Metal Detecting school yards

I hunt a.school when the kids get out for the day. I.have permission to do so and I have found around 30 to 40 silvers here over the past year and a half.
 
... He left me alone after that. Ill now only hit the schools after 5 and on weekends.

As firebird says: "ding ding ding we have a winner" :D

Correct: it's not a matter of "permission". Because as you can see in that case, your "permission" didn't do you an iota of good. "Permission" never stopped anyone else with a bee-in-their-bonnet from griping. And then the griper gets on their cell-phone, calls to the "lady at the front desk" and says: "but he's tearing the place up with holes!" [which isn't true, of course]. But none-the-less, guess what happens to your "permission" ? It's promptly revoked.

So the much BETTER solution, is simply to avoid such gripers, TO BEGIN WITH. It's gotten to where I do parks and schools at night (or ... at least very "off" odd hours anyhow). Ahhh, so peaceful .... so serene ... :laughing:
 
Like many others have already stated. I love detecting schools and have never had any trouble. BUT never even close to school hours and I try to stay off the actual playing fields. Especially if well manicured. Also if any kids come around playing, I'm outta there. I dont want any of those griping parents to even know about me.
 
In Florida all schools are fenced in and supposedly off limits. I asked for permission several times and was shot down. In flames.

Question: do you see others using the swings, or basket-ball hoops, or jogging the track, etc.... after school hours ? Our schools here too are fenced (sometimes with permanently propped open-gates, others with gates that function and close all the way). Yet .... I still see others out there who do things like walk their dogs, play ball, etc....
 
Got cops called on me today!

I was out a old school yard afterhours and two cops flagged me down said someone called about a big bad metal detector guy on school property. I respectfully told them I thoughtit was public and I was doing no damage and they said I could surface hunt but not dig or id have to leave, destruction of property. Does a awl probe count as digging?
 
01-15-07, 06:26 PM
I was wondering how you guys approach metal detecting school yards and playgrounds. There are a bunch near me but I'm always leery about detecting there. Do public school generally allow you to detect without permission? If not, do you ask, and who do you ask? I'm thinking that maybe other detectorists don't bother at the schools nearby, but instead hit the parks. I guess I'm just always paranoid about someone calling the cops on me and me getting in trouble. Thanks for the replies.

Joe

As you can see from the date of the initial post in this thread, this issue has always been around for our hobby. Everyone has their own view and opinions on how it should be addressed.
 
... they said I could surface hunt but not dig or id have to leave, destruction of property. Does a awl probe count as digging?

I think you are missing the key words here reb64:


...destruction of property...

Ok, think of it: are you "destructing" property? Are you leaving holes, marks and such? If not, then it seems to me you're fulfilling the cops own mandate about "no destruction of property". Presto, problem solved. Sure, I agree that the word "dig" that he also used, is ... uh ... problematic. But I would still argue that the end result was implicitly in play here.

You're welcome not to interpret it that way. But then let me save you some time from here on out: Don't detect any public property, anywhere in the USA. Because I gaurantee you, that laws forbidding "destruction" "altering", "defacing", etc... exist on every speck of public land.
 
I've been kicked out of the same school probably 3 or 4 times. One cop tells me I can stay, another will say "he didn't say that" as if I made it up and just happen to know the officers name....and his dog's name. I probably hit this place 40x spending countless hours getting through the trash to the deep silvers. I knew I wasn't in the wrong and it was just this crotchety old man that lives across the street that has a problem with anyone doing anything, anywhere near his home. He literally calls the cops on ANYONE that steps foot on the fields, to the point one officer that came out to talk to me, went over to the old guys house and told him never to call them again for these BS stories.

Oh, I was also booted from another school and the best part, I knew I was allowed to be there and the cop was obviously lying to me about "oh the school principal said you can't be here" I asked what his or her name was so I could contact them for the permission I didn't need and he had no clue. So knowing he was lying I said "ok if we can't be here, where can we go" He then directed us to a huge field, owned by the town land trust that I know damn well we couldn't detect. Well I wrote his name down and when we were confronted by land trust people, I said "Officer so and so" gave me permission. He told us the police have no authority to give us permission to hunt there but let us stay. I pulled two CT coppers and a militia button from the 1600's.
 
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