This problem is older than you think...

I was a teenager in central NJ (in a working class neighborhood, mostly white, but lower-middle-class) back in the late 1970's-early 1980's.

I had long hair and liked smoking and drinking. I wasn't violent or destructive. I just liked loud rock music and being a burnout. My crowd was similar to me in every respect. We were easy to identify.

The police harassed us constantly. Granted, we were "undesirables", but we weren't criminals. But were constantly pulled over for nothing, constantly told to "move along" if we stood around downtown (think "Clerks"), and constantly chased if we decided to hide in the woods to drink beer and/or make out with our GF's. It was common for a teenage couple making out in a car in the woods to be surrounded by squad cars, lights and sirens blazing, cops swarming the vehicle, tearing it apart looking for dope, and hopefully arresting either the guy, his girl, or both.

One night, about 10pm, I left my GF's house and walked home. On a lonely street five cop cars screeched all around me. Cops yelled "Get on the ground! NOW!", with guns drawn. I was freaking terrified. I got on my belly and laced my fingers behind my head. I was waiting for batons or bullets. I thought I was gonna die. The cops rushed on me and roughed me up, then pulled me to my feet. They marched me to a squad car and pushed my face in the back window. An eyewitness in the back seat shook his head. "This ain't him."

I was thrown onto the sidewalk and told to get the fuck home.

I came home kinda scraped up and told to my parents I fell hopping a fence.

And I was a white kid. I can only imagine what modern cops do to the black kids that have since moved into my old neighborhood.

I'm old now. I don't do drugs and I hardly ever drink alcohol. I'm as straight-laced as can be. But whenever I see a cop or get pulled over, my blood pressure explodes and I become frightened. I keep thinking about how I can get out of jail, convinced the police will arrest me for nothing. What about my job? How much will this cost me? How long will I rot in jail?

These thoughts from a white, professional, 50-year-old guy living in a low-crime town in the Pac NW. We even legalized pot, but it still doesn't matter. A friend of mine is a city cop here, and I know he's a fair-minded, reasonable fellow. But because of my NJ experiences, I still don't trust his cop buddies.