Being Opressed sucks.

General
1

As some of you know, I have a problem with the police/security around my neighbourhood… call it an ongoing mutual grudge if you will. For about a year they’ve left me alone… because I always give them a piece of my mind when they waste my time.

Nevertheless, some new recruits decided to have a go at me today.

Basically, they stuck me for the exact same thing as the first time:

However, let it be known that I did NOT go down without making it clear that they were wasting their time… and that like it or not, they were going to be seeing a whole lot more of me.

The situation was this:

I was in the middle of the huge green patch of grass in the center of town’s recreation center practising my hops onto a picnic table. I stop and take a break ontop of the table when this woman in uniform and hiding behind a pair of sunglasses asked me “what I though was doing” in a tone of voice that suggested the answer “moronic behavior”. Taken aback I simply replied

-“well, I’m riding.”
-“you’re RIDING?” Says she, raising one of her eyebrows as she did so.
-“Well yeah? Hey listen, what’s with the attitude? I can do without”

She then asks me again what I thought I was doing and again I replied that I was riding. I was riding my unicycle onto this picnic table and off of the picnic table.

-“Do you think that’s a smart thing to do?”
-“wait what? You calling my stupid??!”

Owen flips out right about here

she then calls in reinforcements on her walkie-talkie and pleads them to hurry up because “the subject” was getting aggressive.

flips out even more

Aggressive?? Damn straight I was getting aggressive… damn, these people are trying to take away my afternoon activity!

I bring on the topic that there is nowhere for me to ride legally because I’m not allowed in the skatepark that I was standing outside of… so what else am I going to do?

Oh btw, they let bikes in but not my unicycle… but for some reason when it comes to being in the park… my unicycle is a bike.

Anyways, reiforcement comes, I give him hell. He asks for my name I tell him he ain’t gettin’ it.

I tell them that they’re wasting my time trying to stick me for something I already fought for and won.

He then thinks he’s clever by replying that “if you’ve already won this one then you shouldn’t mind getting on again”

“try me”

I then had to wait 45 minutes to get my ticket… 45 minutes!!! Talk about a waste of taxpayers money.

I never see them hasslin’ pushers or nothing like that seems that I’m public enemy number one around these parts.

haha they also said it was gonna cost me more cause I had a record. Damn straight.

So next step is a peaceful uni/scratch protest in the park.

I’m gonna call my friends.

Nah, I ain’t got the patience. I’m going back out on a ride.

Protest later.

2

That is sick and not right…

3

I totally empathize with your situation, Owen. Sometimes they seem to have nothing better to do.

You might try reversing the tactics… since they made you wait, simply keep your cool, know the laws, and talk to them as long as they want to stand there talking to you. After a time or two of them having to justify standing in the park talking to a unicyclist for an hour, they’ll end up having to find someone else to pick on.

I know from your description that you have a lot of online mental/verbal agility; enough to keep them talking for way over three hours. By then they should be getting tired of the whole thing.

Your goal is not TO WIN. Your goal is for them to get tired of the game and go away.

Good luck!

4

I’d agree with you and sympathize, but THEY are in the right. if you weren’t doing anything against the rules they would not be able to ticket you. Getting hostile or agressive with authority is not going to help you or people’s perception of unicycling.

When hassled by someone whose authority it is to monitor the area you are riding the proper response is to be polite, agree with them and move along.

Regardless of how rude you feel they are being to, YOU are in the wrong by hassling them back.

Jumping up and down off picnic tables can be destructive to the property and it is also an inusrance risk in the slim chance that you might get injured. They have a responsibility to protect the public interest. You riding on the picnic tables is not in the public’s best interest.

If you feel that the cops/security are not in the right, dont’ hassle them it’ll only make your situation worse. Be polite, stop doing whatever they are asking you not to, and take it up with their superiors at a later time.

5

Man next time they start hassling you, you should start pretending you don’t speak english, then when they yell at you in french, pretend you only speak english. Then once pretend to order a pizza from them. If they survive that keep on feeding them more B.S. and basically keep on saying stuff that has nothing to do with the subject, that way they can’t really do anything but waste their own time and yours, but at least then you are in control!

Claiming to be the queen of france is another great way to get their attention aswell.

6

I feel bad for you getting hassled, and sure believe they have better things to do… .but ThisGuyIKnow is right… by throwing attitude right back at them, you are only making it worse. You’ll catch more flies with honey than vinegar :wink:

7

excuse me?

They are in the RIGHT?

Oh, so its tottaly right for law ENFORCERS to interpret the law as they see fit? That’s not their job. Leave that to the lawyers. Infact I did and they have no basis on which to ticket me for “bicycling in a public place”. In the court ruling a unicycle was NOT considered a bicycle.

Furthermore, should I bring up that under that same law it is stated that: “it is forbidden to circulate by bicycle, skateboard or in-line skates in a public place except when such activity is performed in an areau authorized by the town.”?

Wait, hold on a second…? Only places authorised huh? Where would that be? Last time I checked we didn’t have a bike-path… you know, that sounds suspiciously as though laws tell us what we CAN do rather than what we CAN’T.

The rest of the town’s by-laws make me sick.

here’s an example: “it is forbidden to play frizbee or practise hockey, baseball, soccer softball, golf or any other ball sport except when such activity is perdormed in a location authorised by the town”

From reading all these seemingly inoffensive by-laws I get the impression that they’ve pretty much got their bases covered and in theory could sick pretty much anyone they want.

I really don’t see how ANY of this is right.

I’m in the wrong for hassling them back? Brother, you can go on nodding and saying “yessir” when people walk all over you but damn, this is Canada, I thought we had freedom of expression. Seriously, I don’t you understand the situation, unicycling is WHAT I DO. Taking that away from me is the same as killing one of my friends.

Oh, just re-read your post. You’re arguing that jumping up and down picnic tables can damage the public property. Granted, it could.

but I don’t have much of a choice now do I? Until they show me a place where I can practise (ie NOT the skatepark… cause I’m NOT considered a bike there) I have no other options.

8

sure jumping up and down on picnic tables on a unicycle will damage it. but so will sitting on it, little kids playing on it, teenagers vandalising it, the list goes on and on and on. i think owen was right in what he did. the key thing to do with the authorities is act like the biggest smart-arse. it really gets them going, if you’re lucky they might even hit you, in which case you can sue and you’ll get loads, and no other cop would ever do you in for unicycling.

9

It all comes down to technicals. if a unicycle is not a bycicle in the laws eyes, then it depends on what the actual law says. if it says something like, “It is forbbiden to circulate a bycicle, skateboard, ect., or a device with wheel(s) to propel oneself, in a public place except when such activity is preformed in an area authorized by the town.” then you were in the wrong. being polite will get better results though. When she asks what your doing, you reply riding, she says that’s not allowed in a public park, you say well, it only says bicycles, skateboards and inlines aren’t allowed (if that’s the case). if there’s no classification that unicycle fits under that isn’t allowed to ride in the park, then you have every right to be there. If it says something like the above, then you should say, “sorry I didn’t know” and go away peacfully. unless you know that you’re breaking the law and don’t care.

10

i once got pulled over by a cop on a moterbike cause i was riding without a helmet, first up he threatened to give me a 75$ fine for riding on the footpath without a helmet, and a further $45 for crossing the rode on a unicycle without a helmet. he asked if there was a reason i didnt have one on. (i then thought to my self, is there an answer i can give to that question which will reduce the likelyhood of me getting a fine?). we then ascertained that it is not a bicycle, but in fact comes under the wheeled recreational vehicle act, i asked him where i can find and read a copy of this act so i could properly understand it for the future, he wouldnt tell me. then he rode off. bastard.

EDIT: oh yeah, a nomral unicycle isnt a bicycle, however a giraffe or any other unicycle in which power is converted to the wheel via a chain is a bicycle, how freaking stupid is that.

11

Damn I was just looking up the laws in Ottawa concerning unicycles and whether or not they refer to unicycles. They do!?!?

“bicycle” includes a tricycle and unicycle but does not include a motor assisted bicycle; (“bicyclette”)

I found it there. I think that it might actualy be a Canadian law, not just an Ottawa thing.

Later in the same article I found this

“bicycle” has its ordinary meaning and does not include a unicycle or tricycle. R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 64 (4).

another one,

Motor assisted bicycles, bicycles and tricycles, lights on, etc.

  (17)  When on a highway at any time from one-half hour before sunset to one-half hour after sunrise and at any other time when, due to insufficient light or unfavourable atmospheric conditions, persons and vehicles on the highway are not clearly discernible at a distance of 150 metres or less, every motor assisted bicycle, bicycle or tricycle shall carry on the front thereof a lighted lamp displaying a white or amber light and on the rear thereof a lighted lamp displaying a red light or a reflector approved by the Ministry, and in addition there shall be placed on the front forks thereof white reflective material, and on the rear thereof red reflective material covering a surface of not less than 250 millimetres in length and 25 millimetres in width.  R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 62 (17).

notice they said tricycle but didn’t say unicycle meaning that unicycle isn’t included!

12

I’ve been through the whole “Is it a bicycle?” debate last time around. That’s why I was perticularly fiesty today.

The court ruled that it was NOT a bicycle… more of a recreational device than a proper mode of transport.

So that’s what I mean by “being harrassed”. They’re not in their rights to keep stopping me like this.

Oh, and the first time around, trust me, I did my research. I have a copy of the by-laws next to me, I asked if they could provide me with a location where I could safely practise my sport (they still haven’t even though I always ask this before they go on to tell me that I can’t “do this here”.)

I honestly think that this isn’t simply about the unicycling anymore. I am disgusted at the overregulation of our town and at the way that teenagers are specifically targeted by the town’s private security system so as to keep the rich and bigotting old “bourgeois class” happy.

Take for example the “welcome school” that is to say, a school with a special program for the integration of immigrant teens to our Canadian society.

These kids get off for lunch at 12:00 sharp… just as two security vans make their rounds in that sector.

They finish school at 3:15. Again with the security vans. One infront of the school, and one near the bus-stop.

Thank God I’m not black… they’d be all over my a** then.

Basically, these guys are paid to smite anything out of the ordinary.

Oddly enough I rarely see them do anything about the obvious drug problems in the town’s resident teenagers. Nothing major, but you catch’em rolling in parks often enough so that you’d think you’d see them get busted every once and awhile… but naaaaah, they’re just security right? They leave that stuff to the big leaguers.

I forgot where I was going with this so I’ll cut it short.

Short-cut.

13

do you really want to ride your unicycle down the highway in the dark without reflectors or lights on?

14

That’s hogwash. Cops will ticket you for whatever they feel like ticketing you for. Most of them have little idea of what the laws are for bicycles, let alone unicycles, and I have tried quoting the vehicle code to them, and they really don’t like that.

15

Yeah what I was getting my stuff from was from the Ontario act which of course means that it doesn’t apply to you.

Montreal sounds more messed up than I thought. I am really surprised to hear about these welcome schools, isn’t that basically the same idea as the schools they forced the natives into so that they could force them to be just like the white people. I’m all for ESL programs and integrating new immigrants into our society, but by putting them into a seperate school is just absurd and there are alot of wonderful people (including my girlfriend) I would have never met if they had gone to these kinds of schools. Plus in my experience with immigrant teenagers I find that they are much more law abiding than locals. Most are used to much more serious laws on things such as drugs or violence aswell as much more vicious police forces so even if they were to do something illegal, they wouldn’t be dumb enough to get caught for it. Sounds to me like a mismanagement of funds on your local higher ups fault. The security (or is it actual by law officers) is clearly being told to be there, when really they should be after the locals (probably the local higher ups kids in my experience)

So are these “security officers” a private company? Are they actual By-law officers? What are their limits to what they can do?

16

Highway refers to any road, an express way is a real highway. I was confused aswell but they explained this to us at drivers ed last week.

17

Fake a really bad UPD, then get all mad and act like your gonna sue them, then be like you should have told me not to do this here.

18

Well the welcome schools aren’t restricted or limited to taking in recent immigrants but there’s usually more of them because of the emphasis on aquiring language skills which mind you… is not a bad thing.

Then again, that perticular school is notorious for being involved in gangs… nothing extremely serious, just your usual “gangster hip-hop highschool gangs”.

19

what I hate is how they arnt consistant like how a uni is a bike when Im not wearing a helmut but it isnt a when Im riding along a road

20

that has to suck. It is the same way where I live except i know cops so it helps. one of my friends got her skate board took and got a ticket for walking down town holding her skate board. cops never do their job all they want to do is to give you a ticket