Police Stop Ziggy For Wearing A Dress

[ziggy_encaoua]

I was walking back from the shops this afternoon when a police car pulled over & the policemen asked inside was I okay? I wondered why there might be anything wrong & he said he thought there might be something up because I was wearing a dress & had black nail varnish. I explained I was a Goth pushing the boundaries etc. That seem to convince him I weren’t a lunatic who’d just escaped from the local asylum.

I’m not going to blow things out of proportion but its mystifying as to why a policeman would think there was something up with me for wearing a dress?

[cessna152towser]

Difficult one to call - maybe he thought you were high on drink or drugs and just wanted to check you out. Then again, maybe he just wanted to make sure you weren't being bullied by any rednecks. I wear the lightweight polycotton black goth kilt produced by Mercy Clothing, which although it is slightly longer than a traditional Scottish kilt and has fewer pleats I wear it Scottish style with a plain leather sporran and rugby socks and the police, nor anyone else, has ever paid me much attention. I get far more stares when I'm wearing a traditional wool kilt in a garish tartan.

[W.M.]

Sometimes police here smile and wave...no problem.

Sometimes, they slow down the squad car and give me a long, hard, piercing stare, which just goes to show, that while we're on duty pushing the boundries, they are on duty trying to figure out what our duty is all about:spin:

Have you ever heard the expression "the long arm of the law"? Well, now you've experienced the long *eyes* of the law.

[Since1982]

Of millions of police in the Civilized countries, only a very very few use their badges for personal power. I've been wearing skirts now in public for nearly a year and a half and have yet to have a policeman/highway trooper or any figure with a badge say anything to me about my clothing choices. Yes, I've had several long distance looks from cops in cars, but I really think, that with my overweight shape and shoulder length hair they might have thought me a older woman in a possibly bad place alone. I waved at them, and they went away. I think Ziggy's experience was of one of those few cops who's badges need to be on some other cop that really believes in "To protect and serve".:shake:

[Skirt Chaser]

I’m not going to blow things out of proportion but its mystifying as to why a policeman would think there was something up with me for wearing a dress?

Ziggy, you'd know best how genuine his concern seemed but one possibility that occured to me is that he might have thought you'd been mugged and robbed of everything including clothes and had to turn to a dress to make it home clothed. Farfetched maybe but police have seen a lot weirder situations. Also Cessna has a good point about him possibly wanting to make sure you had not been harassed for your look. If he was checking you out for positive reasons like these then I bet he was glad to find you well.

Quiet Mouse

[Aloofguru]

Just one thought. maybe he actualy had a personal intrest in Your attire and the badge was a excuse go out of the way for closer inspection.

[r1g0r]

previous experience in security work gives me i little insight, i think.

cops are out there to keep the situation on the street "normal". reduce violence, defuse problems, provide assistance to people in trouble.

his thoughts/motivations were any combination of these:

1) make sure you were not some sort of problem looking for a place to happen
2) checking for possible drug influences
3) being visible to anybody that might want to cause YOU trouble
4) letting you know there was an authority figure available in case you needed one
5) finding out if there was some sort of gathering that merited police awareness
6) defusing ANYsituation that might need it (the uniform often does this)

if he thought you were a threat, you would have known. subtlety is not used for "problem children". they are made aware of the fact they are being watched with suspicion.

i'd think he was just checking your situation out because you stood out from the "norm".

r1g0r (wearing skirts almost all the time now)

[skirttron]

Hi Ziggy. People who do certain kinds of job usually fall into broad personality types. People who choose a job that involves enforcing rules usually think it would be better if everyone obeyed all the most common rules and conventions. Broad-mindedness does not come with that territory, generally speaking, and in fact broad-minded people would probably not make effective policemen, so we have to take the rough with the smooth.