The AP is reporting that a 24-year-old police officer apparently unfamiliar with Bob Dylan approached the legendary musician in Long Branch, New Jersey last month and asked him for identification. Police received a report from a resident of the New Jersey shore community who said a man was wandering around the neighborhood. Dylan was in Long Branch on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp that was to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood. ”I don’t think she [the officer] was familiar with his entire body of work,” Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley told the AP yesterday. After a brief exchange, during which two officers asked Dylan his name and what he was doing in that particular neighborhood, the cops accompanied Dylan back to the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, where the performers were staying. Dylan had not been carrying any ID with him. The hotel staff vouched for him and the officers thanked him for his cooperation. ”He couldn’t have been any nicer to them,” Woolley said.
Aug 15
2009
03:47 PM ET
Bob Dylan approached by New Jersey police
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Rock legend Bob Dylan was treated like a complete unknown by police in a New Jersey shore community when a resident called to report someone wandering around the neighborhood.
Dylan was in Long Branch, about a two-hour drive south of New York City, on July 23 as part of a tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp that was to play at a baseball stadium in nearby Lakewood.
A 24-year-old police officer apparently was unaware of who Dylan is and asked him for identification, Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley said Friday.
“I don’t think she was familiar with his entire body of work,” Woolley said.
The incident began at 5 p.m. when a resident said a man was wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood several blocks from the oceanfront looking at houses.
The police officer drove up to Dylan, who was wearing a blue jacket, and asked him his name. According to Woolley, the following exchange ensued:
“What is your name, sir?” the officer asked.
“Bob Dylan,” Dylan said.
“OK, what are you doing here?” the officer asked.
“I’m on tour,” the singer replied.
A second officer, also in his 20s, responded to assist the first officer. He, too, apparently was unfamiliar with Dylan, Woolley said.
The officers asked Dylan for identification. The singer of such classics as “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Blowin’ in the Wind” said that he didn’t have any ID with him, that he was just walking around looking at houses to pass some time before that night’s show.
The officers asked Dylan, 68, to accompany them back to the Ocean Place Resort and Spa, where the performers were staying. Once there, tour staff vouched for Dylan.
The officers thanked him for his cooperation.
“He couldn’t have been any nicer to them,” Woolley added.
How did it feel? A Dylan publicist did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Friday
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This police officer must be a complete idiot. I’m two years younger than this girl and am a huge Dylan fan. I’m not surprised however I feel like most people my age know nothing about music. They are too busy listening to throwaway top 40 crap. Since when is wandering against the law? Nice to see Bob Dylan is a class act!
Why is she a complete idiot? Why would Bob Dylan be wandering around by himself in a surburb in JERSEY? The officer resonded to a call. Some crazy old man says he’s Bob Dylan and she supposed to believe it. It has nothing to do with the “Top 40 crap”.
again since when is wandering against the law? and i’m sorry but if you don’t know who bob dylan is, a legend, one of the most important and influential musicians ever, then you are an uncultured, ignorant, idiot. I’m not saying she has to be a fan but she does at the very least have to have knowledge of who the man is… my own generation constantly disappoints me…
I agree with Nicole.
I’m younger than him and I know who Bob Dylan is. Sad to see that. I mean if it was a 5 year old freaking out over “a strange man” then that’s reasonable.
I don’t listen to Dylan but you’d have to live in a box and be utterly dense to not know who he is. He is arguably one of the most famous people in the world, especially North America.
I’m sorry, but celebrities are not above the law. Even if someone looks famous, an officer has every right to ask them for ID. I don’t think the officer was stupid; just doing her job.
By the way, if I called the cops because a strange looking man (and let’s admit it, Bobby’s looking a little rough around the edges these days) was wandering my neighborhood, I sure hope they’d ask for ID and investigate thoroughly.
Agree 100 percent! …and age has nothing to do with it. I’m 50 and I cannot and never could stand Dylan…the cop did exactly what needed to be done. let’s face it, he is a little scary looking!
Couldn’t agree more—she was doing her job. What if it was some Bob Dylan impersonator, and she just took it at face value? It was great that she asked for ID. I hope more police officers would be as thorough.
So, if people you don’t know are walking through your neighborhood, you call the police? It’s not like he was peeping in windows or urinating in public or anything. Just looking different is a good enough reason to sic the police on someone? Sad.
…actually,from other news reports on this incident, he WAS peeping in the window of a house that was for sale. But the fact that the cop didn’t recognize him is pathetic. And embarrassing. It’s BOB DYLAN.
I’m a major fan but who if it’s Bob Dylan if police get a call, they BY LAW have to verify and investigate thoroughly. Even BOB could see this. No wonder the crime rate is so high. So many people want a ho hum police force.
Do the police really have the right to ask/demand ID? Sounds kinda like aparthide south africa to me.
No, they don’t (unless they believe a crime has been committed.) See Hilbel vs Sixth (US Supreme Court, 2004). But would you really expect the people here to know that?
Umm… yes, they do. I don’t know in what society they don’t. Certainly is the standard everywhere in the U.S.
I think the story lies in that she didn’t recognize his name, not that she asked for his ID. she had every right to do that. methinx she was probably raised on class acts like 50 Cent.
Except she *did* recognize the name; she didn’t believe it was him. From what I’m read, claims to have been familiar with photos of him that were decades old, nothing recent.
To be fair to her, my own mother admitted to me at a local Best Buy (a few months ago) that she wouldn’t have recognized an older Bob Dylan herself (she was looking at the promo stall that was featuring his new album, that did have a more recent photo). I’m actually pretty sure this woman would be in the majority of people in any generation; Dylan is notorious for keeping a low profile relative to his legacy, and it’s not as if his picture is as regularly shown as, say, Paul McCartney.
In all honesty, if you ran into a guy that you didn’t necessarily recognize (I admit that I almost never recognize celebrities in those pictures where they aren’t weating makeup or are wearing sweats & sunglasses, etc), and said person claimed to be Bob Dylan, would you HONESTLY believe him without ID? I would definitely be skeptical, people pretend to be celebrities. It’s not like they arrested him, they took him back to his hotel. Big deal.
No, she does not have the prima facie right to ask for ID, unless she believes a crime has been committed. This is America, not Nazi Germany .. “PAPERS, PLEASE.” A citizen has every right to wander without being forced to identify himself to a total stranger – whether that stranger has a badge or not. The Supreme Court agrees with me – see Hilbel vs Sixth (US Supreme Court, 2004).
Unfortunately for Dylan, there’s very little else to do in Jersey but wander around aimlessly.
Obviously you’ve never lived in Jersey. It’s a beautiful state! At least where I grew up!
That’s uncalled for… If that were true, tourism would not be NJ’s second largest industry and it would not be ranked in the top 10 states for tourism income (it’s number 7). NJ’s beaches are some of the most popular in the US. Half of NJ is wooded, not urban sprawl, and there’s plenty of hiking, boating, fishing, and sightseeing to do for people who are outdoors-ey. Last time I checked, the Statue of Liberty, Cape May, and Atlantic City were pretty popular. The vast majority of the state is quite pretty, and the urban areas have tons of entertainment choices. Plenty of other people appreciate it, so don’t pass judgement based on the 5-10% that isn’t pretty; most states have at least one section that isn’t.
These kinds of replies are exactly the reason that NJ is the butt of every joke. Lighten up, Jen…and move to NYC.
I’m from Jersey.. exit 8A by the way.. and I think that Nathan’s comment was pretty funny. Lighten up, Frances.
I can understand this- I’m familiar with his songs, but have no idea what he looks like.
Really? How can you not know what Bob Dylan looks like?
“in Patterson, that’s just the way things go, if you’re black, you better not show up on the street, unless you want to draw the heeat..” BD, “Hurricane”
Maybe she was a Lady GaGa fan.
Wonder if he identified himself by his real name, Robert Zimmerman? Who??
I’m sorry, but this is a funny story. I’m sure he “didn’t think twice” about it.
)
In all fairness to the cop, Bob Dylan has not aged well and looks NOTHING like the images we’ve seen of him over the last 40 years or so.
Is he supposed to look the same as he did 40 years ago?
Of course not. My point is that it’s perfectly understandable why he wouldn’t be recognized. He no longer looks anything like the decades old iconic images that are, pretty much, the only things out there to identify him by. It’s not like his picture is in the media every day like Brad Pitt or those people from Twilight.
Good for Dylan for being classy and not making a scene.
True he did show a lot of class. I hate that cops can show up and demand papers that prove who you are though. It seems so much like something that would happen in some communist country. Think of the old Nazi soldiers who ask “Papers please” to prove who you are and why your not where your “supposed” to be. Its UnAmerican.
Not sure why people think the ability to recognize an entertainment celebrity (no matter how “culturally significant” they believe him) is an indicator of intelligence. If it is true, then perhaps there should be a section to write in the names of musicians and athletes next to their pictures on the ACT & SAT tests. Personally, I don’t think this is a big deal. The police received a complaint and followed up on it – sounds like a job well done to me.