Prostitute

Dear You,

I couldn't think of a better title for this particular letter than what I've written. I realize that brings up some pretty strong images and ideas, but I assure you that this is not a confessional. I am not a prostitute. It is, however, a waxing on about how frustrated I am over being treated like a prostitute by my city's police officers.

Let me start by reiterating to you that I am not a prostitute. I may currently be among the ranks of the unemployed whilst I wait for school to start in September, but I am not paying my rent by selling my sexuality to men... or women, for that matter. I am not a prostitute. I wouldn't even qualify myself as a "slut" of any description. I'm pretty conservative in that way, in general.

Tonight, after returning from a pretty lengthy excursion to a neighbouring, and smaller city for dinner and an explore with some other friends, I sent a text to a very close male friend of mine. I asked if, because we were supposed to hang out yesterday, he wanted to grab coffee and/or go for a drive. He agreed, and came to pick me up. We decided to skip the coffee, because it was pretty late (it's even later, as I type this), and just go for a drive instead. When my friend got tired of driving, we pulled off into a parking lot. We sat chatting (note the words "sat" and "chatting." These are important.) in the parking for well over an hour. I realize that sitting in a parking lot in a car to have a conversation is not normal. Most people would sit in a coffee shop, or in their houses. My friend and I simply have a tradition of sitting in his car instead. Nothing more to it than that.

After a little while, a car pulled in behind us. The ridiculous brightness of the headlights let both my friend and myself know that this was not just any other car. This was a police cruiser.

Now, a little background information, because I presume that we are likely from different cities. Where I live, there is usually only one officer to a police cruiser, not two. Tonight, there were two officers in the car. The first, a male, went to my friend's side of the vehicle. They began talking, and while I was paying attention to what was going on on my friend's side of the car, the second officer, a female, snuck up on my side of the car. I say snuck up, because not only did I not expect to see a second officer, she also walks like some kind of ninja. She was at my window and asking if I had any ID before I could even so much as notice that she was there. I only had my provincial health card on me, which has no picture on it, but she took it anyway. As she took it, she asked me several pretty pointed questions. Where was I from? Where do I live? Who do I live with? What is my friend doing in this city? (He has out-of-Province license plates) How do I know him? I felt as though she was accusing me of being... you guessed it... a prostitute. I am not a prostitute. I don't feel as though I look like a prostitute, even. The whole situation was just silly.

After a reasonably long wait for our ID to be returned to us, my friend and I were allowed to go on with our conversation. We decided to leave the parking lot, because the sudden accusations had ruined a good talk.

When I got home, the attitude from the officers, and the questions from the female officer in particular were still really bothering me. I made a phone call to the non-emergency police line, and asked if this was normal. I was shocked to hear the officer on the other end of the line sounding proud of "his officers" and telling me that they had followed protocol exactly. I thanked the officer for the information and hung up. He obviously wasn't getting my point, and I was, and am, not in the mood to argue.

So, here's my question for you... what ever happened to "Innocent until proven guilty?" Why are police officers allowed to go around accusing people and giving negative attitude when there isn't any real cause for it? Why am I living in a world where I can't sit in a parked car without being accused of being a hooker?

In other words... what the hell happened to the world? And what the hell happened to people? And to trust?

Confusedly Yours,

- A.