A story about ze Germanz and my knife!

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Hi law abiding community.
I am normally not to cry over spilled milk but this one I just gotta tell to get a load of my soul:

Taking business trip to germany frankfurts for a week.
Living in hotel for five days casually.
Meet the hotel cook untangling the chain of his bicycle
Decide to lend a helpful hand
Tell him to wait a sec, whip out my trusty buck vantage avid and pry the chain back straight
Look back up, he's gone

Think he's forgotten something in the oven and start breakfast
While having coffee, menacing men with black leatherdress join my table
Telling me, they are ze polizei and I should come with them to policestation

Turns out the cook didn't knew a speck of english and felt threatened to death from my utility knife
I tell them I was helping and never meant any harm. Policemens troubled with the english language.
police acknowledges that but confiscate my knife due to the aggressive nature of the knife which is very very bad and only for rapists,murderers and criminals
I tell them the Buck Vantages is below 3.3" and isn't assisted opened whereas the police only response was to continuesly flip open the knife one handed and look at me with pitying eyes
They tell me they will return my knife when I bring them a lockable suitcase shortly before leaving germany

Work the next day consumes all my time and I forget about knife
Next day, shortly before flight I remember and turn up at the policestation
hand in my form and receive some silly rambo-like-combat-folderknife

Tell them that this is not what I left here the last time and start arguing
One police officer with proper english tells me that this is judging by the number what I left here and the officers I met yesterday are not on duty.
Keep arguing for two hours, look at the time and decide to end it since the flight back is in an hour.

I tell them they can keep whatever of my murderous arsenal of mass destruction they took from me
One policeman feels insulted for no reason and another one joins in
I get XXXX out



Seriously, what was this aggressive nature they talked about when handling the buck vantage avid?
 
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Im Sorry for that,
but this is what happens if you scare a sheeple in Germany/Europe :eek:

In my opinion you were lucky that the policemen didn't know the Law exactly.
Although the Buck Vantage is not cosidered a weapon under the german law, it's a one hand opening and locking knife.
There is a regulation in the german weapon law which prohibits having a one hand opening and locking knife in public without good reason.
If they knew the Law you would have payed a fine for having such a knife in public (usually about €350, max. €10.000).

As long as there are no initial suspicions against you no german police officer may search you for knives or anything else.
So if you want to carry a locking one-hand-folder in Germany, it's best to carry it concealed (no pocket clip visible) and use it discretely.
And watch out for sheeple.


Greez!


BTW: Assisted Opening Knives are perfectly legal in Gemany,
but you are not allowed to carry them in public without good reason, too (if they have a locking blade).
Here is a summary of the german regulations about carrying knives in public http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_legislation#Germany
 
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They know the law, since they "are" germans AND ze polize after all...
Man, I am now even more dissatisfied thinking about them actually cutting me some slack and letting me off easy.

Thanks for the reply mate
 
sounds to me like you pulled an illegally carried knife on a german citizen and now you are whining because you lost your knife instead of getting a fine and possibly arrested.
 
Sorry to year about you losing your knife.

This goes back to what I say about helping others - if they don't have a knife, that's their problem and they should learn to carry one. There was another thread about someone scaring a lady they tried to help cut some plastic. Why do people feel so compelled to pull a knife as a helping hand?!?! Just keep it in your pocket until YOU need it. I mean - I carry a knife for ME, not so I can run to the aid of others. I tend to mind my own business ymmv.
 
Exactly. Same problem with lending someone a knife. If they were knife people, they would have a knife of their own, but they're not, so they don't, and they won't treat yours with respect, either.

As far as ze Germanz and your knife, try that in New York City and tell it to the judge.
 
Sorry about your knife. Sounds to me they were indeed cutting you some slack because they could have served you with a fine for misdemeanor for carrying such a blade in public. I would write off the rest of the encounter as language problems and the usual administrative chaos. Really. Our guys in green, oops no, sorry, nowadays they are clad in cheerful blue, are usually pretty cool compared to the police in other countries. Try a stunt like that in France, Poland, Denmark, the UK or even some places in the United States and see what happens.

Anyways, thanks for telling the tale. I've always wondered how the Polizei handles such a situation. So far all accounts seem to show they usually don't explicitly look for locking one-hand opening blades in a regular police check. So if you've got them in a bag or concealed in your pocket you should be safe. I've got my Delica in my zipped bag (which is allowed) and only carry a slipjoint in my pocket. They can only search you and your stuff with probable cause. I'd say you giving the poor cook the scare of a lifetime gave them enough cause to check on you ;)
 
What's with the "ze?" I'm German. I know German people that speak English. Not one says "ze" when trying to say "the." They either say "the" or "de."

Back on topic. At least you didn't get a hefty fine or jail time.
 
@nagod: Sums up what has been stated in the starting post captn' obivous. :D

Oh well, I guess it's time to bury whats left of tears and move on. I was lucky enough to flee the scene and now it's time to feel lucky.
Great seeing a forum community actually reacting on those matters and yeah, I now know better than to help others out with a knife in future... Or helping at all.
Considering all the things I have learned on this short trip, it was definitely more worth than that one knife (and some nerves) I left in germany.

@Harkamus: No offense. I am sure many actually do say "the" correctly but I haven't met many germans in that one week :)
That's what makes germans unique and distinguishable whenever we get visits. And they are always dead-on-time to the very last second. I like that.
 
I'm actually quite surprised how sheeple that person was. Then again, I'm guessing it was mostly the language barrier. If you had been a German, he'd probably have bought you a bier (notice the correct spelling...anything "beer" is not bier ;) ) afterwards.
 
This story sucks dude, im sorry for your trouble. To be honest, if I saw you prying a bike chain with a Buck Vantage Avid I would take it away from you and not give it back too.
 
I think anything of interest could be confiscated in any country at anytime. Having said that, I guess we could be thankful we aren't sitting in a foreign jail awaiting the judge. On another note, I'll be in Frankfurt at the end of the month. No lockbacks or assisted openers for me. Swiss army or maybe Spyderco UK pen knife probably seems safe enough.
 
It goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished. My policy is to not help until help is asked of me.
 
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