Whoa, Nellie! Cops Say Call Cops if You See People Sitting in Parked Cars
Ever sit and chat in a parked car? That may warrant a 911 call for suspicious activity. (Look out, area teenagers.) So says a post on neighborhood blog Phinneywood, where a resident recounts witnessing a drug transaction in front of his house. He called the police, who he says told him:
What about parked Segways?
Do call 911 immediately if you see a car with people sitting in it apparently going no where. They are waiting to make a drug connection.
Yikes! Sounds like a rather loose definition of suspicious activity, a rather low bar to clear for a 911 call, an invitation to all sorts of profiling, and a little like those unconstitutional loitering statutes. So we called SPD to confirm that these are, indeed, their desired instructions.
"I think this was an appropriate response for the officers to tell this particular person for this particular reason that they called," explains SPD spokesperson Mark Jamieson. "It's suspicious behavior: if people are sitting in a car outside a quote-unquote drug house, or in an area that has a lot of narcotics activity--you kind of know what the signs are (cars stopping all hours of the night, people getting out, running in, staying five minutes, running off)--police want to know about that."
He adds that such calls will be prioritized by urgency, and that, "I'm not saying [Phinney]'s a heavy drug area. I'm just saying that these people perceived that they witnessed a drug deal."
Of course, to search the car, police would need reasonable suspicion--which would mean more than just a 911 call and a parked car.
And, of course, you better hope that's not a neighbor when you make the call. Snitches may not get stitches in these parts, but the Drug War's panicky neighbors might have to face a few awkward interactions at the next backyard barbecue. (See, e.g., this.)
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