On a 17 mile hike coming back from an appointment in Kennebunk,Maine, I was approached by a Maine State Trooper. Recently, a day care facility had been robbed and the robber is still at large.One of the daycare worker's noticed that they had been broken into and called the Maine State Police to come and take a report. A trooper didn't arrive on the scene until two hours after the call had been made.I had heard of something like that happening but wasn't really familiar on the details. It had happened about 4 days before my encounter with this trooper.
I need to point out I am not a criminal,no convictions,no record of any kind, except a traffic ticket for expired inspection sticker 8 years ago.Not a drug addict and don't drink alcohol. I have nothing to hide. However at this point in time, I'm 8 miles away from my destination and really don't want to delay myself any longer than necessary. Bad timing? I don't know, but he was just patrolling and apparently thought I looked out of place. I hike the Southern Maine area all the time,taking nature style photographs as my hobby. With the recent burglary in the area, I understand the trooper is doing his job, but in doing his job, probing me for my information is against my constitutional rights and I'd rather be moving along. I answered his first questions but when he asked me more personal questions I thought I would rather keep walking than be accused of something I had not done. I understood his fishing for information tactics but I wasn't the person they were looking for. He was professional and did his job correctly. I thought this is the way a police stop should be appropriately handled. I felt a twinge of guilt on not giving him my information, but I thought the wiser and just wanted to get to where I had to go.
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