Ever had a knife forcibly taken from you?

O

Omega Leather Works

Joined
Jun 13, 2007
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Once a few years back, when I was in Mexico, a street cop spotted the knife in my pocket and gave me a choice. Mexican prison or confiscation of the knife. Of course I gave up my Kershaw, but only after trying to bribe him.

Pro tip - DO NOT try to bribe street cops in Mexico. Traffic cops? Different story...

So I watched as the cop took my knife a gave it to a street vendor that was standing there watching.

I ended up buying a cheap switchblade to replace my knife, but to this day I feel-

1. Stupid for taking a knife into Mexico

and

2. Angry at that a-hole cop...

Anyone else ever lose a knife in such a terrible manner? :D
 
I was 17 years old, living in Mexico, and I let my friend borrow my small keychain SAK. We were leaving a club and as we get in our car we get blocked in by some cops and they ask us if we had just gotten into a fight. We hadn't, but they still searched us all, and when they found the knife on my friends keys they put him in the back of the police truck and they took off so fast we didn't have time to get in our car and follow them. My "arrested" friend called about 2 hours later, he had been dropped off in a parking lot on the opposite side of town, minus my SAK, and minus the 10 dollars he had in his wallet.
 
Frequently travel to Mexico and always carry my Manix 2 and once in a while a 0561. Never had a problem.

General rule is in the northern states you can keep clipped to your pocket without hassle, but if you go south or Mexico state put it in your pocket. I think they might be illegal to carry in Mexico City.
 
If you ever thought the cops in the states were dirty, you have no idea how dirty the Mexico cops can be. They Rob and beat people, a lot of them are paid off by drug dealers as well.
Don't get me wrong there are some good cops, just like 1 out of every 10.
I have a few Mexico stories from back in the day parting with friends in San Diego.
And if you think you can hide your money from the cops your wrong. They prey on Americans and supplement there income by robbing them. Real Richard Cranium's!!!
 
espnazi said:
Frequently travel to Mexico and always carry my Manix 2 and once in a while a 0561. Never had a problem.

General rule is in the northern states you can keep clipped to your pocket without hassle, but if you go south or Mexico state put it in your pocket. I think they might be illegal to carry in Mexico City.
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This was in a northern state. That's funny because it seemed like the further I went south the less suspicion there was from leos. Acapulco was no problem, and Mexico City was too. Weird.

There is no way (!) I would carry either of those knives in Mexico. I probably wouldn't carry them outside the U.S. period. What I learned is that, while in a foreign country, it's best just to buy a knife while there and bring it back if you can. It's probably worth looking into the laws concerning knife carry as well. The last thing I need is to rot in a weird prison cell somewhere! :o
 
Doesn't surprise me. I was in Mexico with my wife and (at that time) 3 year old daughter. We were driving back from the Mega mart with the diapers that we just picked up and some groceries. As I was driving my standard no air conditioning tin can over a series of speed bumps in 1st gear I was pulled over for speeding. I was like ... come on really? The officer told me yes really and the fine was $150 US (if he would have said $20 bucks I probably would have paid him and been done with it). I refused to pay, he told me I had to give him my drivers license and I could pick it up in PV... riiiight. No go one that one either. He got frustrated and mad and when back to his car, we stayed there for a few minutes boilinh yo death in the car and I got fed up and just drove away. Then woried the whole way back to the resort we were going to get busted and I would sent to the Mexican big house. Nothing ever became of it D/Head.
 
That street vendor the cop gave your knife to likely sold it and fed his family for a week.
The police have a hard enough time getting the Government to buy weapons for them so they are left to fend for themselves.
Ricardo Jess Torres
 
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Sorry Ricardo I didn't mean any disrespect, I love your country and go there every year. Just this particular experience and individual I didn't love, you probably wouldn't have been crazy about it - or him either. I am very respectful of the law which is why I don't really do really well with dishonesty in any form.
 
Strigamort said:
Easy man, I've got nothing against Mexico. I was there to visit FAMILY if that tells you anything about me.

Wait let me get this straight... he steals my knife and that's okay to you because it fed the vendors family? I understand your point of view, I spent a lot more money than I had to spend while there because of the poverty. In fact, what I saw in Acapulco was very disturbing and I did what I could there too. It didn't work out to being a vacation at all in fact, but that doesn't give that cop the right to steal from a visiting American. My Mexican family was bothered by it too.

Anyway this thread isn't about Mexico. It's about having your knife taken from you wherever it happens.
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I actually edited the first part out soon after I posted, but evidently not before I was quoted.
I read about your experience, and then each subsequent post was relating a bad experience in Mexico and it kinda ticked me off. Perhaps a more generic term could be applied, such as "a foreign country"?
I am not saying what happened to you was right, just what probably did happen. You should be grateful that all that happened was you got your knife taken. Americans are kidnapped all the time, especially along the border.
 
It wasn't me specifically, but my platoon arrived in Germany the first week of October. Naturally, once we took care of billeting and secured our bags in our rooms we caught the train to the nearest Oktoberfest, where we commenced sampling the brew, admiring the dirndl clad girls, and trying to sing along to the beer drinking songs. As luck would have it, a buddy who had been singing (sort of) along with a song raised his hands to applaud at the end, right as a local cop was walking past. The policeman saw the clip of the Emerson that my friends dad had given him as a deployment gift, immediately pulled him off the bench, and frog marched him outside. I followed, being the only person there with a rudimentary grasp of German and managed to keep the cop from taking my friend to jail, but the knife was history.
 
Wyszrd said:
It wasn't me specifically, but my platoon arrived in Germany the first week of October. Naturally, once we took care of billeting and secured our bags in our rooms we caught the train to the nearest Oktoberfest, where we commenced sampling the brew, admiring the dirndl clad girls, and trying to sing along to the beer drinking songs. As luck would have it, a buddy who had been singing (sort of) along with a song raised his hands to applaud at the end, right as a local cop was walking past. The policeman saw the clip of the Emerson that my friends dad had given him as a deployment gift, immediately pulled him off the bench, and frog marched him outside. I followed, being the only person there with a rudimentary grasp of German and managed to keep the cop from taking my friend to jail, but the knife was history.
Click to expand...
I don't travel. I've never been out of the United States (even though I've lived in San Diego for 43 years, I've never crossed the border into Mexico). So I have no personal experience with foreign laws or law enforcement. But I tell ya, some of the things I read here on Bladeforums really make me appreciate living in the USA. Here in urban San Diego (California) I have openly and legally carried a ten inch fixed-blade everywhere I go for several years. And despite the fact that many cops have seen my knife, not one has ever hassled me over it or said a negative thing about it. The only time A cop ever said anything about it was when the bottom of my jacket accidentally covered the knife, thereby making it illegally conceald, and the cop just gave me a quick and friendly warning because he didn't want me to get into any trouble. He didn't take the knife from me, not even for a second. Nor did he ask why I was carrying it. And he didn't even ask my name or ask for my ID.

And to think, there are people all over the world who bad-mouth the US.

It's funny, some people suggest that a person isn't really living if they never leave their home country. But if staying home in the US means I can freely carry a knife around without ANY hassle from the cops, then I say screw traveling, who needs it. I'll be quite happy without ever experiencing the facist policies of foreign governments or the treatment of their law enforcement personnel. Civil rights are a wonderful thing.

Of course, for the sake of full disclosure, I know that there are places in the US that are unfriendly to knives. And I don't go to those places either.
 
I'm cool with that train of thought, although I like to travel when I can.

Living in California I've taken full advantage of being able to carry big knives out in the open too. :) It may weird someone out if you have a FB on your belt, but if you need it there is nothing saying you can't have it. :thumbup:
 
I'm also in California like some of you and I'd enjoy carrying a fixed blade but the attention it would attract deters me.

Sorry to hear your knife was taken. There's been a couple of times I didn't think I would get mine back.

I usually don't have a problem carrying a folder around Southern California and if I know it's a place that doesn't allow it I'll leave mine in the car. This was the first time at an Irish bar that a bouncer spotted the my tighe clipped to my pocket and asked me to hand it over. I asked if I could go drop it off in my car but he didn't let that fly since he wouldn't know whether I actually put it away or just pocket it. I handed it to him, he admired it a bit, let me know I can ask for it back later and followed through with that in the end.

One time I was in Vegas with friends in line for a club. I forgot I had my benchmite in my pocket and dropped it while I pulled out my wallet. Unfortunately a bouncer saw it and requested that I handed it over to him or leave. In the end he was very courteous about it and said I could get it back from him when I left. At the end of the night while we were leaving he handed it right back when I asked about.

There was another time my friends wanted to go clubbing in LA so I tagged along. This place was even confiscating caribiners in a bucket. I leave a SAK on my caribiner with keys so that got taken and a bouncer said I would get it back no problem. At the end of the night the "head bouncer" gave me a hard time while I was trying to get my things back and was vocally angry at me for having a SAK.
 
killgar said:
I don't travel. I've never been out of the United States (even though I've lived in San Diego for 43 years, I've never crossed the border into Mexico). So I have no personal experience with foreign laws or law enforcement. But I tell ya, some of the things I read here on Bladeforums really make me appreciate living in the USA. Here in urban San Diego (California) I have openly and legally carried a ten inch fixed-blade everywhere I go for several years. And despite the fact that many cops have seen my knife, not one has ever hassled me over it or said a negative thing about it. The only time A cop ever said anything about it was when the bottom of my jacket accidentally covered the knife, thereby making it illegally conceald, and the cop just gave me a quick and friendly warning because he didn't want me to get into any trouble. He didn't take the knife from me, not even for a second. Nor did he ask why I was carrying it. And he didn't even ask my name or ask for my ID.

And to think, there are people all over the world who bad-mouth the US.

It's funny, some people suggest that a person isn't really living if they never leave their home country. But if staying home in the US means I can freely carry a knife around without ANY hassle from the cops, then I say screw traveling, who needs it. I'll be quite happy without ever experiencing the facist policies of foreign governments or the treatment of their law enforcement personnel. Civil rights are a wonderful thing.

Of course, for the sake of full disclosure, I know that there are places in the US that are unfriendly to knives. And I don't go to those places either.
Click to expand...

Hey Killgar,

I totally agree with you about San Diego. That is a wonderful place. If I was going to live anywhere in California it would be there or Humboldt County.
 
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