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My Fellow Canadians

You know, 90% of the time you can easily cross in either direction, provided you have a passport, no "attitude," and answer a few questions - most of which you've read in previous postings in this thread. When you pull up to the officer, put down the side stand and turn off the ignition. You will probably be asked to remove your helmet. Take your time and also remove at least one ear plug while telling the officer what you are doing. You are NOT running, is the message.

If you are one of the 10% really hassled, just remember that border guards have enormous powers. Your job is to stay calm and cooperative while volunteering nothing. I'm sure there are a lot of smart and experienced people doing this job of guarding our borders. There are also a lot of dumb and inexperienced border guards who just don't get that a white guy in his 60's riding a BMW bike probably isn't a drug mule or a terrorist. Telling these types, if you encounter one, that he/she is an idiot, is probably not in your best interest.
 
I'm sure there are a lot of smart and experienced people doing this job of guarding our borders. There are also a lot of dumb and inexperienced border guards who just don't get that a white guy in his 60's riding a BMW bike probably isn't a drug mule or a terrorist. Telling these types, if you encounter one, that he/she is an idiot, is probably not in your best interest.

As a law-abiding citizen, it can be hard to understand how anyone could suspect you of anything. What you don't understand is that the officer you're dealing with doesn't know you at all, and can't assume you're not trying to pull the wool over his eyes.

When an officer has seen, personally or in training, a loaded gun in a baby seat under an infant, narcotics in sandwiches in a middle-aged couple's cooler or concealed inside a military vet's prosthetic limb, they have a radically different perspective to yours. Understanding has to be exercised on everyone's part.
 
I expect that in real life the criminals and smugglers don't always conform to the Hollywood stereotypes. It could just as easily be the family in the Volvo or the guy on the BMW, as the all white van with the blacked out windows and the shifty eyed nervous driver of some foreign ethnic/religous group.
 
I expect that in real life the criminals and smugglers don't always conform to the Hollywood stereotypes.
True. A conman must look trustworthy, otherwise people won't give them their money... ;)

That's what I told the guy I bought my bike from. He wanted to give me the title to the bike the day before I came to collect it (and had not paid). He said I looked ok... He gave me a weird look and still handed me the title... ;) Those crazy Dutchmen!
 
Dave and Ed Miller make interesting points. Clearly a lot of BC bud is still being exported south and it would seem quite a few handguns are being illegally imported to Canada. Maybe a sizeable amount of this traffic is by old guys in Volvos or on BMW bikes - but I doubt it. Few guys who fit that profile care to risk spending the rest of their lives in jail. Gangsters, except a few at the top, tend to be young and too stupid to look like young business exec's, I'd wager.

It would be interesting to know how so much illegal stuff (drugs and guns in particular) move across the border. My guess is that the guards nail less than 5%, but of course, nobody except the criminals know.

When I was in my 20's and had long hair, my car was much more often searched thoroughly - which made sense. I fit the profile of a drug user. My guess is that riders who fit the "outlaw" profile, spend a lot more time on average crossing the border than BMW riders. If you were a border guard with lots of vehicles backed up, which bike would YOU pull over for a good sniff by the canine?
 
Gangsters, except a few at the top, tend to be young and too stupid to look like young business exec's, I'd wager.
You've seen too many movies... ;)

Ask a drugs officer on any international airport what kind of people they caught over the years... A couple of months ago a nun (or somebody dressed like one) was caught. People used babies to smuggle drugs (in the little crib), false legs and what not. Criminals don't have big signs over their heads.

If the police was stupid enough to look to people who look like criminals, I'd quit my dayjob and start to make real money as an inconspicuous criminal.
 
What is up with the fruit and vegetable question? Like bugs can't get past that big F'n wall between the countries?

They're specifically interested in citrus, and not because of the live flies.

Quickie internet search:

Tests were under way Friday on at least 100 bugs that were found inside a FedEx package
and can be carriers of a deadly citrus bacteria.

The finding this week by a sniff dog in Sacramento is the latest bad news for the state's $1.6 billion
citrus industry, which has seen the Asian citrus psyllid jump quarantines in San Diego and Imperial counties
and move into Orange and Los Angeles counties on a march from Mexico.

Psyllids are a carrier of huanlongbing, a deadly bacteria that has devastated citrus industries across China,
Brazil and Florida, where 200,000 acres of trees have died.
 
Psyllids are a carrier of huanlongbing, a deadly bacteria that has devastated citrus industries across China,
Brazil and Florida, where 200,000 acres of trees have died.
That's why they do research on coffeeplants diseases in Spain and Portugal and not in South America... ;)
 
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