COP: "Excuse me, sir. Are you a yard maintenance person or a landscaper?"
YOU: "Ahh, no sir I'm not."
COP: "The reason I ask is because I see you are operating a lawnmower out in public."
YOU: "Yes sir. Am I doing anything illegal?"
COP: "No, you're fine. I just want to check out your lawnmower... make sure it has all of the required safety gear."
YOU: "Am I being detained?"
COP: "Nope. Just want to take a look at your mower."
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COP: "Ok, thanks sir... have a nice day."
While the officer was certainly a pleasant and non-confrontational appearing individual, his actions still beg the question, "why". Yes it was in California, but we also see this sort of thing in other states and in many cases, the officer(s) are not so "friendly"... some actually abusive (re: the case in Ohio recently).
LEO's are generally very good at profiling individuals and one would think that would come into play a lot when they see someone OC'ing. The perfect stop for the OC'er is no stop at all. A simple, 'Morning' from the officer or perhaps, "whatcha carrying" to engage a polite and genuine conversation is fine. But I have never been stopped, asked for an ID, or detained so in fact I haven't a clue what might be the outcome of such an incident were it to happen to me (for example, what type of LEO might I have to deal with in terms of attitude and aggressive nature).
So a big plus for this LEO's demeanor, respect, and friendly nature but along with that, a question of why he bothered to approach the guy in the first place (I know... MWAG calls). Gotta watch out for MWAL call, too (Man With A Lawnmower).