You CANT do THAT Here!!

[GunnarMN]

Call the shool and get permission , got to be something that will get you back thear

 

[Xmarks]

You should of told them you heard about the break in's and rushed right over to assist the investigation and see if robbers may of dropped any evidence! All jokes aside though, things are getting rough. I have a school in my area that has a sign that's Say's, NO TRESPASSING DURING OR AFTER SCHOOL HOURS. FACULTY AND STUDENTS ONLY. ALL VISITOR'S MUST HAVE A PASS. OK, I could understand this in a high crime, big city area but, this is a small, country school setting. I just don't understand why we as humans feel the need for absolute control.Why does so many enjoy controlling other people and situations? We create laws for laws or in this case, one officer decides from her own opinion, what the rules are going to be. I guess that is a topic all in it's self though.

 

[jmaryt]

go back in 6 months when the "paranoia" dies down!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[jmaryt]

(lol!)..you either!

 

[jmaryt]

if i was a betting man,i would offer that this is a "better to be safe than sorry" attitude because it IS a school,and as such
the concern is for the students safety!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[jmaryt]

and the kids!..don't forget the kids!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[bearkat4160]

Well David a very well written post about a situation that just pisses me off. I get the same crap out there in the National Forest sometimes. I like to argue however about mining law and it gets them mad...cause I'm right!
I cant believe you didnt argue any more since you knew the cop chick. Any way you handled it well...I get mad to quick and makes it worse.

That article would be good post on "key thoughts"!

Alan

 

[Uncle Willy]

Well my dear bud welcome to the new world of Gestapo Law enforcement. What would they have done if you had been playing ball there or jogging, or whatever. Give them a badge and a gun and they own the world. As a taxpayer you own a small chunk of that place plus it's a " PUBLIC SCHOOL." Sorry you had to go through that idiocy.

Fortunately we don't have that problem out here. Oregon is big on freedom. Even the ocean beaches here are owned by the public and wide open for anything except building on them. It seems detectorists get a bad rap back East for ome reason as I have heard many stories about guys being ordered to leave public places. Any chance you can get permission to hunt there? Keep your chin up.

Bill..

 

[Uncle Willy]

Is it the Rangers who give you a fit. Most of them, especially the young ones, ain't up on Federal Laws and are full of themselves.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah a lot of these cops ain't too familiar with local laws but seem to think they know it all.

Bill.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Why would you have to ask permission to be on public property? Hell I've hunted private schools out here and never asked permission.

 

[Uncle Willy]

You should go over their head and take it up with the School Board, the Superintendent, and the Principal at the school and see if the two views jive then present that info to the head honcho of the Police Department.. They were dead wrong regardless of their flimsy reasoning. Did you ask them why the grounds weren't posted and how were you to know you couldn't tect there and to show you or quote you the local ordinance that forbid detecting on public school property. That would have stopped them in their tracks. And why would your truck parked on public property arouse their suspicion. Now if it was on private property that would be a differrent scenario. What if you had been there playing ball with your kids. Would the scenario have played out the same?

Bill

 

[bearkat4160]

Yep its usually the younger ones who are all hyped up on power. Got in an argument with one about him telling me if HE gets tired of seeing alot of dig holes that he will just fill out some paper work and close the roads and make us walk 10 miles to the mining area. I told him he cant do that because the right of way to the public domain is protected under a grant of congress (a mineral estate grant) to all americans to look for and claim locatable minerals. (1872 mining law) He didnt like that and was getting a little annoyed...so I left and detected away from him eleswhere.

 

[born2hunt]

Dahut, You're pretty good at wording yourself, I'm certain that if you go through the proper channels you can beat the heat and get your spot back. Break in's or no break in's, you are not a security threat. You know it, the school knows it and it sounds like the cops know it too.

Good luck

 

[dahut]

Many members here have made the comment that schools are public property. It may be so - until the school district gives the police jurisdiction over the premises, as in this case. The cops, no matter how you feel about them, are entrusted with security at the school. They take that seriously. Some will say too seriously; I tend to agree. Regardless, they don't "evaluate" a chubby, middle aged guy detecting, nor do they have to. It's their call and they immediately think Columbine High and react. Finding me in a little back corner of the premises was worrisome. I get that.

I also get that I was in the right. But that is as far as it goes. The police don't have to accept that you are a righteous citizen; not any more. You don't have to be an actual problem - you just have to be where they don't think you should be. Jurisdiction, remember.

For them the solution is simple: forbid access. It is expedient, alleviates repercussions over "derelection of duty" and keeps us within the lines. If I had called out her supervisor, on the spot, do you think that person would side with me? The thought of doing such things never occurred to me, until I became a "problem."

P.S.
The police have essentially been given carte blanche, with high schools visible enough to rate their own public safety officer. That is a sad bit of 'zeitgeist', but the sheepizens we share our cities and towns with are convinced we need it. You and I, we independent minded detectorists, are a tiny microcosm - the rest fairly clamor for a cop to watch us and our kids. Safety in the modern age equals police monitoring and enforcement, viewed as small price to pay for security.
The cloud that accompanies that silver lining is that we must come to grips with the school - and our society - as a police state.

Makes you believe in George Orwell, dont it?

I wonder how the ACLU would view this?

 

[upnorth]

I go straight to the school principle. Tell him my full name and how/what I want to do on their school grounds. The only requirement for any of them was that I not detect during school hours. Hell, I rarely detect there if I see any kids after hours anyway. I don't care for the smelly chattering hoard following me across the yard.

 

[dahut]

Well my dear bud welcome to the new world of Gestapo Law enforcement. What would they have done if you had been playing ball there or jogging, or whatever. Give them a badge and a gun and they own the world. As a taxpayer you own a small chunk of that place plus it's a " PUBLIC SCHOOL." Sorry you had to go through that idiocy.

Fortunately we don't have that problem out here. Oregon is big on freedom. Even the ocean beaches here are owned by the public and wide open for anything except building on them. It seems detectorists get a bad rap back East for ome reason as I have heard many stories about guys being ordered to leave public places. Any chance you can get permission to hunt there? Keep your chin up.

Bill..

I have sent a request for information to the ACLU to help me determine what the actual law is, in fact. I want a third party opinion on this, not that of the local gentry-elite.
Once I can determine what the general rulings about such things are, I will look for deeper answers.

Meanwhile I will go look for another school to visit! If the municipal strong arms show up, Ill make them come to me...

 

[dahut]

I go straight to the school principle. Tell him my full name and how/what I want to do on their school grounds. The only requirement for any of them was that I not detect during school hours. Hell, I rarely detect there if I see any kids after hours anyway. I don't care for the smelly chattering hoard following me across the yard.

Same here. I'm not really a big fan of kids in general, and those of high school age don't normally thrill me. So, I NEVER go to the school during hours. This spring break and the school is out of session for the week. Did I fail to mention that part? Ooops, I think I did!

It is spring break and there is no one there this week

But, Im guessing the principal will not willingly contradict the officer. I can tell him she said I needed his permission, but I doubt it will be given once he hears the cops are involved. The police have his hands tied, too. Cant you just hear it?:

"Mr Principal, you gave this man permission to be on school grounds... after the police told him to leave?"

Are there a lot of jobs for negligent high school principals?

 

[Joel-Winnipeg]

There time would be better utilized going after the #$%^# who pry the school yards selling drugs to the students
instead of hasling the bent over white haired person who's paid his dues to the country enjoying a well earned retirement.

 

[metalhead]

You should have used your Jedi mind control trick on them
(just kidding)
Yeah man, sorry to see that happened to ya.It ain't right.