Big Boys Hobbies

i got into trouble today by a police officer

M

metalmatt

New Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2012
Messages
27
Location
Marion, IL
i was looking in the sand at a local park for coins and such and a police officer came up to me and said (in a very rude and crude way may I add) that i was not allowed to use my detector at the park, and she took my id number and got my address and everything she gave me a warning :( now that they have my name and address i am afraid to even go out with my detector.

There wasn't even any signs up that said metal detecting prohibited.

if i get cought again i could be in trouble...
 
metalmatt said:
i was looking in the sand at a local park for coins and such and a police officer came up to me and said (in a very rude and crude way may I add) that i was not allowed to use my detector at the park, and she took my id number and got my address and everything she gave me a warning :( now that they have my name and address i am afraid to even go out with my detector.

There wasn't even any signs up that said metal detecting prohibited.

if i get cought again i could be in trouble...
Click to expand...
was it Ray Fosse Park?
 
Must have been a slow day in illinois for them to be picking on you like that... Sorry about your luck. Check with the city parks department and see what the policy is. Not like you can hurt the sand in the parks lol!
 
Go see the City Manager - you have a right to know what is illegal or not and WHERE.. If you were in the right, DEMAND an apology.
 
yes it was Ray Fosse Park uh oh did i over look a sign that said metal detecting prohibited, cause i checked the place out and i didn't see any signs that said "no metal detecting"
 
metalmatt said:
yes it was Ray Fosse Park uh oh did i over look a sign that said metal detecting prohibited, cause i checked the place out and i didn't see any signs that said "no metal detecting"
Click to expand...
I hunted it b 4 without issues, albeit several years ago. Bob Butler is a personal friend of mine, however I know the PD there used to be pretty vigilanti syndrome.........................
 
Contact the Police Chief and explain to him/her what happened. You should not be afraid to go out and detect. Let them hear your side. Please keep us posted. Just curious, did you ask the officer if there were signs posted?
 
Patton said:
Contact the Police Chief and explain to him/her what happened. You should not be afraid to go out and detect. Let them hear your side. Please keep us posted. Just curious, did you ask the officer if there were signs posted?
Click to expand...
I agree and would also ask the chief while you are at it which Ordinance it violates. Or better yet try and find the city ordinances online and the park regs which should be in them.
 
go to the top

Forget about the park police and go straight to the Park District Chief. Got this done in e-mail and never even had to go to their offices. Now I hunt in any Naperville park district public access area and no worries from their hired help.

Please print a copy of this email and keep it with you while you are using a metal detector in our parks. If you are approached by any of our personnel, just show them the letter and advise them that we discussed the proper use and conduct while using such devices in our park system. This should suffice for your purposes. I would appreciate it if you just hit reply so I know that you got this email. Please feel free to call me if you need any other assistance. I hope that you enjoy your hobby while in the parks.

Respectfully,

Chief Carl Schnibben
630-848-5049
[email protected]

Anyone else in the Chicago land area need a permit this is your contact for all of Naperville IL. Heck just copy and print it, don't bother the man. But please clean up after yourselves so we can keep it. You know as well as I do this is a massive amount of access and tot lots. Endless supply of coins and jewlery, don't give them a reason to ban us.
 
(seven of nine) said:
Forget about the park police and go straight to the Park District Chief. Got this done in e-mail and never even had to go to their offices. Now I hunt in any Naperville park district public access area and no worries from their hired help.

Please print a copy of this email and keep it with you while you are using a metal detector in our parks. If you are approached by any of our personnel, just show them the letter and advise them that we discussed the proper use and conduct while using such devices in our park system. This should suffice for your purposes. I would appreciate it if you just hit reply so I know that you got this email. Please feel free to call me if you need any other assistance. I hope that you enjoy your hobby while in the parks.

Respectfully,

Chief Carl Schnibben
630-848-5049
[email protected]

Anyone else in the Chicago land area need a permit this is your contact for all of Naperville IL. Heck just copy and print it, don't bother the man. But please clean up after yourselves so we can keep it. You know as well as I do this is a massive amount of access and tot lots. Endless supply of coins and jewlery, don't give them a reason to ban us.
Click to expand...

What an awesome idea. If a local official clearly states that it's okay for anyone to detect, and gives you permission, to print out. Why not make these Emails available somewhere on this site. We keep getting these sorts of threads, and it a headache sometime tracking down the correct person. Members in that area could print their own, or contact the individual, if they want a personalized copy of their own. If the place is open to the public to detect, it shouldn't matter.
 
I was at a local park the other day when I noticed a Police Officer approaching, he asked me if I had found anything, I told him just a couple quarters, nickels and dimes. He said someone called and said they saw someone "digging up the whole park", he then said I don't see anything wrong with what your doing and how you are doing it. I told him I had permission from the park system director. I just had gotten a penny signal so I said let me show you exactly how I do it, cut the plug flipped it and there was the penny right on the bottom of the plug! took it out and put it back and stepped on it. He told me about saving silver coins from his paper route and then looked down and said...where did your hole go? and he laughed and said go ahead you won't ever have any trouble from me. I told him if it would be better for him for me to leave he said no just go ahead and have a good time.

So not every experience with the Police will be unpleasant. I did notice two ladies across the road were looking at us the whole time so I made sure after the officer left and while they still were watching to dig a couple more targets so they understood the Officer was OK with what I was doing.
 
HarveyH48 said:
What an awesome idea. If a local official clearly states that it's okay for anyone to detect, and gives you permission, to print out. Why not make these Emails available somewhere on this site. We keep getting these sorts of threads, and it a headache sometime tracking down the correct person. Members in that area could print their own, or contact the individual, if they want a personalized copy of their own. If the place is open to the public to detect, it shouldn't matter.
Click to expand...

It does seem to be enough for him to do it once and all local enthusiests could just make copies to present in the event they are stopped. Plus the official really didn't run down a list of metal detecting etiquette to me, he just took my word common sense would be satisfactory behavior. That's why I said don't bother the man, just show the over zelous cop wantabe's their supervisors email and phone number and get back to hunting.

Yes, I could see where a network of collected permits could be gathered and posted in a forum like this for download or PDF.

The last time I got stopped was not for metal detecting in the park, it was a call to police a man with a gun and a knife was on the school playground. Four of Napervilles finest swooped in to get some beatdown action only to find it was me again with a pin-pointer and a garden trowel. The officers said they figured it out the moment they saw the machine. People are jumpy these days and sometimes just mean :lol:
 
Wow

Metalmatt,

I cannot believe that in this day and age, police officers would rather harrass a law-abiding citizen than take care of real business.

I can easily put together a team of 7-10 guys who would love to come down and join you for a Saturday to overwhelm these characters!!

Just say the word!
 
I asked the parks and rec first before i went in...still id have been ok as mass has public parks allowed to detect in, apart from a couple of anally quaffed parks but still, if they are that clean then id prefer to leave them that way anyways...just keep away from the baseball fields and football fields playing area, they can get pissed by that one during the season....but i just get waved at and only turned in by people who think im the creepy dude carryign a knife and long stick...:laughing:
 
I had one incident at my local lake.Someone must have called the local police. The officer came up to me, and asked what I was doing,and if I found anything interesting.I showed him some clad and a lot of trash I picked up. The lake is run by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers,and permits are required to metal detect on the developed areas only. I showed him my permit,and he said "Have a nice day,you have all your ducks in a row". A smile and hand shake was exchanged.He was very courteous and I think actually curious about MD'ing. Pays to do research of local ordinances.
 
Tend to believe that the police don't just harass people, a tax paying citizen called in their concern. They sort of have an obligation to check into it. How you respond to they, kind of set the mood. They really don't know if you are going to be a problem, or exactly what the problem is, until they talk to some people. Swinging a metal detector, doesn't elevate anyone to model citizen. You actually do have weapons, so they are going to be cautious, and authoritative (control).

Mostly, I'm just given a warning, for most of the transgression I commit. I don't try to excuse myself, or weasel out of anything, run a scam. I get more warnings than speeding tickets, which is odd, because they never mention the seatbelt or big crack down the middle of my windshield...
 
Hadn't mentioned this till now. I hit a bunch of rural parks last Sunday and at the last one as I was heading back to my truck when an officer pulled up. I had noticed that I was being checked out by some locals in a car about 10 minutes before.

The officer pulled up and asked if I had found anything. I said "a few pennies." Since I had a feeling someone called I asked her if she was here because of a call. She said "Yes, I received a call that there was a mysterious man in the park." I said "That's me, Mr Mysterious." and we both started laughing. She told me to have a good time and headed on her way.
 
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