My approach to gaining permission to hunting city parks.

[renegade_7]

Gave this out as a reply and thought I'd share. Works well for me. This cuts through the front office folks and goes to the top.

Here is what I do, and so far I'm 4 for 4. I go on line and look up the city home page. Then I look for the City Administrater's email ad. and shoot him a permission request that I have on file. This gets me past all the desk jockeys and those who might otherwise say no because they either don't know for sure or just don't understand the hobby. When I get the emailed OK, I print it and take it to the park with me. I hope I am right in assuming that the city administrator basically runs the city, and the parks personnel are under his authority. Have had no problems this way, not even in parks where other MDers said they were told no in the past. If approached by anyone of authority, parks people, city police, or otherwise, I show my correspondence with the CA and they leave me alone. They now know I asked and received permission. Works for me. I also try to hunt when the parks are used the least. If you want a copy of my request, just PM me. HH

 

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[Highwater]

Renegade,
That is a great way to go about getting permission. If you ever get no for an answer then e-mail them back and ask for a print out of the rules and regulations that cover detecting in the park. That way you can make them dig up the regs in which case they may find out there is no ruling on the subject. Put the burden of proof on their shoulders. Highwater

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Highwater, that won't do any good. There might be nothing that specifically addresses md'ing, but they can say "no, because we said so"

Here's how I get permission: I go to the park in question, and .... if it's not an obvious historic monument, and if there are no signs prohibiting me from detecting, I go metal detecting. Pure and simple

 

[Highwater]

Tom,
Me to. Pure and simple.....

 

[renegade_7]

Highwater: If I ever get a no, I will certainly ask for the city ordinance against it.

Tom: I just recently started asking the CA. Only after a parks person ran off a friend of mine. Normally, I too just look at the sign; no prohobition, no problem. HH

 

[Silver Fox]

Gave this out as a reply and thought I'd share. Works well for me. This cuts through the front office folks and goes to the top.

Here is what I do, and so far I'm 4 for 4. I go on line and look up the city home page. Then I look for the City Administrater's email ad. and shoot him a permission request that I have on file. This gets me past all the desk jockeys and those who might otherwise say no because they either don't know for sure or just don't understand the hobby. When I get the emailed OK, I print it and take it to the park with me. I hope I am right in assuming that the city administrator basically runs the city, and the parks personnel are under his authority. Have had no problems this way, not even in parks where other MDers said they were told no in the past. If approached by anyone of authority, parks people, city police, or otherwise, I show my correspondence with the CA and they leave me alone. They now know I asked and received permission. Works for me. I also try to hunt when the parks are used the least. If you want a copy of my request, just PM me. HH

Your method might work in smaller cities/towns but don't try it in New York City parks you'll need a Permit or your equipment could be confiscated and you'll be issued a citation. The Park Rangers are hot to trot! I used to get off from having my detector confiscated and a citation issued by feigning total ignorance, saying I was from out of state, and promising to exit the park immediately. And the Permit does NOT include Central Park, the wonderful 843 acres where I pulled thousands of coins, including hundreds of silver ones, and lots of old coins and 1/2 dollars.

I once gave chase to a mounted policeman because while metal detecting or, rightfully, digging, is not allowed, this guy was galloping and leaving deep gouges in the wet soil, deeper than any hole I ever dug. I kept calling out to him to stop and he eventually came to a stop 'cause he had left his partner behind who had a quizzical look on her face at his actions. I caught up to him, berated him and wrote down his shield number and filed a complaint with the Park Ranger department. Nothing came of it. Of course, he could have gotten off his horse and given ME a good beating but he knew he shouldn't have galloped off without a real need.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hey silverfox, what years were you pulling that silver out of New York's central park? What year was that park put off limits? Have you ever talked to persons who detected it as early as ...... say .... the 1960s? Is there still good zones there that would produce silver, if a person could ever detect it again? Or was it getting pretty well worked towards the end?

But back to the permission/parks issue, I notice you say N.Y. city has a "permit" system, and certain other parks there are off-limits. I think what happens is, in this day & age of lightening-fast information internet era, is that people (esp. newbies) read these things. Or they read that of some lone isolated incident(s) of a guy getting the boot. They naturally think "aha! I wonder what the rules are in my city, county, etc...?" So they trot off to ask, in areas where, likely, no one ever gave it much thought. And before you know it, some bureaucrat, who has images of geeks with shovels, says "no", and presto, you have rules where none previously existed! (afterall, "we must address this pressing issue before us" - is what I can imagine going through their mind) I have actually seen this happen.

 

[ClonedSIM]

I've always talked to the Parks and Rec department or, failing that, the local police. I tend to hunt smaller towns, though, so I'm sure there's a difference. I've heard more than once that "You're the first person to ask, everyone else just goes out and starts digging." Or course, it always helps if you can reflect positively in the local officials eyes. I even once had an officer pull over and help me dig a few holes before continuing on his beat.

 

[renegade_7]

Tom_in_Ca, I think you are right. The problem is, some people approach this hobby on the presumption that they are wrong, that they must get permission to hunt a public place like a park. Should not be the case. I only requested the permission when I heard of others being told they cannot. As one City Administrator told me, " Enjoy and good luck; the park is for the enjoyment of the public." So I submit the following: When we ask on the presumption we are wrong in pursuit of our hobby, we open a Pandora's box. Assume the park is also there for our enjoyment as well as the people who walk dogs there, those who fly kites, those who practice driving (golf), those whose kids dig in the dirt, those who play sports, etc. Unless of course it is posted on the park rules. If told you can't, then go to the CA for authorization or clarification of the city ordinance prohibbiting MDing. Don't see how you can go wrong that way.

 

[ClonedSIM]

Tom_in_Ca, I think you are right. The problem is, some people approach this hobby on the presumption that they are wrong, that they must get permission to hunt a public place like a park. Should not be the case. I only requested the permission when I heard of others being told they cannot. As one City Administrator told me, " Enjoy and good luck; the park is for the enjoyment of the public." So I submit the following: When we ask on the presumption we are wrong in pursuit of our hobby, we open a Pandora's box. Assume the park is also there for our enjoyment as well as the people who walk dogs there, those who fly kites, those who practice driving (golf), those whose kids dig in the dirt, those who play sports, etc. Unless of course it is posted on the park rules. If told you can't, then go to the CA for authorization or clarification of the city ordinance prohibbiting MDing. Don't see how you can go wrong that way.

Oh, I never assume I have to get permission. But you know how these small towns can be. Any stranger in town is going to arouse suspicion.

Besides, I've found by hunkering down with a police officer or two for a bit will net you all kinds of interesting information about the history of the town.

 

[keithinvestigations]

I take the approach that if the park is public and for recreation, my recreation is metal detecting and I don't need permission. A few months ago I was searching at my town's train depot. A city worker came out and told me that I couldn't be there. I asked why and was told that I could detect but I couldn't dig. I responded that kinda of defeats the purpose doesn't it??

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Keith, to that question, the city worker would probably say you can pick up surface things. For example, a coin or object that was merely hidden by the grass blades.

Your scenario is all-too-common! A lot of "permission" nonsense would be revoked in a heartbeat, if the person going to city hall included conversations about "digging" in their request. The solution is simple: don't let anyone see you digging I do all my hunting at off-hours, when busy-bodies would be unlikely to be around (after 5pm, etc..). It's gotten to where I only hunt parks at night now! Yeah, literally in the dark. So peaceful No pesky kids, busy-bodies, discussions about probing vs digging, blah blah

 

[nc-joe]

Post a copy of your permission form please.

 

[Murph]

Sadly it is common in my area for lower level park employees to discourage most any activity out of the norm if they can. Most equate more activity in the park to more work. I simply store the county park directors number in my cell phone and if there is a problem with a park employee I simply offer to call there boss to clear up the matter.

It has never gone past the point of dialing a few numbers at which point I get something like "ok but don't make a mess...be careful" etc. They know full well they are not suppose to be limiting activities in the park on there whim and do not want there bosses to know or get involved.