realize that.

[thepeaguy]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if sticking up for his right not to be unreasonably detained and searched has landed him on the no-fly list and other lists of 'political undesirables'.

Yeah. It's worrisome. Personally I can just switch countries if this place goes too much to hell, but that does strike me as the coward's way out.

It's good to be certain that I don't have to consent to a search or even questioning. I didn't realize that.

You're anxious over the lines and borders on the world map that do not really exist?

Nationalism is bullshit -- and so are these checkpoints.

[Pyraxis]

Hell no. I'm thinking that if everybody who would speak up just leaves when the state starts pulling crap like that, who's going to stay and change it?

[thepeaguy]

Hell no. I'm thinking that if everybody who would speak up just leaves when the state starts pulling crap like that, who's going to stay and change it?

Then join a protest organisation.