Ryan's Currently Unnamed Blog

So, I'm out with some friends celebrating our independence and it seems quite ironic that on the way home I'm greeting with a nice little roadblock.

Literally.

Our friendly Lake County Sheriff took it upon themselves to stop every single car along a 4 lane divided highway. So, I'm forced off the road to drive through a parking lot with these blindingly bright lights. I quietly wait my turn to get to the head of the line. An officer approaches my car with a flashlight, and I open my window enough to talk to him. He tells me that they are conducting a 'safety check' and tells me to open my window further. I oblige and he proceeds to stick his flashlight into my car. I ask him what kind of 'safety check' requires him to look through the backseat of my car, and he gets very short with me and asks to see my driver's license and registration. I reluctantly start getting my papers for him to look at while I ask him what that has to do with 'safety'. He never answers.

I roll my window back up while he walks away for a little while, meanwhile several other officers are walking around my car. I note that in total, there was about 10 people directing traffic, 2 people inspecting my car, the officer I spoke to, and about 5-10 other people sitting around doing nothing. These people were sitting next to a large Lake County Sheriff vehicle wearing latex gloves. Somehow I think they are looking for more then to see if I'm wearing my seatbelt. Luckily, my paper's were in order, and the officer returned to my car to return my papers.

I'm just glad that I'm white, speak English well, didn't have anything to drink at all (lest I have any sent of alcohol about me), not on any terrorist watch lists, was wearing my seat belt, and paid off the state for the privilege of owning a car for the year.

So... I'm 'free' for another day and only managed to have about 15 minutes of my day wasted. I can only imagine how much they paid those officers for overtime, holiday, late night work.