FF Wow - 9 unsolicited interactions in the past year...
Yeh, I don't get it. I seem to be a police magnet. Over my lifetime (turning 50 next month) I've probably had far more interactions than a whole family would have in their entire lifetime! About 8 years ago I had a prolonged interaction with them. A company I had bought my lounge suite from (set of 4 recliners) had an employee who rather than bank the money I paid him, decided to pocket it...along with payments made by every second customer who came in that month to buy recliners from him. He pocketed something like 25 grand (nice of him to keep some for the company).
First I hear about it is a female detective 8 months later who rings me and wants me to come in and make a statement. And I am saying well, what I can I say, I know nothing (not the Sergeant Shultz style either - I really honestly couldn't even remember the guy, let alone what he looked like!). Anyway she has me collate all my receipts, take them to a police station 40 kms away from home, they get stamped (on a Sunday morning), I get copies back (for warranty) then I have to come and give another interview at another date at my local station, then I'm subpoenaed to court a month later. I go to court and literally sit there for 6 hours waiting to be called and the guy ends up pleading guilty anyway!
Then about 7 years ago I have dispute with a neighbour. I work from home and they buy this dog, leave it alone all day and it constantly barks from 9.10 am to 4.40 PM in the afternoon, day after day, non-stop. I'm not kidding. Non-stop. I'm going nuts, so I end up buying one of those ultrasonic dog repellent thingies that put out roughly a 17 - 19 kHz kHz tone aimed right at the dog when it barks. It worked believe it or not (I could only hear it if I was within a few feet of it but since we know how directional those frequencies are, you aim and shoot like a rifle and it only "gets" the dog on the balcony and does not annoy anything else). It did not work perfectly, but it toned the dog down about 60%. The neighbours then ring the police a week later claiming I am a pervert who is video taping them! (the repellent looked like a large dash cam).
First I hear about it is a knock on the front door from a young constable who asks me to ring the senior sergeant at the local police station about a "camera issue". I'm thinking to myself, hang on, I don't run red lights or speed, then I find out I am accused of the "filming"! I tell her on the phone in the very same instant that she should come right around to my house immediately and she can see that this "camera" is a flipping dog repellent! She immediately back-tracks, says she would not disturb me and would come again another day. She never did come again but I take that as an example that police here are really wary about harassing innocent people. They really are. They go out of their way to not harass the innocent and even treat the guilty with a reasonable amount of due respect.
Even coming home on the train today I was so engrossed working on my mobile (cell) phone putting in a whole heap of appointments into the calendar between now and early August. The policeman comes down the aisle wanting to scan everyone's Opal card (our electronic travel authority system). I'm so head-down in my work I did not even notice him. I get a very polite "excuse me sir, may I please check your Opal card?". I mean seriously, they act like they are bell-boys at 5-star hotels!!