Paranoia, fear and hatred of men - combined with police harassment - illustrates police-state like attitudes

Paranoia, fear and hatred of men - combined with police harassment -
illustrates police-state like attitudes

The letter below illustrates the level of fear, paranoia and hatred of
men that permeates female thinking in the US - It is no different in Canada.

The incident also illustrates the police-state mentality of police in
the US and likely Canada, especially since instead of questoning the
paranoid female about what the alleged "pedophile" had actually done,
likely because he had a visible camera in his possession (which is not
in itself suspicious or improper, but cops hate cameras in the hands of
citizens -well documented). The seizure of Updike's phone was illegal
and an improper act, also normal behaviour for cops.

Now - sitting in a park, with either a phone or a camera - is
'suspicious' behaviour worthy of police harassment.

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Dear Neighbor,
Yesterday was a beautiful day, I think you will agree. I decided to take
a short walk from my house on Hamilton Street to Dana Park, which I have
been coming to almost daily since 1989, the year my son was born. As I
often do, I brought my camera, sat on a bench for about 10 minutes, did
one lap around the park and headed home.
I had barely gotten across the street when three police cars pulled up:
I was told to stop, and swiftly surrounded by six policemen. I was
"detained" there for approximately 20 minutes and questioned; another
officer returned to the park to find out why you had called them.
My suspected crime, apparently, was having a camera in a public park,
and allegedly taking pictures of children. As it turned out, I had taken
no pictures that day. But I have been photographing in this neighborhood
for 30 years, and have published a children's book of poems and
photographs, always with permission.
The policeman returned and wanted to see my "flip phone," and then asked
me if I knew how he knew I had a flip phone: I didn't. He knew, he told
me, because the woman who called the police had taken a picture of ME,
sitting on the bench, and shown him the picture. They then took away my
phone, scrolled through the few pictures that were on it.
They continued to hover around me asking questions. As it happened, I
was standing near the house where my son now lives, and when my wife
appeared, walking down the street after work, and saw me standing in
front of his house with six policemen, she instantly feared something
terrible had happened to our son. She was shaking, and I explained the
situation. She is an English teacher at Cambridge Rindge and Latin
School; I am a college professor of English. Our son spent much of the
first 15 years of his life in Dana Park.
You must be new in the neighborhood. I am often in the park, on foot or
on a bike, talking to friends who have children who play in the
playground. I know you were standing very near to me for the entire time
I was on the bench, though I could not figure out why. Now I know: you
were taking my picture.
Suggestion: the next time you suspect someone is up to no good, perhaps
you should say hello, speak to them first and, if still anxious, ask
what they are taking pictures of. That's what people do in a
neighborhood park: talk to each other. This would save someone the
humiliation and degradation of being stopped and held by the police, and
might save the police from wasting their time when they could be doing
something more useful, like managing the daily mayhem in Central Square.
The fact that you now have my picture in your phone is both sadly ironic
and, well, creepy. Could you please delete it?
Your neighbor,
— David Updike, Hamilton Street, Canbridge