Frisky Friday

12:15am Friday night after some farewell drinks at the Lucky Coq, and I am walking down Chapel Street in my favourite jeans to my awaiting ride home. Walking, not falling over myself, but I did have a few drinks in me. I see two men with a very sniffy dog coming from the other direction. The dog goes over to my left to sniff some people on a bench, and I put two and two together as I notice that the men are wearing police lanyards and light blue shirts under their jackets - drug-sniffer dog! I marvel as it was the first time I've seen one, and continue along past the people of the bench (bench people).

As my intoxicated mind began to wander on to another thought I notice, and feel, the dog sniffing rather purposefully up and down my leg. My first reaction is a smile and a mental "hey doggie!", but this doesn't last long. I was suddenly thinking "WHAT THE HELL?" as the two men come over to me and start asking me whether I've been using narcotics of any kind this evening. Or if I've ever had any problems with the police before. I respond coherently (thankfully) and tell them (truthfully!) that I've never touched any illicit drugs in my life.

They then ask me to empty my pockets of everything and put it on the ground, as well as hand over some ID. One of the men tells me to turn around and promptly frisks me! I wasn't really aware of anyone else around me, but if I'd have been sober it would have been pretty humiliating. While I'm being frisked the man with my license asks me to recite my details as he writes them into a notepad.

"Have any of your friends been using drugs tonight?""No, no, I don't have friends like that." I reply as one of them looks through my wallet."Where have you been tonight?""The Lucky Coq, just on the corner of High Street back there.""And where are you going now?""I'm on my way home, my friend's waiting to give me a lift."
Seeming somewhat satisfied now that they'd intimidated me and felt me up, one of them suggests that it was most likely that I'd sat down somewhere on/unknowingly come into contact with some drug residue. And they let me go on my way, confused and shocked...

So now the police have my name on their books, through no fault of my own! I'm definitely washing those jeans! If I don't blog again for a while, I may well be incarcerated...

But no, afterwards I was in such shock that I thought maybe I was being conned. Identity fraud or something. I even rang up the Prahran police station to ask if what happened to me was common procedure. Which it turned out, was the case.

"To be frisked by police" wasn't exactly on my list of things to do in my life... But now I have, and I have a story to repetitively retell every time someone mentions law enforcement or drugs or even dogs. :)

Dale.