Was That Really Necessary Tampa Police Department...

This post is in place of the normal "Lessons Learned" blog post as I kind of need to vent about something that happened to me last night. If anyone was paying attention to my Twitter and Facebook status last night then you already know what this one was about.

Last night around 1 a.m. I was walking home from having a few drinks with a friend on her birthday. For clarification purposes when I say a few drinks, I mean one drink. Since I literally live 3 or 4 blocks from the strip where all of the Hyde Park night spots are I decided to walk back, as it made no sense to take a cab or drive. As I am walking I notice a police car circle me a few times and I didn't think anything of it, as I just figured it was a normal patrol and I kept on walking. As I am but a few steps from Fremont Ave, where I live, I notice a truck pull up behind me with the lights flashing on bright. At this point I am thinking to myself that it is some drunken idiot just driving around South Tampa heckling people, so I continue to go on and mind my business. The truck continues to follow me and as I hit Fremont Ave, the truck pulls out in front of me and the window rolls down.

Now I am thinking okay, what the hell is going on, when the truck stops and a female Tampa police officer gets out of the passenger side of this unmarked pickup truck and begins to question me like I have done something wrong. Her actual questions were:

1. Where are you coming from? My answer...Cheap on Howard
2. Were you working there or were you a patron? My answer...patron
3. Did you do any drinking? My answer...yes I had one as we were celebrating a friends birthday
4. Where are you going now? My answer...Home
5. Where do you live? My answer...right across the street here at Post
6. May I see your drivers license? My answer...sure

The part about all of this that really irks me is that they really didn't have any legitimate reason to stop me. Last I heard it wasn't a crime to be walking around in a neighborhood on a Saturday evening, especially considering that this is a walking neighborhood with at least 6 bars within 100 yards from me. Also, when asking the questions, the officer had this accusatory tone in her voice like had done something wrong. I get the impression they wanted me to talk back or protest why they had stopped me just to give a reason to either arrest me or something of that sort. I was tired and just wanted to get home so I cooperated and went on with my evening.

I hate to play the race card, but I can't help but wonder if that was in any part, the motivation for stopping me. Running my driver's license wasn't necessary as I showed no signs of impairment and and the fact that I told you where I was walking should have been good enough. Even if I was drunk, at last I checked there was no crime for being drunk and walking home. Did I "fit a description" or something? Not a lot of 6'0 250lb black dudes running around South Tampa causing trouble, unless I missed that article in the TBTimes or the Tribune. And also, did it really take three of you standing around me to answer those questions. There was the officer who got out of the car, the one in the truck who ran my license, then the cop who pulled up three minutes later. I know I am a big dude, but I am not that opposing and I posed no threat.

Maybe I am making more of this than what it is, but nonetheless it still bothers me. As a tax paying citizen I would like to think that the police can better spend their time tracking down and finding real criminals, not college educated, employed citizens with no criminal records. Or maybe I am asking too much?