ERacism. Police abuse of power?

I, too, was harassed by the police. This is a true story. Every word of it.

The two men in blue knocked on our front door at 3 AM one morning fifteen years ago. "What's the problem, officers?" Didn't show their badges, didn't ask for my ID, didn't say what was wrong, just looked around with their shiny black flashlights. Then one of them asked me to go play my answering machine. OK, this was the 90's, we still had an answering machine for our home phone. Luckily, I had recorded the outgoing message a couple of days earlier. Way back then, when I was a theater sound guy, I usually change the message often, mixing background music and greetings. They were not really paying attention but could tell that was MY voice on the machine.

I asked what was the problem and finally he reluctantly said someone had called in reporting a crime happening at the house. I asked again: What? ...Nothing. I guess the cops saw nothing suspicious so they left without apologizing or saying anything else to me. They didn't look around outside the house, the bushes, or the neighbors. Just got in their Crown Vic cruiser and took off. OK, these two yahoos woke me and Kathy up in the middle of the night on a weekday, in our own home. Before they left, I was looking at them straight in the eye and I could tell one of them was trying to hold back a laugh, like they were punking me. As their car pulled out of the driveway, I just knew that they were bored, and made up some excuse to break up the monotony of their night on the job. Hey, my own brother is a cop in California. He would do something like this too if it was a slow night.

Moral of the story: Avoid confrontation and ask their police badge number before you get angry and get yo'self arrested for being in your own home.

P.S. This would be the lovely city of Smyrna police dept., in Cobb county, in the deep South state of Georgia. Howdy Y'all!