I think I could be getting paranoid...

jugray · Post by **jugray** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:06 am

I have recently moved into a new neighborhood in another county. The licenses on our cars still have the old sticker on them for the other county. Recently, my son, his friend, a friend of mine, and myself have all been pulled over in the new neighborhood for silly little things. This weekend I saw the cop pulling slowly by my house and then pull a uturn and pull up behind one of the cars at my house. It looked like he was running the plates. Of course, I started having scary thoughts about the police, like they were after me and my family. Yesterday, I passed a cop and I became very nervous, had palpitations, sweating, and jelly legs. Now I cannot get the scary thoughts of them coming to get me and take me away. Here's the odd part of all of this. I live in a very posh neighborhood, have never been in trouble with the law, and have a respectable career. I don't know where these thoughts are coming from but I'm scared to death of the police now. I'm afraid they are going to take me away from my family. What is going on?

sleeplessMom · Post by **sleeplessMom** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:42 am

Hi jugray: I hadn't been on the forums for awhile, and saw your post that no one responded to. This was a few weeks ago...has it continued? I am sure they are not going to cart you away, but I admit it sounds a little odd. But it still could have a perfectly reasonable explanation. Perhaps because it is a posh neighborhood, they keep closer tabs on who is there and who is new. Perhaps one of your neighbors is the paranoid one, who called the police for no reason at all. Was it your car that they were running the tags on? If a police officer was running tags on my car, I think I would pull out my assertiveness week, and be scared to death but would try to go out and nicely offer to them if they need to see the car's registration, to "save them the trouble of looking it up". Their computers can be wrong too. We live in a middle-class neighborhood that is honestly not all that great, and one of my neighbor's sons had a car parked in the street, almost right in front of my house. It didn't move for months. Just before Christmas, someone stole the tires and busted out all the windows. It sat like that for over a month. I was so embarrassed when family came to visit for Christmas, and it made me feel like I live in the slums. Our house is OK but I would prefer a better neighborhood, but the thought of moving with job uncertainty and uncertainty in the economy is overwhelming. Anyway, I finally called the police about this trashed car, and they looked it up in the computer and said it was registered and they couldn't do anything about it! We live in the city limits, I couldn't believe someone can leave a junked car in the street. So I asked the cop to tell me when the registration expires, thinking I would call it in the very next day after it expired if it sat there for months like that! So he had to call the desk, and they told him differently than what was in his computer, that the registration and license had been revoked, so it was illegal and moved off the street within a week. I went off on a tangent that has nothing to do with you. Can you try to turn your thoughts around? Maybe it is not just you that they are paying attention to, but everybody. Maybe you have just moved into a very safe neighborhood because of it. If you are law abiding, you have nothing to worry about. Good luck.

jugray · Post by **jugray** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:40 am

Hi Mom,
Thanks for responding. Things have gotten a little better. I found out through some of my neighbors that there had been some break-ins last summer in the neighborhood and they arrested 2 boys from the county where I used to live. Also, you are soo right about that neighbor thing. Turns out that my next-door-neighbor is the head of the neighborhood watch for the community and that she will call the cops in an instant. The other neighbors call her Gladys Kravitz! She makes sure that every ordinance is followed and will not hesitate to call the police for anything. At least I am not feeling so attacked/targeted now. I know where their motives are coming from. It should make for an interesting living arrangement though. I thought I was moving to suburbia to relax. LOL!