In the absence of truth, power is the only game in town. - Richard John Neuhaus

Well that's been the game played in my town today, Richard.

Two police officers stopped me on my way to the beach and then I learned: the truth doesn't matter much when the more powerful decides on redefining the rules.

I would have loved to film the scenery for you.

You won't believe how they treated me!

@surfermarly pensive right after her encounter with the police

The power game

It's not a new story that excecutive power has an image problem.

However, today was the very first time I came to know why. On my way to the beach I got stopped by two traffic police officers. In Spain they're called "Guardia Civil".

These guys don't have the best reputation on Canary Islands. Yet, I had never had any problems with them personally, so I was extremely cool when they stopped me.

Probably I was too cool, I have no idea. In any case there must have been something in my behavior that irritated one of the officers.

It was about noon when I was approaching a small village on my way towards the beach. I spotted them on the right in a small parking lot. The officer that was standing closer to the street looked at me and then beckoned me to stop. So I did.

What then happend still completely escapes my understanding.

The officer who had stopped me approached the driver's side of my car, and I kindly saluted him through the open window.

He didn't react and asked me to show him my driving licence and passport right away. I told him that I would need to leave the car since my purse was stored in the back (trunk) of the car. He nodded, so I opened the door and stepped out of my car.

I opened the trunk while he looked through the windows of the car.

@surfermarly storing her surfboard (supposedly for the last time ever)

Then the officer started to dialogue:

You can't drive with your surfboard inside the car, lady! It has to go on the roof in a baggage porter.

I stopped searching my purse in the back of the car and looked up to him. He came closer, standing right in front of me. Then I said:

Oh, really? That's actually new to me. It's just that I'm driving across this island with my board inside the car since one year now. I've passed many controls in the meantime and nobody ever told me to take that board out. So honestly it's the first time I hear that.

That's the truth by the way. But as I learned then, the truth was the last thing that mattered here. The officer did another step forward so that he could look right down on me. Then he smiled disrespectfully from above, took his notebook and answered:

Señorita, I will press charges against you now. Maybe you understand the law better when you have to pay a bill of 200 euros, what do you think?

I was speechless. Did he really say that? I thought it was probably better not to answer anything. However, I couldn't just stand there and agree. I mean I knew that he wasn't right and only wanted to demonstrate that he was the more powerful in this dialogue. So I immediately decided on playing the poor little girl and unliterally begged him on my knees:

Oh please, I didn't mean it. Why can't you just warn me and I swear I will buy a baggage porter for the surfboard and store it properly from now on? Really! I will go and buy it this afternoon, promised!

I felt horrible saying these words, because I would have loved to tell him a completely different story. It was clear that he wasn't acting according to the law. But I didn't have any chance here.

He glared at me in a way that was absolutely disgusting. Lucky me I was wearing my sunglasses so that he couldn't look me into the eyes and assume what I thought. Then he replied:

I'll be watching you, lady. If I ever see you again without a properly stored surfboard, you will pay that penalty!

I was surprised but then quickly realized what happened: these 200 euros were just part of a game. He never wanted to really press charges on me. The only thing he pretended was to threaten me - and then enjoy my reaction.

The worst part of this story is that he even randomly defined these 200 euros.

There is no written law that backs his decision to press charges against me. I did the research being at home later.

It's not recommended to carry the surfboard inside the car since it may have a negative impact in case of an accident. However, it's not mandatory to store it outside the car.

I would have loved to film the scenery and publish it on the blockchain, even though then I would have wronged all the other police officers that are doing a great job every day.

One single lie is able to destroy a whole reputation of integrity.

Now I understand why traffic police officers have such a bad fame on my islands. Stories like mine are told on every street corner. It seems that many officers take advantage of their power in a way they shouldn't.

The biggest problem is that you can't challenge them since their departments are controlled by corruption. Whenever somebody tries to attack them, they buy their way out of the trouble - and you pay!

How are we able to defend ourselves from these unfair situations and people?

I hope you haven't made any similar experiences yet, steemians! Nobody should ever have to go though that.

Marly -

Thanks for your valuable time!
This blog was launched at the end of July 2016
aiming to provide interesting stories for open-minded
people who enjoy living on the edge of their lives,
stepping out of comfort zones, going on adventure,
doing extreme sports and embracing the new.
Welcome to the too-much-energy-blog!

PS: Don't forget to visit my new site surfermarly.com

Original content. Quote found on dailysignal.com.