The Portland Photographic Society had organized a field trip Sunday night to photograph fire dancers. The fire dancers meet once a month under the east end of the Morrison bridge, next to the esplanade.
However, that area had become a gathering spot for unsavory characters and activities. A recent attempt by the Portland Police to clean things up had very recently led to Taser use, which the surrounding crowd did not take well. That led to Sunday night's presence of 15 to 20 officers on foot, in addition to the mounted police.
So, instead of walking into a photographic society field trip to photograph fire dancers, I find myself walking into a scene which includes lots of law enforcement. I walked up to one of the officers, told him what I was there for, and asked if I was about to walk into something very different than what I came for. He explained the situation to me, and that the area in question was a public park and that they were here to make sure that lawful activities by citizens could proceed without the illegal stuff. He told me that the illegal stuff included the fire dancer's fire, so that they would have to make do with glow sticks that night. We wished each other well, and I proceeded to enter the park.
As I walked on, one of his colleagues swiveled her head and took me in. She had a shaved head, and clear Wiley X type wraparound shooter/safety glasses on. She didn't like what she saw. She fixed her gaze on me and tracked me as I moved, giving me the scumbag stare referenced above. I smiled and said hello. She clenched her jaw and just continued The Stare. It occurred to me that she would welcome an opportunity to exercise her authority, and that giving her such an opportunity would not be a terribly wise choice.
My guess is that it was the camera gear that set her off. Perhaps after the unpopular Tasing that led to this police presence, she assumed that I was there with hopes of taking photographs that would show police activities unfavorably.
I continued on my law-abiding way, and joined my photographic society colleagues on the esplanade for night photos of the city skyline on the other side of the river, with the reflections of city lights on the relatively still river. Later on, the friendly officer I spoke with came by with his partner, and they chatted amiably with our group.
It was pretty chilling to realize that a police officer had drawn a bead on me, and that if her fellow officers had not been there, that she would have had a freer hand to act on her dislike.
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