Sign of the times

I meant to write about this a while ago, but was kind of busy at the time. A few months ago, I needed to go to Loughborough for work purposes, and decided to travel by train. This entailed taking a train from my neck of the woods, and meeting a colleague at Birmingham New Street station, where I would change trains before continuing on my journey.

New Street station has ticket barriers where people in yellow jackets check that you actually hold a valid ticket (there has long been a history of fare dodgers on the cross-city lines). I was about to leave the platform area to go and buy a coffee and something for breakfast, when I was stopped by one of the coppers who were in attendance.

PC Plod explained that he and his colleagues were randomly stopping people under the terms of anti-terrorism legislation, I wasn't being targeted and would I mind answering some questions and if he had a look in my bag?

Not being in a position to argue, I politely agreed. PC Plod was quite agreeable, he noted down my appearance and asked about what I was doing today, he then had a quick glance at the contents of my bag. To be honest, he seemed a bit embarrassed by the whole thing. PC Plod was a Sikh, with a beard and a turban. This actually reassured me - if it had been an officer of a different ethnicity, it would have been all too easy to think that they were only stopping me for being of Asian origin. He also said that he takes some (gentle) abuse from friends and family for the fact that he has to do this part of the job.

I wasn't about to complain - it is a sign of the times, and there is no point kicking up a fuss unless you want trouble. That doesn't mean I like it, or that I think it is fair. I do believe that I am more likely to be targeted for stop and search by virtue of my gender (male), age (late 20s) and skin colour (brown); this is in a similar way to the fact that on about half of my holidays with (white) friends or my girlfriend, they will often be quickly waved through at passport control, while I get a slightly sinister glare and often a couple of minutes of questioning about where I have been, what I was doing there and so on.

Am I paranoid? Maybe a little, but given the current climate of suspicion, can you blame me?