You CANT do THAT Here!!

[dahut]

I had a little time between appointments today, so I jotted on over ot the local high school. This site was once a former plantation home, then a school was built there in the early 1950

 

[jmaryt]

you "messed" up!..should have offered a bribe,and some "info"
on where to get a good cup of coffee!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[cammobunker]

See, you have learned two important lessons from this.
First, this female police officer, although you have known her for years, is NOT your friend. Also, the other police officer is a moral coward; the excuse of "just doing our jobs" is always brought up by those doing things they feel to be wrong, like, say, rousting a guy with a metal detector who is clearly not a problem.
Secondly, you have now discovered the new face of Law Enforcement. The We vs everybody else school of thought. Despite the fact that you'd probably be a deterrent to further break-ins (thieves like privacy), they still gave you the boot-and left a bad taste in your mouth about the way they handled this while doing it. I could buy reasons like liability or whatever, but "we've had break-ins" implies you just might be the one doing the breaking in.
Perhaps you could contact the school administration and see about getting permission?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Well at least it had nothing at all to do with metal detecting. I mean, you could have been a jogger, using the basketball, etc...

They have fenced the schools around my part of CA for the past 20+ yrs. now. But generally, there is still an open-turn-style, or propped open gate. The fences haven't stopped after-school usage it seems (dog walkers, joggers, etc....). It appears that you just simply have an area where there's actual enforcement, which again, has nothing to do with metal detecting specifically.

 

[dahut]

See, you have learned two important lessons from this.

First, this female police officer, although you have known her for years, is NOT your friend. Also, the other police officer is a moral coward; the excuse of "just doing our jobs" is always brought up by those doing things they feel to be wrong, like, say, rousting a guy with a metal detector who is clearly not a problem.

Secondly, you have now discovered the new face of Law Enforcement. The We vs everybody else school of thought. Despite the fact that you'd probably be a deterrent to further break-ins (thieves like privacy), they still gave you the boot-and left a bad taste in your mouth about the way they handled this while doing it. I could buy reasons like liability or whatever, but "we've had break-ins" implies you just might be the one doing the breaking in.

Perhaps you could contact the school administration and see about getting permission?

You are dead right on all counts.

As for contacting the school officials, that is next. I know the principal, too. I expect moral and practical cowardice on the matter, as the police have the upper hand in this.
It will be too easy for the man to simply stand on their precedent. But I will give it a go, nonetheless.

 

[Cupajo]

Sign of the times Friend!!

There are only two people on the planet I trust----Me and You, and I'm not so sure about You!!

CJ

 

[dahut]

... and it irritated me This little town of mine is fast turning stupid. Story here:

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?18,1189449

Im thinking of moving to Canada.

 

[oldranger]

WOW thats is SO wrong.... and its typical of the
atitude of MANY these days..not just cops...

Makes my run in with my Barney Fife seem trivial
He couldnt explain why my dog needed to be on a leash
at 7-10 am when we were the only people in the park..???

Anyway i hope things work out... try going to the school board and get the ok
from them THAT willl make the minions mad and its fun to do that soemtime !!!

Ron

Rangers Lead The Way

 

[dahut]

WOW thats is SO wrong.... and its typical of the
atitude of MANY these days..not just cops...

Makes my run in with my Barney Fife seem trivial
He couldnt explain why my dog needed to be on a leash
at 7-10 am when we were the only people in the park..???

Anyway i hope things work out... try going to the school board and get the ok
from them THAT willl make the minions mad and its fun to do that soemtime !!!

Ron

Rangers Lead The Way

The minions were totally in the right - but completely blind. That is what bothers me most about todays environment.
Policy overrules common sense.

There will be protests tomorrow after Ive gotten some feedback here and cooled my head a little.
Ultimately I expect a hollow victory; I will make my point, but the 'sheeple' will side against me in the name of protection.

 

[boxofchocolates]

Hi folks....I've never posted here but read occasionally,My first thought on this is there were no signs prohibiting metal detecting would have been my response,I mean people have been detecting school yards for the last 40 years.....So I thought it was ok........hh......God Bless.......Dan

 

[RickIowa2009]

Hopefully you can find a better site!

 

[flash5153]

I have been approched by the police several times while detecting at a school. Each time they were very nice and interested in what I was doing. Have fun and good luck,,type of thing.
Im not sure why this happened with you ,,this time,,if you had been there several times b4 ,,chances are that they have already seen you and didnt care.
Seems your truck brought the attention. I never park by the building,but instead, the farthest away parking spot. If you can see my truck,,you can see me. Just for them to need to pull in to see why a vehicle is there is reason enough for them to not want you there.
Maybe it was the wrong time of the month for her and for you.lol

My advice,,,,is to go to the police department and talk to the chief and explain ,,he might help you out and talk to these officers. And if you have a bad attitude about doing this,,,then dont do it,,it will probally make it worse for you. Police can pick up a bad attitude from a mile away and you will lose the arguement,,cuz they just wont deal with it,,even if they are wrong. So yes you have to kiss thier ace sometimes,,just like anyone else though really. lol.

Good Luck

 

[Old Katz]

If there is one thing I have learned about Law Enforcement, we're all potential criminals.
It's true not all of them are in that mind set, but you can be sure that each of them are playing
out their role and always keeping you well within their peripheral vision even when they are not
looking at you dead on. They are not bad people, at least most of them for the most part, but I
don't know too many of them that will let you get close to them except other police officers.
THATS their family and unless your an officer your not part of it.

Unfortunately some of these boys and young women are really INTO it. I met a drug enforcement
officer years back who had watched too many TV movies. He had in his head a model of what
special agents were supposed to act like that made him bad material for the profession. He was
always looking over his shoulder, literally, and if you were a stranger and walked into a room full
of people he knew, he would literally strain his eyes to his left or right depending on what side the
stranger was standing just to keep yoou in sight. It's like he would go out of his way to meld with this
image of what he thought an agent was suppose to be like. In other words he stood out like a sore thumb
and I would not be surprised if it didn't get him into trouble. You would not want to work a case with him.
He made a good desk jocky but a lousy line officer.

I had a little stint of my own with these boys and I can tell you that if you don't
want to get killed you better learn to relax and forget everything you ever saw on TV series about law
enforcement because it's not true and usually not all that exciting, at least not in the Holly Wood sense.


He didn't have the right stuff, and it sounds like you're friend didn't have all the right stuff either.
Like youo say coming off badly to begin with is not going to go anywhere real fast except into the negative.
It takes more than passing a physical and a civil service test to be a good officer. I bet she's probably
a decent human being. And her reasoning was correct. I have asked school officials for permission to
MD on school grounds and they tell me the same thing: "It's a security issue and if anything happened to you
we could be held libal. Insurance and all that." Of course they are right but it gets my dander up as well. And of course
they are concerned about their lawn.

Better luck next time.-)


Katz

 

[dahut]

Hi folks....I've never posted here but read occasionally,My first thought on this is there were no signs prohibiting metal detecting would have been my response,I mean people have been detecting school yards for the last 40 years.....So I thought it was ok........hh......God Bless.......Dan

It generally is "OK." This is the first time I've had a problem of that sort in over 20 years of detecting.
But any cop worth the name can think of something to get you on. That's my brothers words, my brother the ex-cop.

A school is sacrosanct ground these days. The fact that there have been break ins (supposedly), means that anyone there is probably up to no good in their eyes. Take a close note of that - you don't have to actually be doing something wrong. Simply being there places you under scrutiny. Which is fine - that IS their job, after all.

But, these lady cops were not fellow citizens; they are not our friends, as another person has reminded us. These gals are "enforcers," accustomed to being unchallenged in their corner of the world. They began the episode, initially, with me being investigated as a potential threat. When it was determined I wasn't, that should have been the end of it.
"Oh, its you Mr. H. Youre alright..."

Yet, what happened next is all too common with LE people:

I became the only other thing cops understand - a suspect. So it was get off school property, no recourse.

That is the real problem here. We, you and I, pay these people's salaries. Does that give them the right to enforce upon us, when we are indeed doing nothing wrong?
In the words of the philosopher, "Who is watching the watchers?"

 

[dahut]

I bet she's probably a decent human being. And her reasoning was correct. I have asked school officials for permission to
MD on school grounds and they tell me the same thing: "It's a security issue and if anything happened to you
we could be held libal. Insurance and all that." Of course they are right but it gets my dander up as well. And of course
they are concerned about their lawn.

Better luck next time.-)


Katz

She is a decent person; I know her and she is a good mother. But as you note, she and her partner are also the security there. Nothing is going to happen without their approval.
This will only grow as time goes on.

The Independent Man died with JFK.

 

[dahut]

I have been approched by the police several times while detecting at a school. Each time they were very nice and interested in what I was doing. Have fun and good luck,,type of thing.
Im not sure why this happened with you ,,this time,,if you had been there several times b4 ,,chances are that they have already seen you and didnt care.
Seems your truck brought the attention. I never park by the building,but instead, the farthest away parking spot. If you can see my truck,,you can see me. Just for them to need to pull in to see why a vehicle is there is reason enough for them to not want you there.
Maybe it was the wrong time of the month for her and for you.lol

My advice,,,,is to go to the police department and talk to the chief and explain ,,he might help you out and talk to these officers. And if you have a bad attitude about doing this,,,then dont do it,,it will probally make it worse for you. Police can pick up a bad attitude from a mile away and you will lose the arguement,,cuz they just wont deal with it,,even if they are wrong. So yes you have to kiss thier ace sometimes,,just like anyone else though really. lol.

Good Luck

Ive been approached before, too. In fact Ive made friends of the cops Ive met this way. But not this time.
I expect the police chief will back his officers and not me... I do understand where this started, from their point of view.
Mystery truck at the school, some guy up to mysterious things, etc.

So, yeah I get that. Their biggest beef, in looking back, was that I didn't ask permission.

 

[Stix]

One thing a school is public property. You can be there. I was told I could not be on grounds playing basketball on the outside court. I told them I can and will and they hung around for a bit then left.

 

[JMorgan]

Your lucky you didn't get tasered

 

[slingshot]

I GURARANTEE it wasn't all that bad and if she hadn't asked you to leave BEFORE the backup arrived it may have been different. This is a common occurence-a break- in causes overreaction and if she goes ahead and makes a snap decision the other officer has to save her face. It's happened to me several times and one time the other officer even told me that any other time with a different officer I may have been able to search. In fact, I was allowed to search a school by an officer as long as I came on a certain day and let him know in advance-and the school had asked him to keep others off.

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

How come they always think there right .and your always wrong when you try to explain common sense.
On the lighter side next time invite them to a coffee and donut place to discuss the issue