Getting pinched... is it inevitable?

[verso]

What's going on, guys? This has been on my mind for a while now, and I'd like to hear some opinions...

So, we've been heavy in "the game" for a couple of years now, and we've had a couple of close calls, but we've never been searched, arrested or anything like that. In other words, our records are still clean.

A couple of days ago, we were picking up from a different dealer in one of the more seedy neighborhoods, and of course we looked out of place. We were pulled over on the side of the road when a police car drove by us very slowly, stopped, then went around the block as though he might loop back around. I thought, "oh shit, this is going to be it..." But I kept my car there, pulled over on the side of the road, thinking that it would look more out of place to try gunning it out of the neighborhood when a cop car drives by.

Long story short, the cop didn't come back around, but it took us nearly half an hour to meet our guy because of the heavy police presence in the area. It has me thinking...

... is it inevitable? Is it just a matter of time, or is it possible to come out on the other end without a wrap sheet? What do you guys think?

 

[Znegative]

It's possible. I mean, I've been using heroin on and off for the last five + years (and more on than off), and I was only arrested once, for what turned out to be fake crack. It honestly seems like a miracle that it hasn't happened more often though, since I stick out like a soar fucking thumb. I would always cop on my way to school, so I'd be carrying my backpack, And a big bulky portfolio for my drawing pads, and I'm probably the whitest mother fucker you'd ever see. But I always got away with it (except for the one time with the fake crack-that was dropped, and then I got arrested for boosting too.)

I think after using heroin for a long time, you actually start to look like you do belong in those neighborhoods. I always would try to formulate some story in my head though, in the case I did get stopped in a drug infested neighborhood. I also found that walking with confidence, as if you have a legitimate purpose (like not buying dope, but trying to find your strung out "friend"), helps too.

But yeah, if a bunch of monkeys can end up recreating a shakespeare play given a type writer and an infinite amount of time, it doesn't seem to far fetched to say that eventually, you will get burned when you're buying heroin everyday.

 

[Rabidrabbit]

I'm paranoid as fuck so it's actually the opposite -- I go cop in neighborhoods way better than my own. I hate doing street/car deals but if I must, I will do it. I much prefer to be in someone's apartment. I know that's also risky but it gives me a sense of security for some reason. I don't like to deal with unknowns, either, so it's usually a friend of a friend and so forth.

Also, I live in a fairly shitty fucking neighborhood. My brother, girlfriend and I are pretty much the only white folks over here besides the annoying ass kids that go to a certain expensive ass University I won't name. My neighborhood used to be predominantly working class Irish Catholic with some Italians and Eastern European Jews mixed in (but what neighborhood in the Bronx wasn't?) The majority of the white folks left during the "white flight" to the suburbs in the late 70s/mid 80s, right around the time I was born. It's now mostly Hispanic folks (from various places, such as Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic) with multiple children on some sort of public assistance as well as an influx of Indians, Koreans (who run neighborhood liquor stores or bodegas mostly) and Albanians (who usually do manual labor or else own "real estate"). The black folks who are here now are mostly from the Caribbean or else have been here just as long as me, perhaps longer. We've got everybody up here and everyone has a different game.

I probably wouldn't have to go further than the corner if I was interested in certain things, but alas I am not so there goes that idea. Everyone knows poverty causes people to push drugs and there are only a handful of hardcore users around here, mostly at the homeless outreach centers just a few blocks away. Again, it's that social stigma between the dealers who are hustling for a living as they mostly have felony records and no alternatives (who only smoke pot and drink 40s) and the straight up crack fiends/winos who can't get it together. You'll usually find them panhandling by the subway stations during rush hours and then at the crack spot, rinse, repeat, ad nauseam. It's gotten to the point where people are asking me for change (obviously for drugs) when I'm going to cop for myself. I love the irony. "Sorry, bro, gotta get myself well first."

It's weird because the cops over here sometimes seem suspicious of me but I've lived here my entire shitty existence. It even says so on my fucked-up ID with indentations from crushing my goddamn pills for snorting. :D

But back to the fucking topic.

When I'm copping on the street, I go in with the mentality that this is going to be "the time" and that if I want what I want, I have to accept that chance it could be "the time". It just comes with the territory. The scenario has played out in my head over and over. I agree that looking like you have a purpose works. Maybe a cheap prop camera... "Oh, officer, I'm doing a project on abandoned tenement buildings and graffiti artists for my Grandpa who loves the Celtics, did you see the game last night?" OR, CONVERSELY, turn on some of that clueless white folk charm we all know and love. "Oh, officer, we were just looking for [popular nearby landmark/attraction]. Could you help us out with directions? I think we got off at the wrong subway stop and this neighborhood is kind of scary, do you have to walk around here at night?!"... It depends on the cops you encounter and how you present yourself. When I go to cop, unless desperate, I'm very clean cut and mild mannered, like I'm going to the library and shit.

With all of that said, I've been taken into custody 3 times, only one of which I actually had charges. The others were for truancy and being *with* someone who was shoplifting. (The cop who came even said, "If you have anything on you that you don't want to go to the station with, I suggest you dump it now" as they were cuffing my friend. I dumped a pack of cigarettes because I didn't want my parents to know I smoked, so stupid. I'd smoked/drank everything else prior to that.) This was back when I was 17 so nothing stuck and, after a year of probation, I have a clean record.

If all else fails, take enough of the benzo of your choice so that you're chill but not slurring or blacked out and fucking pray to the Patron Saint of Drug Users that the cops you encounter don't feel like doing paperwork that particular moment. That's my fantastically long winded take on it. If you take enough precautions and go in with a strategy, you should be able to avoid getting busted but as with everything else in this life, you won't know till you're done copping and back at your apartment getting high and laughing about how paranoid you were.

Oh, or withdrawing in a jail cell.

 

[xstayfadedx]

I haven't yet..... (knock on wood) when I usually cop I'm either getting from a buddy. Or even copping with my friend who's a mom and has a car seat in the back so cops never really think we have a brick in our car lol (she doesn't have her kid all the time but I'm not judging). Shits crazy... I'm just asking to get pinched though cause the other day I was walking with 12 bags in my pocket and at one point I took them out just to make sure I had them all... Counting them while walking in the dark. The worst thing I was wearing my method man and redman hoodie with them lighting a joint on the back....so cops are suspicious about me already lol... I should really not wear that when I'm holding, its a bad idea. Other than that if I'm in philly I just wear what I normally wear and cops just think that I live there. I'm kind of sly.....it also helps not being full white

 

[Carl Landrover]

I'd say most likely, but it really depends on how careful you are and who you associate with. I never would have gotten pulled over if I had been wearing a seatbelt (which I should have been) and the cop wouldn't have found the pills if they weren't in a terribly, awkwardly ripped and sealed zip lock bag.

I only got caught with four 30mg oxy's (even though I had more on me), but I still had to go to court, get a lawyer, pay and do drug classes, and then do community service. It's always BS though with the extra charges. I also got "Prescription not in appropriate container" which is a felony. Fortunately I didn't get "possession within 1500ft of a school zone". Though I could have since I didn't get pulled over until we were right near this private school on a main road.

Even if you're always doing everything perfect you can still get unlucky.

 

[xstayfadedx]

Even if you're always doing everything perfect you can still get unlucky.

Qft. I believe this answers the question. We can be doing something so perfectly and it seems like we'll never get caught but then one day it goes all wrong..... A cop just happened upon you and next thing you know you're fucked.

 

[Carl Landrover]

Qft. I believe this answers the question. We can be doing something so perfectly and it seems like we'll never get caught but then one day it goes all wrong..... A cop just happened upon you and next thing you know you're fucked.

Sometimes it doesn't even have to really involve you either, just have to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

When I was in high school this kids house got raided and the police only found a pipe and no drugs. Apparently the cops were still there when my friend happened to walk over. He had been arrested a few months prior, so the cops knew him. As he approached the house, he suddenly got swarmed with officers, was searched and was arrested for possession of an 1/8th or something small like that. He's gotten his balls busted a lot for walking over when there was a bunch of cops around, but he was just walking towards the kids house completely unaware and he gets searched and arrested.

 

[Rabidrabbit]

I also got "Prescription not in appropriate container" which is a felony.

Seriously? So you have to carry your entire script around? I'm scripted a benzo and I don't want to carry the whole fucking bottle around with me in case I get mugged or something so I stick a few in one of those metal pill holders in case I'm not home when I need to take my pills. Even if you can verify you have a script with your doctor it's still a felony? I'd crack open my Penal Code book for New York to see if it's the same but I'm too lazy.

 

[Carl Landrover]

^
I don't think they would have a case or reason to pursue if you could show you had a script, but even then it might depend on the situation and the arresting officer.

I should have mentioned that I had a tiny piece of suboxone in my car that I just kept in there in case I was ever at work or somewhere and didn't have sub on me when I needed it. I had a prescription from my doctor (the prescription bottle even said 'split pill in half if needed'), but since I had it in a small bag in my car I got the "Prescription not in proper container" charge. I had never heard of it prior to that.

I'm pretty sure they dropped it and just pursued the possession charge as far as going through court.

 

[Tommyboy]

Pretty much everybody that I know that has been in the game for a while has gotten caught. I can only really think of 1 friend that has yet to be caught. I got a possession charge once, and since then I have been so cautious that it has probably kept me from getting busted again.

So is it inevitable? Be a little slow, be a little late....
That clip is obviously about getting shot, but I think it applies to getting busted too (that part starts around 50 seconds in).

 

[ErgicMergic]

I got a possession charge once, and since then I have been so cautious that it has probably kept me from getting busted again.

Word, possesion felonies suck, for hash oil no less

I'm so damn careful now I don't even have to worry about the police searching my car, or catching me smoking a bowl.

 

[pkt]

basicly unless you are one of the lucky few which do exist it is just a matter of time....
I've been selling drugs for about 10 years and i've been caught 3 times, 2 times with minor amounts and one time with a large amount of drugs which i payed the price for...apart from that if you are a drug addict and u are not selling drugs it is pretty much inevitable that u will get caught up in unrelated crimes such as theft and robbery and thats happened to me a few times to me too when i was rock bottom but selling i've only gotten fucked over by snitches, setups and a few close calls for being a fuckwit at the wrong place at the wrong time....there is a saying that luck never lasts, although i know a few people who have been in the biz for decades and still live peacefully and eat at the local diner every day.....to make a long story short, here is my advice...if you are selling drugs do what you do but "well done" if you understand, as for those who cop on the corner they are the ones who are gonna get fucked, big fish eat the small fish and if you are buying daily and not weekly or monthly like a junkie then u will get caught sooner or later and thats a promise, as i said ur luck will run out.

 

[drgreenthumb00]

i think it all depends how involved u r. whether or not you are a dealer, kingpin, abuser, user. sure definitely you will get pinched if you are constantly around it. seriously anyone who has ever drank and used drugs 100% has had atleast 1 interaction with thesab police. if someone say they havent then they lie. i guess a factor you have to consider, geographics and wheather its happened in 90's-presentsab or 30 40 years ago

 

[PeacePipeChief]

I find after a very long time , police awareness lowers . I just get on as I do , where ever I do , make sure no one is around / looking Make sure the cars are empty and no one is watching out their windows , I've never had Problems during a deal (dealing and buying) after about 4 years

 

[PeacePipeChief]

Plus I've been arrested plenty of times for drunk shit and dumb shit , talk to the cops regularly and get searched regularly . But I have never had a drug charge reguardless of being searched with drugs on me most times .

 

[Mentalhead]

I've only gotten caught when doing really stupid shit, like smoking heroin in an alley or driving home on 5mg ativan. In the former case, the cops just took my stuff and told me to go home (I was in San Francisco, and my ID says I live in a safe little suburb about an hour away). In the latter case, I got a DUI. I definitely don't hold that one against the cops; I was in no shape to be driving.

 

[maxalfie]

I have been using heroin for around 11years or so now and touch wood I have never even come close to being arrested,never even been stopped and questioned or searched either.
I never score off the street though always phone my dealer and arrange a time to meet at his place or mine.
I have been lucky so far I just hope it continues like that.

 

[conor c]

Had a few close calls before. Got nooped by the cops with a lump of blow the other day.

My friend and I went to get the weed off our dealer. We drove out to him, paid the dough and got the smoke. The dealer (who we had been going to for a while now) asked us if we could bring him into town to get bags for an ounce. We had nothing else to do that day so I agreed. While he went down to the house to stash the rest of his stuff, we made a joint and smoked it. The dealer came back and we left. When we were on our way back from town, we happened to drive through a cop check-point which was right outside my house. The cops smelled the weed from the car (the joint was smoked about half an hour ago at this stage), pulled us over and searched us. The cops found my weed and I got cautioned for class B drugs. They also found the dealers bags, and so read through the text messages on his phone. They saw people texting him looking to get weed and coke and asked him questions about it, but he kept saying he didn't know what they were talking about.

They cop was supper sweet though and never tested me for driving on drugs which is basically the same as drink driving. I suspect they will be watching the dealer very closely now though.

 

[sarcophagus.heels]

I was arrested for shoplifting once, but the store employees had the decency to ask if I had anything illegal on me, so they got rid of some pills I certainly did not have prescriptions for before the cops showed up. Seeing as I'm currently in college on financial aid, a drug charge would be inconceivably awful...

 

[Bill]

No matter what kind of ghetto ass neighborhood I was in I would always try to be fully alert and not have any paraphernalia on me at all and I would just intend on eating my dope if I saw the blue lights in my rear view.
Like I said I always tried to make sure I never had any paraphernalia on me and this is a plus not being an IV user because they pretty much have to carry there rigs where ever they go. It would suck to have eaten all the dope and then get busted on some stupid shit for a rig or residue in a straw or whatever.

Like others have said too, I always tried to have a story already formed in my head so at least I had somewhat of an alibi. But at least for me I never really had to go into the real bad bad neighborhoods because it's not really like that around here anymore. Most dealers give you phone numbers and they meet you in a more busy place out of the hoods and you just jump in there car or whatever real quick and then you're gone. Luckily though I fucked around with shit for a while and never was even pulled over going to get shit, I'm a very good and cautious driver imo and I think this helps alot

But I mean what could they do if I ate my half gram? Nothing right, even if I'm in a bad neighborhood I would have just said I'm meeting my gf over here because she works or something in this area and I think I would have been let go