Policeman Thanked Me

[Ohio bud]

I went to the Wellington Square today. It is a very old area and the square at one end is right in front of the Police Station. I was able to pull 2 Mercs-1 Rosie-1 IH and 12 Wheats. I was busy getting a Wheat out of the hole and had my hood up because of the wind, so I couldn't see to either side. I put the plug back when I saw someone come from behind to my right, just about 4 feet away. I looked up to see a Policeman. I ask him to wait a second for me to take off my headphones so I could hear him. He said that he just wanted to come out and thank me for the very neat job I was doing by cutting plugs and putting them back so that no one could tell that I had been there. He said we appreciate you showing respect for our city property. I showed him my finds and we chatted a little bit about detecting. My points is that I wish that everyone would be more careful and neat when detecting so that it would be the norm instead of the exception.
That is my challenge to all Detectorists.
Ohio Bud

 

[LabradorBob]

Nice finds,Congrats!
And thanks for the careful plugs,I for one am proud for you.

LabradorBob

 

[Hawkeye Jim]

WTG Ohio Bud.............a great example for all to hear and see!!! Not a bad bunch of finds either!!!

HH - Hawkeye Jim.

 

[Djay-Mo]

Well said OB,I agree whole heartedly.
And lets not forget about getting permission, those so called raiding partys,where 2 or 3 go to abandoned sights and cherry pick for about an hour and get out, without permission is giving us a bad name.
Thanks for setting a good example OB.

Djay.

 

[NebTrac]

Great finds and Great "representation"!!!! Thanks for the story and picture!

NebTrac

 

[Cladiator (OR)]

Thanks for your positive representation. I appreciate your efforts. Congratulations on the finds and thanks for posting.

 

[hardrock]

Hi Bud: WTG, good PR and representation for our hobby. The finds are secondary at this point you did us a great boost there. Again thanks Hardrock

 

[Deep Digger]

WOW,
The exact OPPOSITE thing just happened to me this last week.
I just got my first signal not even 10 minutes into the hunt and a Policeman comes
tearing up in his cruiser, throws his door open and runs at me shouting.
I actually thought for a second he might tazer me or something- SERIOUSLY.
I've been hunting the parks for 5 years and have waved at numerous cops and parks
peoples without any problems at all. I have even called the parks Dept.
to make sure there were no restrictions on metal detecting parks.
Turns out there is. I guess it's not permitted to disturb the soil or natural
landscaping/grass.
What can I do besides tell all detectors in the area which I know detect the parks,
and rally at town meetings. Pretty sure the city isn't going to suddenly let people
dig in parks.
Guess it's time to quit. waaaah
If you can detect parks where you live COVER YOUR HOLES, and bring a drop cloth to catch
the dirt! Don't give them a reason to kick you out. Government at every level loves to power grab--- hint VOTE the LIBS OUT!

Deep Digger

 

[Ohio bud]

Deep Digger,
Sorry to hear that. I have been visited by Police several times. They say someone complained that someone was digging in the Park. Every time so far, last 20 years, they were satisfied that I was not hurting anything and said I was OK, since they could not see any evidence of digging. The only time I was asked to leave was when I was hunting the old Miamis Fort Park in Ohio. Everyone hunted there. Seems that the Federal government took it over and did not put up a sign. The Policeman informed me and I left.
I have a friend who was hunting the Madison Park in Lakewood, where we had all hunted for years. His belly is too big to squat down, so he just leans over and takes 4 big wackes at the soil, with a wide blade shovel, and flops a one square foot plug over. He shovels the dirt on the grass until he finds the target. He pushes some of the dirt back and replaces the plug. The ground is fixed and no real damage is done, but it just looks awful with the dirt laying all over. First time it rains the spot will not be viable. The Policeman came up to him and wrote out a ticket for damaging the park which cost him $180.00.
I wish we could organize to the point that we had information to give to cities about detecting. We could have a compliance manual for all detectorists to read and agree to comply with detecting standards.
Either we do that or we take a chance of loosing our detecting privilege. It is a privilege and not a right.

Ohio Bud

 

[dirtfishing]

I stopped at a tasty looking park today on the NJ-PA Border. Nice old neighborhood, big trees, looked great. There was a park worker on a riding mower, so I walked over to make sure there were no regs against hunting. He said people had hunted that Park for years, but about a month ago, a couple of guys came through with shovels, and left holes and clods of dirt all over the park. Now the Director of Parks says no more hunting. It only takes one A$$hole to ruin it for the rest of us.

 

[Deep Digger]

Ohio bud,

I think it's a great idea for a compliance type agreement between the city and detectorist.
Might even entice the city to allow detecting with permit only ($ incentive).
I'm just sad of the reality that there is so much political nonsense that goes on in local and state
Government. That's why you need to pay real attention to who you vote into your LOCAL offices.
Almost all of the counties codes and policies are made by the commissioners, and the public doesn't
even hear about changes and new laws being passed (unless you live at public meetings) until you do something a bored cop sees and
decides to investigate.
I have no problem with police officers. I would hate that job dealing with miscreants and malcontents every day.
That being said, there is soooo many more things cops could do to make the city safe than to harass me.
I actually think the presence of a few outfitted detectorists helps the parks in my area by saying to the thugs......
yup, other people can be here too, not just your punk ass- booze swillin, drug dealin' asses.
Sorry about the rant.
Guess I'll start calling all the local in charges and see what I have to do so I can continue hunting.

Deep Digger

 

[Ohio bud]

Dirtfishing,

That is what happened to Lorain county west of the Cleveland. Someone dug up the Metro Park and left and that was it for all of us. If I ever catch someone leaving their holes open, I plan to call the police to get them arrested for destroying city property.

I stopped by an old ball field several years ago in the winter, but it was warm enough to detect. I was in the out field an noticed what I first thought was where a horse had been galloping around. There was torn up sod all over the place. I started to try to fix the damage when I realized that the damage was from some low life SOB with a detector. Most of the plugs were upside down. He couldn't even put the grass side up. I thought "oh man" what if the cop shows up and thinks I did this. So I left. I was President of one of the local detector clubs at the time and told everyone to see if anyone knew who it might be. I called two other clubs, but got no where. My guess is that he did not belong to one of our local clubs.

I think we need to tell everyone to cut a nice neat plug and put the dirt on a cloth and get it all back in the hole without leaving dirt laying around. After you walk several feet away and turn around, you should not be able to see where you dug. The exception is where there is no sod and then the dirt should be put back and evened out. What gets me is that some SOB can screw up a park so that I can't do what I love to do.

Ohio Bud

 

[dirtfishing]

Yeah, I carry a Frisbee instead of a cloth, easier to dump the soil back in, and always cut a nice plug. Seems to be getting harder and harder to find places to hunt.

 

[Diggler]

Well it was on Halloween right? Maybe it was someone dressed up like a cop...

 

[muggsc]

One of the worst offenders in my area is a city cop with an E-Trac and a big shovel. I usually try to follow him and fill in the worst of them. I'll probably be the one that gets blamed for his actions though.

 

[Finderskeeper]

With the price of gold and silver up and ready to go even higher, you can bet that there will be a whole bunch of new people with metal detectors digging all over. You can also bet that there will be less areas to hunt because of that.

There is an art to digging and replacing plugs so no one will know you were there. Most new people see $$ in their eyes and do not practice good digging technique. They just go out and dig.

I've had several encounters with park rangers and police and most all went well. They just wanted to make sure I was not damaging the grass. I did have one encounter with a police officer and ambulance driver who said that an old woman had called saying that there is a problem with some guy who keeps falling to his knees and getting back up all the time. They sent an ambulance and a police officer and the city wanted me to pay for that. I had to go to court to fight it and I won. But it cost me time and time is money too.

 

[Ohio bud]

Finderskeepers, Great story!!!! Several years ago I was in the Liberty Park in Cleveland, in a wooded area along the creek I came across a black girl and when I said hi, she started yelling. I continued on and about a half hour later I came back along the creek to find here completely nude. Some other blacks tried to talk to her, but she was incoherent so they ask me to call the paramedics to pick her up. I waited for them and showed them where she was. It was not a pretty site.

Ohio Bud