A few days ago, a new resident in the apartments where I sometimes stay in Watford City asked me a question.  He asked, “What is it with this 25 mph speed limit?  Has the money that Watford City received from oil revenue decreased so much that the police are having to write everyone tickets to make money?”  I said no, that’s not it at all, the police want to have the opportunity to meet you.

I explained that the police like pulling people over, that way they get to meet you.  They look at your out of state driver’s license, everybody here is from out of state, and they run it to see if you  have any outstanding warrants, and whatever other criminal history information that might come up.  Then they are going to ask you, “What’s your local address?”  The police want your local address, so in case you are involved in anything now or at a later date, they know where you are staying here locally.

Just walking up to your vehicle, the police can tell if you are a construction worker, a skilled trades person, a professional, or a homeless person.  A construction worker will most likely have a beat up vehicle with construction tools laying about.  A skilled trades person will have a nicer vehicle with his tools put away.  A professional person will likely have a clean vehicle with no tools at all.  A homeless person will have all of their personal items stuffed inside their vehicle.

Just walking up to your vehicle, the police can tell if you are likely a drug addict.  Drug addicts sometimes have newer vehicles, but there is usually something messed up with it, like the sunvisor being mangled, the headliner being pulled down, or a back window being smashed.  Whether a newer vehicle, or an older vehicle, drug addicts usually have debris all over the floor, and I don’t mean tools, I mean debris.  Somewhere in that debris, the police will usually find drug paraphernalia.  The police can also spot items in drug addict’s vehicle that have likely been stolen or have been reported as stolen recently.

I am not complaining about the police meeting people, because I agree with it.  One of the things that the police in Watford City and Dickinson are trying to do is eliminate drug trafficking and illegal drug use, which I agree with.

Someone can go ahead and tell me again about how narcotics should be legal, and it is nobody’s business but the user, they aren’t hurting anyone, it’s nobody’s business.  This is a drug user who will say something like this.  I can go ahead and tell them about the women I know who lost custody of their children because they weren’t feeding their children because they were a drug user, using their money to buy drugs, not paying attention to feeding, clothing, and caring for their children.  Drug users steal money from the businesses where they work, from family members, from friends, from neighbors, from strangers, in order to pay for drugs.

Probably at least 60% of the small item theft in Dickinson is committed by people trying to get something to sell to buy drugs.  These are removing items from unlocked cars and homes, and breaking into locked cars and homes.

I am not giving away secrets that shouldn’t be known.  I want everyone in Watford City and Dickinson to know that the police are looking for the opportunity to stop you, meet you, and find out all about you.  If there is anything suspicious about you, they are going to tell the other police, so that they can all watch what you are doing.  They want to know who everybody is and what everybody is doing.  Watford City government, Dickinson city government, county government, highway patrol, the courts, probation, chamber of commerce, business associations, development associations, wealthy individuals, the Dickinson Mafia, all the churches, they are all behind the police having tight control over everybody and this is what they expect to be done.