Lancaster is a small town in the Southeastern part of Pennsylvania. Although famous as a tourist trap, it's a boring city with nothing to do, but do drugs (at least for me), skateboard and sometimes girls; for some bored guys it's causing trouble. The law system is very fucked-up here, like the day I was skateboarding on a movable grind-box which I'd spent about a week building for myself. I was riding in a little-used alleyway (about 1 car every 2 hours). A bully Lancaster cop driving past on the cross street happened to see me. Seizing my box, he issued me a citation for a traffic hazard. The cop even tried to provoke me by radioing a city truck to haul my box off - he said to the dump. When I tried to complain to Mayor Smithgal in an effort to have my property returned, his secretary told me that the Mayor said I wouldn't get it back. The Mayor owns two pharmacies in the city, one about two blocks from my home. Before he was elected mayor, he'd let us skateboard in his back parking lot on the condition that we'd tell our parents to vote for him. Personally, I don't believe in voting. Then after he was elected, we weren't allowed to skate on the parking lot anymore and if we did, we'd be arrested for trespassing. On another occasion, one night, I was about a block from home walking to my house. I kicked a hunk of pumpkin that was lying in the street from Halloween pranksters. Some dickhead yelled at me. Because he kept staring at me, I asked him "what's the big problem?" About 30 seconds further along I felt like someone was following me. Looking back, there was a 300 pound guy and another man running after me. Grabbing me, the smaller one punched me in the face. I fell onto a parked car scratching it. My friend who was walking with me started to fight the guy who'd hit me, but the two of them ganged up on him. Getting away, we walked on up the street, but the kid who'd hit me called the cops. An unmarked car driving very fast almost hit me so I hollered, "watch out!" Squealing to a stop, the cop demanded "what the fuck you say to me, punk?" He asked my age. I was 17. Although I was only 3 houses away from my home, the cop said "guess what, you're under arrest for breaking curfew!" He started searching me. I totally didn't remember that there was marijuana in my pocket or I would have run or dumped it. The cop put me into the car saying that I would be charged with attempted assault for trying to hit the bullies who'd attacked me. So now I'm on probation for some real bullshit. It really pisses me off. Then, just the other day, a friend of mine who's been living with me, but has warrants out against him, had his exgirlfriend call the cops on him. The cops came without a warrant and my sister who answered the door refused to let them in. They pushed their way in anyway and made my sister wait outside in freezing weather without socks or shoes. Five cops and a dog searched the house. Seeing that my mom's bedroom door was bolt locked, they started kicking it off the hinges. Fortunately, mom came home and the cops demanded the key. Now, I don't know the law too much, but I do know that they cannot enter a home without a warrant. My friend is only a technical parole violator. Please don't say my real name, but thanks for reading about the fucked-up cops in Lancaster. [Editor's note: This is a typical example how instead of helping young people and guiding them, cops bully and turn them into "criminals." There's very little good that can be said about cops!]