Illinois State cops have no crime to occupy them?

What questions did he keep asking over and over for 20 minutes?

He was asking the same questions over and over for 20 minutes hoping that you'd screw up and give a different answer. Then you'd be a damned liar and he could go to town with you.

Good for you that you could remember what you said before.

Its got Chicago in it. It has to be a shithole.

Gunner

Political Correctness is a doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical liberal minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.

It has been a while since I've been stopped but the routine seems like a fishing expedition. Illinois is on my No Go List. I've been there once and I very left quickly.

What was he fishing for? Drugs most likely.

Wes

Steve, I live in IL and have not encountered such things as you. Possibly the cops had an advisory such as "look out for a guy driving a long trailer" or some such.

Although I am fairly curious as to the questions he kept asking over and over again, I'm more curious as to what the statement above means...

Actually, I thought it was around 15 minutes, but my wife said it was closer to 20. I didn't have a stopwatch going so, who know.

"Are there two beds in that trailer?" "Where are you travelling from and to?" "Does it have... expansion?" "Are you carrying anything illegal; firearms, alcohol tobacco?" (as if those are illegal) "What do you do for a living?" "Do you own a house in NH?" "Why are you travelling?"

Too many to list them all, but those seem to be fairly representative.

You believe it's alright for cops to just stop people at random to ask (think German accent) "Show me your papers! Sorry, your papers are in order, but I must now detain you for 20 minutes for no reason at all"

The magic question is "Am I free to go?" As I understand the game, legally he was not detaining you, you were willingly cooperating. Ask the magic question and he has to make a decision, along with all the attendant legal baggage, of whether or not to officially detain you.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

Yeah, I've driven through Illinois dozens (maybe 100) times and never had any problems like that. My guess is he was stalling while waiting for somebody to look up your records... possibly an "Amber Alert" or stolen vehicle/trailer alert that you fit somehow.

In some cases those things can be illegal. I had much the same thing happen in Huntsville, Texas 15 years ago. The cop claimed he pulled us over because my wife wasn't wearing her seatbelt. She was wearing her seatbelt and as far as I can figure my crime was traveling north with out of state plates on a common drug courier route. We were detained for almost a half an hour when I refused to let him search the car. He stated he was that he is going to call a K9 officer and let the dog do it's thing. Finally, I told him the only thing I was bringing back from Texas was a bag of grapefruit and he could go ahead and search the trunk. After I opened the trunk he barely searched it and let us go. Steve

That does sound abusive of his authority. If you recall his name, an informative letter to some authority in Illinois might be in order.

He was trying to get probable cause to search your trailer. Good thing you didn't get smart, or you would probably still be there picking up your "stuff" from the side of the highway where they threw it out when "tossing" your trailer. If I was you, I would have given him what for, and asked if his mother and father were related. If his grandpa had only one big eyebrow. Of course, that is what I would have done with YOUR ID. As for me, it's Yessir and Nosir and straight short answers. Messing with a cop makes as much sense as insulting your barber before a haircut. Have you always had a problem with authority figures?

Steve

"Gunner Asch" wrote

With end products like Obama, Blogoyevich, etc, it speaks for itself.

Steve

Sounds rather obnoxious. I would personally like to refuse a search, however, I have never had a chance to try it.

To me, the statement speaks for itself.

Steve, but not THAT Steve.

Are you hearing these voices more often than usual?

Steve

Ronald Reagan was born and raised in Illinois, by the way.

Happened to me 30 years ago on I57

It turned out we were the spitting image of someone who had just robbed a bank. The eyewitness however, was positive that they were driving a gold '63 impala not a gold '64 polara.

We were heading back from college and our trunk was full of guns and jewelery supplies. I am glad they trusted that witness. If they had popped the trunk, we probably would have ended up in Statesville.

Paul K. Dickman