Tom_in_CA
Elite Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
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Part I
In 1994, my wife heard from some friends, that the back-country of Ft. Ord (then an active base) was a good place to run dogs off-leash. Miles of hiking trails, dogs-off-leash ok, public allowed, etc... So we decided to take our dog out there and go for a hike. And I decided to combine it and do some metal detecting too at old abandoned PT fields I knew of back there
We arrived at the gate. As we passed through check-point charlie, they were passing a paper to all cars. It showed closed roads. Since some back-country roads were only open to authorized vehicles only (or whatever). I looked over the map, and deduced that the area I wanted to go to, was on roads that weren't closed. So far, so good
We drove back to the part of the base that our friends had told us had the hiking trails, and where I knew some WWII and cold-war era PT exercise areas had been. I pulled off to the side of the road to a chip gravel shoulder frontage. My wife let the dog out and started walking around. I went to the rear of my truck to get my detecting gear out.
I'm putting on my apron, checking my batteries, getting my digger out, etc.... We had been there no longer than 60 seconds, when an MP vehicle approached at high speed. He screeched to a halt right behind my truck. The guy gets out of his truck and starts yelling at us: "What are you doing!?" I can't recall his exact words and questions, as this was nearly 20 yrs. ago. But he was obviously very upset about us, and had rapid fire questions. I recall he saw the digger I had in my hand, and he yells "drop your weapon!". Meanwhile, my wife who had walked a short distance away from the truck by this time, needless to say, had come back. Our dog, meanwhile, oblivious to what's going on, had gone towards the MP, wagging his tail, curious to greet the person. The MP started yelling at us to "control your animal!" We quickly got the dog in the truck. All the while the MP is on his radio calling for backups.
At this time, I seriously thought it had something to do with the metal detector. On the other hand, I knew he hadn't even seen that yet, when rolling up on us. So I was perplexed what our crime was. He was yelling "show me your ID and registration, what is your purpose for being in this spot" and so forth. I'm trying to answer his questions, of course. I remember he had walked to the rear of my truck, looked in the truck bed, and saw some spent shells. Just junk I'd pitched in the back bed after previous hunts elsewhere (along with pulltabs or whatever , since I hadn't been near a trash can). When the officer saw some bullet shells, he got unbent even more and was yelling: "what's this contraband ammunition ??!!" It was all surreal !
As he kept yelling and shouting commands, I began to sense the guy wasn't playing with a full-deck. Someone very bent on authority, power, etc... So I decided right then and there that this treatment was simply not right. I noticed he had a lapel pin badge on, with his name on it. I squinted to see the name, but he was standing too far away to see. So I asked him his name, but for some reason, he wouldn't give it to me. Changes the subject, shouting more commands and yelling. So I stepped forward squinting to see the badge name. And at this he pulls his gun, aims it at me, and says "never make a threatening move towards an officer!!". He orders us both into the cab of the truck, at gunpoint, and tells us to put our hands on the dash. At this point I REALLY knew the guy was a tinder-box!
My wife was now in tears , and we were both trembling with fear. He got our ID, registration, etc.... as his backups arrive. I distinctly recall seeing in my rear view mirror as the two conferred back at their vehicles behind us, the look at the back-up's face. It was one of which "you called me out here for THIS?" type look
. This was adding to my suspicion that this was all un-called for. The guy wouldn't even tell us what we had done wrong up to this point !
In the end, we found out that apparently one or more of our tires were off-the-pavement. The fine print at the bottom of the paper they pass out had something to the effect of "stay on paved roads". And perhaps where I parked didn't qualify as "paved". It was chip-gravel, and appeared to be paved, but ....was not the road-way per se, or dedicated lots to parking perhaps, or some such semantics like that. So therefore the a) dog off leash, b) metal detector, c) being on a base, etc... were all not issues that he'd stopped us for.
In the end, after 30 minutes of yelling, belittling us, etc... he said he was going to let us off the hook. But that we had to leave right now. He escorted our truck all the way back to the exit gates (as if I might turn around and plant a nuclear bomb ?). I was embarassed, and my wife was still in tears. I was especially mad that it made me look bad in front of my wife. Because she was trusting me to know where we're going, etc... Now I looked like an utter fool that brought all sorts of trouble on to us!
I made up my mind that I was going to complain to his superiors about this treatment. So the next morning, I went to the MP's main office. I told them I'd like to lodge a complaint against one of their officers. I was led down some hallways to a high-ranking officer who was nearing retirement age. His rank was "sergeant major". He invited me to tell him what my complaint was.
He agreed that it sounded like excessive use of force. And he said he could write the guy up for a formal charge/complaint. But that if he did that, that he would ALSO have to write me a ticket for having my car parked off the approved type asphalt or whatever thing the arriving MP had decided I'd done wrong.
For a brief moment, I weighed the option: Is it worth getting a $100 ticket JUST to see the guy get a reprimand or whatever? He told me he was sorry for his officer's attitude, but that if I wished to press charges, he'd have to give me a ticket too. I decided that I didn't want to pay a dime. So I told the sergeant major, "just forget it then".
As I got ready to leave, he stopped me and said he'd compromise. He said he'd put a notation in the MP's folder, but that it would only serve as notation purpose. I agreed.
Now at this point, you're probably all wondering "what does this have to do with metal detecting, since none of that was what I was stopped for?". Here's where metal detecting fits in:
In 1994, my wife heard from some friends, that the back-country of Ft. Ord (then an active base) was a good place to run dogs off-leash. Miles of hiking trails, dogs-off-leash ok, public allowed, etc... So we decided to take our dog out there and go for a hike. And I decided to combine it and do some metal detecting too at old abandoned PT fields I knew of back there
We arrived at the gate. As we passed through check-point charlie, they were passing a paper to all cars. It showed closed roads. Since some back-country roads were only open to authorized vehicles only (or whatever). I looked over the map, and deduced that the area I wanted to go to, was on roads that weren't closed. So far, so good
We drove back to the part of the base that our friends had told us had the hiking trails, and where I knew some WWII and cold-war era PT exercise areas had been. I pulled off to the side of the road to a chip gravel shoulder frontage. My wife let the dog out and started walking around. I went to the rear of my truck to get my detecting gear out.
I'm putting on my apron, checking my batteries, getting my digger out, etc.... We had been there no longer than 60 seconds, when an MP vehicle approached at high speed. He screeched to a halt right behind my truck. The guy gets out of his truck and starts yelling at us: "What are you doing!?" I can't recall his exact words and questions, as this was nearly 20 yrs. ago. But he was obviously very upset about us, and had rapid fire questions. I recall he saw the digger I had in my hand, and he yells "drop your weapon!". Meanwhile, my wife who had walked a short distance away from the truck by this time, needless to say, had come back. Our dog, meanwhile, oblivious to what's going on, had gone towards the MP, wagging his tail, curious to greet the person. The MP started yelling at us to "control your animal!" We quickly got the dog in the truck. All the while the MP is on his radio calling for backups.
At this time, I seriously thought it had something to do with the metal detector. On the other hand, I knew he hadn't even seen that yet, when rolling up on us. So I was perplexed what our crime was. He was yelling "show me your ID and registration, what is your purpose for being in this spot" and so forth. I'm trying to answer his questions, of course. I remember he had walked to the rear of my truck, looked in the truck bed, and saw some spent shells. Just junk I'd pitched in the back bed after previous hunts elsewhere (along with pulltabs or whatever , since I hadn't been near a trash can). When the officer saw some bullet shells, he got unbent even more and was yelling: "what's this contraband ammunition ??!!" It was all surreal !
As he kept yelling and shouting commands, I began to sense the guy wasn't playing with a full-deck. Someone very bent on authority, power, etc... So I decided right then and there that this treatment was simply not right. I noticed he had a lapel pin badge on, with his name on it. I squinted to see the name, but he was standing too far away to see. So I asked him his name, but for some reason, he wouldn't give it to me. Changes the subject, shouting more commands and yelling. So I stepped forward squinting to see the badge name. And at this he pulls his gun, aims it at me, and says "never make a threatening move towards an officer!!". He orders us both into the cab of the truck, at gunpoint, and tells us to put our hands on the dash. At this point I REALLY knew the guy was a tinder-box!
My wife was now in tears , and we were both trembling with fear. He got our ID, registration, etc.... as his backups arrive. I distinctly recall seeing in my rear view mirror as the two conferred back at their vehicles behind us, the look at the back-up's face. It was one of which "you called me out here for THIS?" type look
. This was adding to my suspicion that this was all un-called for. The guy wouldn't even tell us what we had done wrong up to this point !In the end, we found out that apparently one or more of our tires were off-the-pavement. The fine print at the bottom of the paper they pass out had something to the effect of "stay on paved roads". And perhaps where I parked didn't qualify as "paved". It was chip-gravel, and appeared to be paved, but ....was not the road-way per se, or dedicated lots to parking perhaps, or some such semantics like that. So therefore the a) dog off leash, b) metal detector, c) being on a base, etc... were all not issues that he'd stopped us for.
In the end, after 30 minutes of yelling, belittling us, etc... he said he was going to let us off the hook. But that we had to leave right now. He escorted our truck all the way back to the exit gates (as if I might turn around and plant a nuclear bomb ?). I was embarassed, and my wife was still in tears. I was especially mad that it made me look bad in front of my wife. Because she was trusting me to know where we're going, etc... Now I looked like an utter fool that brought all sorts of trouble on to us!
I made up my mind that I was going to complain to his superiors about this treatment. So the next morning, I went to the MP's main office. I told them I'd like to lodge a complaint against one of their officers. I was led down some hallways to a high-ranking officer who was nearing retirement age. His rank was "sergeant major". He invited me to tell him what my complaint was.
He agreed that it sounded like excessive use of force. And he said he could write the guy up for a formal charge/complaint. But that if he did that, that he would ALSO have to write me a ticket for having my car parked off the approved type asphalt or whatever thing the arriving MP had decided I'd done wrong.
For a brief moment, I weighed the option: Is it worth getting a $100 ticket JUST to see the guy get a reprimand or whatever? He told me he was sorry for his officer's attitude, but that if I wished to press charges, he'd have to give me a ticket too. I decided that I didn't want to pay a dime. So I told the sergeant major, "just forget it then".
As I got ready to leave, he stopped me and said he'd compromise. He said he'd put a notation in the MP's folder, but that it would only serve as notation purpose. I agreed.
Now at this point, you're probably all wondering "what does this have to do with metal detecting, since none of that was what I was stopped for?". Here's where metal detecting fits in:
Did you even get to swing the detector? Uptown, I blame YOU for this......
Never have made it over to the former Fort Ord. Got any stories about the Presidio/DLI or Naval Post Grad School?!? 
