[Harp-L] Re: Police & Musicians

[Gary <gary@xxxxxx>]

Will & All,

As a Magistrate for the city, I hold probable cause hearings all day 
long and have many officers testify.  I keep an acoustic guitar on a 
stand next to me, and 3 harmonicas on my desk.  During lulls in 
action, I'll practice my harps or guitar.
Many officers, before a hearing commences, look at the guitar and 
say, "May I?", then pick it up and stumble through the opening of 
Stairway to Heaven, or a blues riff, or whatever.  My point is, many 
of my officers play an instrument, and I detect no bias at all 
against musicians.
An officer, going out on a call, has no idea who's a threat and who 
is not, and must  approach any situation with safety foremost on 
their mind.   Everyone they meet on a call is potentially a bad guy, 
but once they see you're a "normal" person, who poses no threat to 
them or the public, they'll loosen up a bit.
Understand the situation from their perspective, and contacts with 
them will end up "friendlier."

Gary Cohen
Magistrate, City of Mobile


At 08:08 AM 2/5/2007, you wrote:
> Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2007 19:15:05 -0800 (PST)
> From: Will Vogtman <will_vogtman@xxxxxxxxx>
>
>   From my perspective, police officers seem to enjoy harrassing 
> musicians.  Intellectually, I certainly DO NOT believe that 
> musicians are particularly targetted.  However, in the moments when 
> I am accosted, I have the gut-level reaction that I am being 
> targetted.  What am I and my fellow musicians doing to attract such 
> negative attention?  What can we do to avoid the situation?  I 
> assure you that I play good, quality music at reasonable volume 
> levels.  Thanks in advance for your time.  I hope we can avoid 
> future confrontation.
>
>   Will Vogtman




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