A Cop just told me, "Freedom doesn't exist anymore."

[newflesh]

What's the potential solution then?

However this doesn't seem to apply to the dustbin men who regularly make lots of noise outside my house at 7am. Still I'd rather that than not have my rubbish collected .

The reason they collect so early is so they don't hold up traffic in the road. It's even louder when they're collecting the recycled glass bottles (used to live near a pub where I'd hear this on a daily basis )

[OgNasty]

Again, time of day had nothing to do with it.  Weird that people are so focused on that.  Perhaps most people don't understand the need to get yard work done early when it will be 115 degrees outside.  I'll say it one last time, this was not an issue of noise or had anything to do with the time of day.  If it was something so trivial, I wouldn't have felt the need to post it.  This was a cop probably 10 years younger than me who made a bad judgement and used the threat of jail to cover his tracks and intimidate.  I just wanted to highlight that.  If you want to take the police officer's side for why I'm at fault for clearly not breaking any laws, I'd venture to say you are what is wrong with America.  Even police officers have to follow the laws and can't threaten people with jail based on their opinions.

Edit: I was blowing dust off my driveway which a rake wouldn't help.  Quite normal in the desert.  I heard 2 neighbors do it this morning at roughly the same time I did.  It is so common that me being confronted by police for doing it and then urged to install cameras on my property gave me such a strange feeling I felt the need to post it online somewhere.

[newflesh]

Again, time of day had nothing to do with it.  Weird that people are so focused on that.  Perhaps most people don't understand the need to get yard work done early when it will be 115 degrees outside.  I'll say it one last time, this was not an issue of noise or had anything to do with the time of day.  If it was something so trivial, I wouldn't have felt the need to post it.  This was a cop probably 10 years younger than me who made a bad judgement and used the threat of jail to cover his tracks and intimidate.  I just wanted to highlight that.  If you want to take the police officer's side for why I'm at fault for clearly not breaking any laws, I'd venture to say you are what is wrong with America.  Even police officers have to follow the laws and can't threaten people with jail based on their opinions.

Edit: I was blowing dust off my driveway which a rake wouldn't help.  Quite normal in the desert.  I heard 2 neighbors do it this morning at roughly the same time I did. 

Fair enough mate, I think it's insane that a cop wasted the time and effort to lecture you about 'breaking the law' (even though you didnt) for making noise on your own property. Not sure what it's like in the US but in the UK the cops have to make a certain amount of arrests/stops per month (though they don't admit it publicly) so they tend to go for the easier violations than go after the real criminals.

[hedgy73]

Again, time of day had nothing to do with it.  Weird that people are so focused on that.  Perhaps most people don't understand the need to get yard work done early when it will be 115 degrees outside.  I'll say it one last time, this was not an issue of noise or had anything to do with the time of day.  If it was something so trivial, I wouldn't have felt the need to post it.  This was a cop probably 10 years younger than me who made a bad judgement and used the threat of jail to cover his tracks and intimidate.  I just wanted to highlight that.  If you want to take the police officer's side for why I'm at fault for clearly not breaking any laws, I'd venture to say you are what is wrong with America.  Even police officers have to follow the laws and can't threaten people with jail based on their opinions.

Edit: I was blowing dust off my driveway which a rake wouldn't help.  Quite normal in the desert.  I heard 2 neighbors do it this morning at roughly the same time I did.  It is so common that me being confronted by police for doing it and then urged to install cameras on my property gave me such a strange feeling I felt the need to post it online somewhere.

I'm sorry I misunderstood the severity of the conversation and certainly didn't realise he'd threatened you with jail! He sounds like a nasty piece of work .

You're right, it would have gone viral by now if you'd recorded it, it's shocking.

[ibminer]

Again, time of day had nothing to do with it.  Weird that people are so focused on that.  Perhaps most people don't understand the need to get yard work done early when it will be 115 degrees outside.  I'll say it one last time, this was not an issue of noise or had anything to do with the time of day.  If it was something so trivial, I wouldn't have felt the need to post it.  This was a cop probably 10 years younger than me who made a bad judgement and used the threat of jail to cover his tracks and intimidate.  I just wanted to highlight that.  If you want to take the police officer's side for why I'm at fault for clearly not breaking any laws, I'd venture to say you are what is wrong with America.  Even police officers have to follow the laws and can't threaten people with jail based on their opinions.

Edit: I was blowing dust off my driveway which a rake wouldn't help.  Quite normal in the desert.  I heard 2 neighbors do it this morning at roughly the same time I did.  It is so common that me being confronted by police for doing it and then urged to install cameras on my property gave me such a strange feeling I felt the need to post it online somewhere.

Did you get the impression he actually thought you were breaking the law and got aggressive when you corrected him?  or do you think he was just making up a false charge just to harass you?  ....I guess the latter is what I thought you were saying with the OP, but the bolded statement makes sense to me and this is definitely not a good reaction to the situation by any police officer, or human being for that matter.

I'm also curious what the 'other discussions' mentioned in the OP were that went on before he made the comment?
I just want to clarify that you didn't come up to him throwing up gang signs and saying "wha wha mother$*#$, I know the law $*#*$, get out of my face!" and had some level of respectfulness?  

In any case, I would hope this is an isolated incident... I'm not sure how old you are, but it sounds like the cop might have been a newer police officer?

If it were me, as long as I am within my legal right to do so, I'd be out there the next morning leaf blowing, with a recording device and/or witnesses, but would still have a level of respect in the situation... the same level of respect I would give to any person, not just a cop.  

[BADecker]

I was blowing leaves off of my property this morning when a police officer confronted me.  He told me that I was breaking the law (where I live the noise ordinance is from 10pm-6am and this was well within that time frame).  When I let him know the law and asked what law I was breaking along with some other discussions, he responded by saying, "This isn't the good old days, freedom doesn't exist anymore."  He had a straight face and was dead serious.  It is a sad day when not even the police believe in freedom anymore or respect the laws.  I just wish I had been recording the interaction as it would have been youtube gold.

He just married a woman cop and is finding out that she wears the pants in the family.   

[OgNasty]

I'm also curious what the 'other discussions' mentioned in the OP were that went on before he made the comment?
I just want to clarify that you didn't come up to him throwing up gang signs and saying "wha wha mother$*#$, I know the law $*#*$, get out of my face!" and had some level of respectfulness?  

In any case, I would hope this is an isolated incident... I'm not sure how old you are, but it sounds like the cop might have been a newer police officer?

If it were me, as long as I am within my legal right to do so, I'd be out there the next morning leaf blowing, with a recording device and/or witnesses, but would still have a level of respect in the situation... the same level of respect I would give to any person, not just a cop.  

I was very calm and nice actually.  It wasn't a heated discussion from my end at all.  I was just shocked that he said that.

I have spoken to my neighbors and apparently this is the 3rd police run in this week.  I guess there have been some property disputes between two of my neighbors and police were just called the day before because one of them complained that the other was storing boxes of leaves and then throwing them on his property in the night (true story).  It is quite possible that they were checking up on the situation and mistook me for one of the neighbors involved in the dispute.  That makes more sense to me as to why he would threaten to take me to jail for using a leaf blower.  Still not cool, but at least I don't feel like I was randomly selected to be harassed and threatened by police.

[aikunsatu]

He's so right,  money has put humanity second.

[cryptocoiner]

This isn't the good old days, freedom doesn't exist anymore.

Nice one. America has lost independence and freedom. Maybe you should leave America and go to some place where absolute freedom still exists? Like Somalia for example.