Strange Encounter

[ungawa]

I pull into a shop and buy some stuff. No incidents.

I go down the street a bit and park on the street in front of another shop. There is a cop parked across the street in a parking lot, facing the street. I am at his 10-o-clock. He sees my sidearm (75% sure at this point). I enter the shop.

The shop is roughly 1500 ft^2. There are two people inside. One is a cashier. He has seen me OC about a dozen times over the last six months, and opened a conversation with me about it the second time. So he knows me and has no problem with me.

The second person in the room is a customer who is also discussing the possibility of business with the shop. He notices my sidearm right away, looks at it twice. We exchange greetings and then he goes back to discussing business with the cashier.

By the time I am inside and had this brief encounter, the cop across the street has gotten out of his car and is heading this way. For some reason, I am nervous about this. Cops don't make me nervous when OCing, but I think I didn't start my day with a disciplined mindset. Something I've noticed more than once lately, and I am working on, so I guess the cop was the least of my worries if I'm not prepared. But I was very nervous about the pending encounter.

I'm watching these guys jab it up for about 30 seconds and neither one has looked back to me to consider that I might want to interrupt them for some service. Meanwhile, on his way, the cop walks behind the car I am driving and checks the license plate. I am driving a car with NJ plates. The cop proceeds towards the store.

I request service from the cashier and he obliges at the first counter. The cop enters the store and walks behind the second counter. The cop says, "Hi" to the cashier, and the cashier reciprocates with, "Hey." The cashier immediately ignores the cop as if (in my mind) the cop comes in here and does this every day. The cop immediately reaches towards the wall and starts doing something and talking to somebody.

I'm starting to think, "Oh, he's not here for me. He's doing some sort of cop thing he needs to come in here and do everyday." It must have been momentary insanity on my part.

Having already said I had a failure of stature, I did not look at the cop once. But, I'm 12 feet away from him, he's looking directly at my hip some of the time, and my hip has a black holster with a black Glock against a white button-up shirt with white threaded stripes. While talking to somebody and hugging the wall. I'm actually thinking this is some sort of "Cop" security clock he needs to check during the day like security people do. He's staring at my sidearm.

Man 3 in the room (customer) is now frozen.

We both leave and he walks down this side of the street away from his squad car (other side of the street). In my retarded mental state I am assuming he's going to the next business on the block to perform some kind of routine cop duty.

Once I get in the car (which was obvious to him) and slap myself awake it seems clear the cop was following me into the store because I was carrying a gun.

[PennsyPlinker]

Maybe he wanted to know where he could get a shirt like yours.

[dc dalton]

Maybe he wanted to know where he could get a shirt like yours.

Nah, sounds to me like he was looking for 'moment', if you get my drift.

[ungawa]

I knew I could count on you guys!

This cop stalked me into a store because I was carrying. And watched me the entire time. He was 12 feet away, and there were only 4 people in the room, one of which (not me) was shitting his pants. This wasn't Home Depot.

I'm actually surprised he didn't pull me over or have somebody pull me over considering his actions and the circumstances. If the guy feels it necessary to dog somebody over carrying a gun I would have thought that I'd be pulled over getting into a car with NJ plates.

[max384]

I knew I could count on you guys!

This cop stalked me into a store because I was carrying. And watched me the entire time. He was 12 feet away, and there were only 4 people in the room, one of which (not me) was shitting his pants. This wasn't Home Depot.

I'm actually surprised he didn't pull me over or have somebody pull me over considering his actions and the circumstances. If the guy feels it necessary to dog somebody over carrying a gun I would have thought that I'd be pulled over getting into a car with NJ plates.

Well, it's hard to blame him... I mean I don't trust people with NJ plates either. hahaha

[ungawa]

Well, it's hard to blame him... I mean I don't trust people with NJ plates either. hahaha

Me either

[jcabin]

I don't have a problem with what the cop did in this instance, it seems like he was just curious. A brief observation with no contact and he felt good about it and that was it. That kind of mental evaluation on the officers part would be preferred by me than having to initiate a verbal contact.

[ungawa]

But seriously. This guy stalked me, and I thought he was about to embarrass me in front of other people by cuffing me or some shit.

Can't believe I didn't get pulled over when leaving. Why go through all that just to watch me walk away? Doesn't make sense.

[God's Country]

Perhaps he was inquiring within if everything was OK?

[ungawa]

I don't have a problem with what the cop did in this instance, it seems like he was just curious. A brief observation with no contact and he felt good about it and that was it. That kind of mental evaluation on the officers part would be preferred by me than having to initiate a verbal contact.

I agree. I'd rather have him check somebody out than sit on his ass, as long as he doesn't harass anybody. But I have a feeling the "checking out" was the reason they backed off.

Also, if he was really concerned about a MWAG, I would have expected more cops around. Maybe I just couldn't see them. Or, maybe, they knew who I was and were just making their presence known.