But officer, I said . . .

I had a police encounter recently that I believe was negatively impacted by my locks.

First, a few words about my relationship with, and opinion of, police in general.  I like knowing that there are people who are willing to do very dangerous things to keep other people safe from crime.  It's an important role of government:  protecting the minority (in this case, potential crime victims) from the predations of others.  I have a rapport with a number of local officers, and I respect the work they do.  When it's possible, I enjoy watching their operations because I don't have any training in police procedure, and I find it pretty interesting.

On the other hand, police are trained to push the envelope, encouraging people to give up their rights.  It's legal, and many people out of ignorance do so on a regular basis.  Another reason I like to observe the police is because I want to understand better how, and how often, they get people to yield their rights to things like silence and protection from search and seizure.

So I observe police activity when it's convenient, both for my personal curiosity and because I'm a journalist.  I know people who observe and record police activity in the hope of catching cops doing something wrong, and there are people who contrive to create situations to make police look bad.  I don't have an agenda, other than to observe what's going on.

So in this particular case I had noticed an extremely intoxicated young man stumbling around the bar district of my town.  Not too long after that, he found himself passed out against a dumpster, covered in his own vomit.  Someone had the good sense to call 911; the man was probably in very real danger at that point.

When I came upon the scene, two rescue vehicles and two police officers had already responded.  There was ample room for their vehicles, as the man had passed out in the corner of a parking lot.  Most spots were filled, but the emergency responders parked in the aisles, as they are wont to do in such cases.

I maintained myself some twenty feet from the action, taking care not to get into the line of sight between the victim and any of the rescue vehicles.  I don't interfere with police and emergency activity.  I wasn't able to see the victim, but I was more interested in the police, so this didn't trouble me.

Not being able to see much, I was texting a friend from my extremely dumb phone while observing.  The way I held my phone piqued the interest of an officer, who broke away from the scene to approach me.

"He doesn't need to be embarrassed more than he is," he began, "and doesn't need to be recorded.  Why don't you step over there," he said, gesturing to a spot some 30 feet farther away.

"But officer," I began, wishing to explain that I wasn't recording.

"Sir, I asked you nicely," he said in a tone which was anything but.  "Please step over there."

I knew that I wasn't breaking any laws.  I knew that he was implying that he would find one to claim I was breaking from his bearing and tone, should I disobey.  I didn't have an ax to grind, so I obeyed.  But I knew full well that my rights had been violated.

Recently waxed, wild dreadlocks

I later confirmed that, despite my being somewhat well-known in my community, the incident was not driven by personality.  He didn't know who I was, and I didn't choose to push the issue by flashing my press ID or otherwise escalating.

I have found no credible evidence, before or since, that local police target recording of their activities and discourage it.  Some anecdotes, but nothing I can verify.  That being the case, I have a very strong suspicion that my locks altered the officer's perception, and put me on the "cop radar" as a possible problem when he may have otherwise not reached that conclusion.

The hypothesis that dreadlocks impact police encounters in a negative fashion seems a lot more valid to me now.  I had expected that I wouldn't discover anything about this question unless and until I made an error in driving (which, frankly, is bound to happen; I'm not an angel behind the wheel).  To have such an encounter while merely texting near police activity caught me entirely off-guard, but was nevertheless very instructive.