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Hour into my hunt at my local park and the law shows up!

O

Old coin hunter

Well-known member
Was detecting last Saturday at my local park when a city police officer pulled up and paid me a visit. Said the buildings and grounds department head had called him and wanted him to tell me to stop detecting. Apparently he was sitting at home and watching the park on his home computer as it has video cameras covering the whole park. When he got right up to me he recognized me and said" oh, i didn't know it was you", i've also known this officer since he was a kid. We discussed that there was no law against what i was doing and i had him try to find the plugs i had cut, which he couldn't do without me pointing them out. After telling him this was my eleventh time there and there had been zero complaints over damage to the lawn he confided in me that the department head was a pain in the butt and was always calling in on anything he didn't like that going on at the park. The officer called me yesterday and had talked to the head and told him that what i was doing was fine as there was no damage to the lawn unlike when they have car shows or the yearly Frontier days celebration. The head then tried to say that it was against the law to remove artifacts from the ground and the officer asked him to define what an artifact was, which he couldn't do. There are numerous dry and or dead spots throughout the lawn but that's alright as he and his workers never run the sprinklers during the day to check and see if they are working or need adjusting and the lawn is only watered at night. I went and talked to the county commissioner who oversees him and told her exactly what happened and to go see for herself if i was "killing the lawn" as he stated. I also asked here to walk all the park area so she could see all the dead spots in the lawn due to his negligence. I will be talking to her again and see what the outcome will end up being. Oh, i found 74 coins, in three hours as i kept detecting after my chat with the officer with there being one Wheat and a 1971D Kennedy half. HH Jim
 
Probably just another Power hungry Democrat that think they have the Right to tell others
what they can and can't do. You have the Right to Pursuit of happiness. Obviously this
person has No Life and is a miserable person with nothing better to do than Watch the Park
on Camera in their free time. Just another Social Misfit that actually think they are SOMEBODY!!! In Reality a TOTAL LOSER in life... I've met these same Idiots when
I've been out Detecting. I keep Detecting until the Police tell me It's time to Leave...
silverseeker2
 
The officer responded and acted appropriately. A complaint was received and and officer dispatched. Its what the call slip now has for a conclusion listed under Comments that is important. Hopefully the officer entered exactly what he said he did and apparently the supervisor agreed and closed the call. Now the Parks guy has to decide if he wants to close all city parks to “digging” or just monitor the activity until some moron comes along and kills it for everyone.
Artifacts made me laugh…… Forest Service employee once told me I had to turn over any item known to be 50 yrs or older. I asked him if he really wanted to do all that paperwork for a 1970 penny. Silence was golden at that moment, turns out its 100 yrs to be turned over. What other item other than a coin is instantly identifiable for age? Anyways…..You have the right to see the call slip to see what was actually said and the response (maybe have to do Freedom of Info request). Might be interesting to see exactly what the Parks guy told dispatch, exaggerating the circumstances to get a fast response could be filing a false report.
 
You may have won the battle but will probably lose the war..your points are very valid as far as damage done to the grass by public events but by taking a hard line your forcing his hand …. Eventually they will pass a rule of no detecting not because you did any harm at all but just so they don’t have spend any time dealing with the issue thus making their lives easier.. good luck , I hope I’m wrong…. I probably would have handled it exactly the way did right up to the point of showing the officer that the grass isn’t being harmed and then I would have left..I would have returned in a few weeks ..eventually when the cops get the call they will be the ones telling the guy to lighten up as there is never any damage done when they arrive..
 
bootyhoundpa said:
You may have won the battle but will probably lose the war..your points are very valid as far as damage done to the grass by public events but by taking a hard line your forcing his hand …. Eventually they will pass a rule of no detecting not because you did any harm at all but just so they don’t have spend any time dealing with the issue thus making their lives easier.. good luck , I hope I’m wrong…. I probably would have handled it exactly the way did right up to the point of showing the officer that the grass isn’t being harmed and then I would have left..I would have returned in a few weeks ..eventually when the cops get the call they will be the ones telling the guy to lighten up as there is never any damage done when they arrive..
Click to expand...
I make sure to try and do things the right way. I've already met with two of the three county commissioners and they are with me on this and one of them is who he answers to. The other one used to be his boss and he tried to have him fired a year or so back but didn't have quite enough on him. Hopefully i will win the war. Jim
 
Ronstar said:
The officer responded and acted appropriately. A complaint was received and and officer dispatched. Its what the call slip now has for a conclusion listed under Comments that is important. Hopefully the officer entered exactly what he said he did and apparently the supervisor agreed and closed the call. Now the Parks guy has to decide if he wants to close all city parks to “digging” or just monitor the activity until some moron comes along and kills it for everyone.
Artifacts made me laugh…… Forest Service employee once told me I had to turn over any item known to be 50 yrs or older. I asked him if he really wanted to do all that paperwork for a 1970 penny. Silence was golden at that moment, turns out its 100 yrs to be turned over. What other item other than a coin is instantly identifiable for age? Anyways…..You have the right to see the call slip to see what was actually said and the response (maybe have to do Freedom of Info request). Might be interesting to see exactly what the Parks guy told dispatch, exaggerating the circumstances to get a fast response could be filing a false report.
Click to expand...
Like i said i've known him his whole life and he handled himself very well. I need to point out it is the county park at the courthouse and he is only over it and not city parks. I have permission to hunt the city parks and the school lawns. He has called the pd numerous times concerning things he doesn't like people doing at the park and the officer who responded, who is a sargent, has about had it with him. Jim
 
Old coin hunter said:
I make sure to try and do things the right way. I've already met with two of the three county commissioners and they are with me on this and one of them is who he answers to. The other one used to be his boss and he tried to have him fired a year or so back but didn't have quite enough on him. Hopefully i will win the war. Jim
Click to expand...
i hunt a few parks in my area,one of which is gonna be getting cameras soon..I’ve hunted this park/ football field many times over the years and probably found like $30 clad and very few silvers..anyway more once I’ve had someone park and watch me ..I just act like I don’t see them and then only retrieve very shallow coins while they are watching..I always do the stab and grab method as most my soil in parks is stone free.. I even had a cop and park guy watch me one Sunday morning for about 10 minutes but neither approached me as I guess they deemed my actions acceptable.. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time till most if not all of use are in the same situation..
 
Everything is wide open in my area of Tn, too, for detecting. I've been able to even obtain permission to hunt a couple of old golf courses in the off season when days closed. My buddies and I have mended a lot of holes over the years to help keep things the way they are, though. HH jim tn
 
Allow me to respond for purposes of enlightening those like myself who love this hobby, and I can see where this is headed for the hobby.
Anytime one removes a plug from the ground you are removing plant life! The possibility of that plant life transplanting is quite small. The 'Old Adage'
I do this in a 'special way' and then, I stomp on the ground, and put a zipper on it around the corners will not suffice. Capillary action in plants is used to bring in water from the ground using roots up to the stem and rest of the plant. The water molecules are attracted to each other in the vessels. This attraction helps the water to move in an upward direction from the roots and disperse in various parts of the plant.
This is what one notices the wife do when she is transplanting her flowers. This Capillary action, or sometimes called wick action will circumvent the inevitable. When one puts a hole in a nice residential area, or a beautiful park and drive back by in a few days there is a high probability that the plug that was removed will be visible by a brown spot! If a plug is removed from an area and it sits on top of the ground the roots will dry out! And, when you replace the plug the only thing that plant life can possibly do is 'sit there'! Pour water in the hole! Then, water that area back in! That will pull oxygen back in to that root system. I have a Certificate in Horticulture! I love plant life! And, to end this on a good note: The next time you are at the dinner table, say to your wife, 'Darling, I've been watching you, and I have learned a lot from you'. I notice how you must have read the instructions on the package of your flowers, and I notice how you always water your flowers in! Give your wife all the credit! Happy Woman! Happy Man!
 
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Good info. I’ve noticed my plugs often turn brownish and thats even on the lawns that get watered daily. So far, just my own experimentation, if I take the shovel/trowel and “chop” the edges so the ground levels back out the browning seems much less (hard to describe so dont over imagine that please).
 
I was detecting a park probably my 4 time there when a officer dtove out on the lawn to talk to me!!!
Oh man I thought I was in trouble quite the opposite his name was Frenchie real nice guy told me of some other spots to try.
The next weekend another officer this one was black he stopped and asked me what I was doing? I told him what I was doing that his colleague had stopped the day before but I couldn’t remember his name. Well he demanded a cease and desist what I was doing because I didn’t have permission and I asked him well who owns the park? And that he was harassing me because the day before I spoke to another officer and he had no problem with me being there detecting so I pulled out my camera on my phone and started filming our conversation and I told him I was gonna show it to his superior.That ended that conversation.
Mark
 
I have had many interactions with the law over the years while MDing... mostly an increase in the last 10 years or so... I kinda speak the language and understand the job a bit more than most.. and I have not yet come across a power hungry LEO, but security officers are a whole other story;). I always politely tell them I am doing no damage, I am NOT digging! I am cutting plugs which are properly replaced and stamped down. and because I'm a minimalist... detector, hand lesche, Garrett propointer, and very small 3 zipper pouch... I don't scare the karens with all my battle gear and shovel. last month I think I posted about the local police cheif rolling up on me blue lights flashing... said he had a report of someone with a shovel digging up the park! after he saw what I was carrying and doing and I explained a bit he said carry on... hope ya find what yer lookin for!
 
Someone called the police on my buddy and I several years ago while we were detecting in a park stating that two guys were digging holes in the park.
I told him “yep that is us… go find the holes”.
He laughed and said he had to respond, but they see us there a lot and he would rather see us there than some of the people that hang around.
He said have a nice day and left.
And we only detected there during the cold months.
 
On any lawn leave a hinge on your plug I see many guys on YouTube cutting a complete circle that's not good It will be more likely pulled out buy a dog or another animal.
The hinge allows a quicker and cleaner spot.
Mark
 
It happens. Happened to me and the guy I hunt with numerous times. Of course those kind of people don’t deter us when we know what we are doing is legal, non destructive, and in the interest of the grounds (picking up trash).
I always approach it with this in mind. 👍🏻
 
silverseeker 2 said:
Probably just another Power hungry Democrat that think they have the Right to tell others
what they can and can't do. You have the Right to Pursuit of happiness. Obviously this
person has No Life and is a miserable person with nothing better to do than Watch the Park
on Camera in their free time. Just another Social Misfit that actually think they are SOMEBODY!!! In Reality a TOTAL LOSER in life... I've met these same Idiots when
I've been out Detecting. I keep Detecting until the Police tell me It's time to Leave...
silverseeker2
Click to expand...
Why do you have to inject partisan politics into this? I live in Florida which has been run by republicans for almost thirty years and they pass a law that says any thing found in the water more than fifty years old MUST be reported to the state and is in fact state property. https://legalbeagle.com/7219970-florida-laws-metal-detecting.html
 
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