A good reason to quit.

[herb n surf]

I'll say it again "The government is not your friend (city,county,state ,and federal). They only want your money and use that money against you, usually to take even more $$$ from you. They forget who they work for. That's my 2 cents worth. Good luck

 

[dirty digger dude]

I think I am am done with it....I still feel like a dirt bag criminal....they win, I lose.
I am afraid to be in Athens and get arrested by this cop.. he got my name, address, dr lin. #, car - make, model and plate. I am a marked man. He'll see me and arrest me on some bs charge, No thanks. I'm done. Gonna destroy my detector and throw everything I found in 11 years in the trash.

 

[Chug And Red]

Id say Give Me the ticket, Ill See ya In Court If your Supervisor will Allow the Over time For You to Show Up!!! !!!!
Then that's Just Me And My attitude towards Stupid People In Positions They should Not Be In !!!! Yes Spart I made a Pun against the Police !!!! Got to Love It CHUG!! As I say Prove It Or Shut It!!!! I have to deal with stupid People all day long at Work I don't want it While I'm out Relaxing after A very Stressful Week!!!!!

 

[ivan salis]

well if your tossing the towel in -- I got a 13 year old nephew that could use a detector --so before just "wasting'" it , let me pay / trade you sumpin fer it and cover the postage for it .

and for goodness sake keep yer finds --you did nothing wrong --its the moron cop that did.

 

[Chaps]

Got kicked out the park in Athens, Alabama by a cop. Told me I was destroying city property and he recorded my identification and told me if he saw me metal detecting again he would arrest me. I just want to run my detecting over with my car and call it quits. He made feel like a criminal. I feel unwelcome in my own county. I pack out all my trash and cover my holes.
I feel like a piece of crap.

He is probably just pissed off cause you were metal detecting where he always does. You just found the good spot and he tryin to keep you off of it.

 

[Dano Sverige]

Tell him you're descended from the Spartans. They kicked the crap out of Athens once before, and you're about to do it again!

Wear a red bandana, an old combat jacket, carry a large hunting knife and a M60 machine gun. Tell him your name is "John Rambo" when he asks!

What's all this "quitting" business mate?? I can understand you're p!ssed off with being told off by a cop, and that in places like Alabama it's pretty unwise to argue with him, but just quitting?
No mate, Americans are many things but they're not known for quitting! People here in Sweden know that detecting is illegal and so i get the cops called on me a lot. I made the effort to find out the law and details from the county archeologist dept, and it's not illegal to detect on the beaches here, so that's what i do! When the cops turn up i point this out politely..and then whip out my "permission to detect" permit i get from the county. Works wonders! The last two cops got interested and even used my Excal II for a hundred metres and found a couple of coins lol.

Read all the comments above again mate, then go to the police station/ county council/ state dept/whatever, and find out "officially" what you can and can't do and get it in writing!
Failing this, take pic's of each hole you dig and fill in on each session plus all the trash you remove. Let him arrest you and charge you with "damaging property", then either show him your pic's and ask him to find where you've dug a hole..or save the pic's for your lawyer and let him make a fool of the fool cop in court!

Don't quit mate...it's very un-American!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I think I am am done with it....I still feel like a dirt bag criminal....they win, I lose.
I am afraid to be in Athens and get arrested by this cop.. he got my name, address, dr lin. #, car - make, model and plate. I am a marked man. He'll see me and arrest me on some bs charge, No thanks. I'm done. Gonna destroy my detector and throw everything I found in 11 years in the trash.

You got to be kidding, you are giving up that easy So if a cop accuses you of robbing a gas station, a crime you did not commit, you just give up, plead guility and accept the jail time .....

You have already said you belong to a detecting club in one of your earlier posts, what did the club members say about it, what advice did they give you?......Did you even tell them?

The last thing I would ever do is let some "Barney Fife" run me off of a hobby I enjoy.
A. I would research the laws, make sure I was legal.
B. I would contact his surperiors and see if they are aware of the situtation, if I get no satisfaction there I would then move to C.
C. I would contact a local attorney, explain what happened and tell him I may need your services.
D. I would contact the local newspapers and see if a reporter would be interested in the coming story and get his phone number.
E. I would go detecting in locations I know are legal..............If I am arrested I would call my attorney, have him contact the newspaper man.....
F. I would go to court and fight it in court....Tell the judge "Your honor, I was arrested for breaking no laws by removing pull tabs, bottle caps, nails and other trash.".....

The last thing I would ever do is tuck my tail between my legs and run away....Man show some backbone....

 

[worldtalker]

I'll say it again "The government is not your friend (city,county,state ,and federal). They only want your money and use that money against you, usually to take even more $$$ from you. They forget who they work for. That's my 2 cents worth. Good luck

Herb,Not the America we were born into by ANY MEANS!

 

[sandtrout]

I've talked about it with my wife and came up with this....I'd go back to the SAME park, hunt without digging as I'm just looking for surface finds and there's my wife with a video camera for something we can use in court (in addition to all the stuff mentioned above) but I'm an ex union steward (retired) and loved the fight! At this point it would be too hard to give it up as I'm addicted (just my addictive nature). It would be like being told to give up fishing, photography, or playing blues harmonica because someone doesn't like blues music. If my wife told me to give up fishing I'd.......well........she'll be missed!

 

[Lakemonster]

I vote dont give up.... I probably would give that park a rest as he is lookin out for you there.

In the meantime, call the parks dept and talk to them. If they say its ok, then relay your experience to them and they can write you a use permit that you can carry. Permit states use of metal detecting and reasonable recovery of targets permitted.

Produce the permit when trouble arrives.

Cops have a saying "you might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride". This is how less than scrupulous LEO's legislate and judge with the badge. You win in court.....but you still gotta bail out.

 

[sjarchangel]

Anytime this happens, and to the best of your knowledge you are not violating any laws, POLITLEY ask the officer "on what charge?" That will tell you if he knows what he's talking about or trying to BS you.

:-)

 

[Coinstriking Michigan]

The same thing happened to my brother and I. There wasn't any ordinance against it but we were told to leave anyway. When we resisted due to there being no law against it they made one. Now there is no detecting on any sodded surface in my town. If they don't like or understand something, they will always win. Especially in small towns with "Barney Fifes" with nothing better to do. So now we just got to a town 7 miles away that allows us to detect on ANY city property, and it's 3 times the size of our town with a 120 acre park that was built in 1863.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

The same thing happened to my brother and I. There wasn't any ordinance against it but we were told to leave anyway. When we resisted due to there being no law against it they made one. Now there is no detecting on any sodded surface in my town. If they don't like or understand something, they will always win. Especially in small towns with "Barney Fifes" with nothing better to do. So now we just got to a town 7 miles away that allows us to detect on ANY city property, and it's 3 times the size of our town with a 120 acre park that was built in 1863.

 

[Luckysweeper]

When I first started diggin' about 5 years ago I was taught how to cut a plug and flop it back, remove the coin or whatever and push the sod back in place. No harm done, right? Wrong! When I came back to the park a few days later to detect again I saw that every spot where I dug there was dead grass and they looked like crap compared to the surrounding grass. Now of course the grass will eventually grow again in these little round areas but cops and mayors etc don't like this type of thing. I've learned to detect where there's no body around to complain about such things. This has eliminated many parks in my area but I don't feel like crap like dirty does. It's a shame there is so little common sense about things as trivial as this isn't it?!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

When I first started diggin' about 5 years ago I was taught how to cut a plug and flop it back, remove the coin or whatever and push the sod back in place. No harm done, right? Wrong! When I came back to the park a few days later to detect again I saw that every spot where I dug there was dead grass and they looked like crap compared to the surrounding grass. Now of course the grass will eventually grow again in these little round areas but cops and mayors etc don't like this type of thing. I've learned to detect where there's no body around to complain about such things. This has eliminated many parks in my area but I don't feel like crap like dirty does. It's a shame there is so little common sense about things as trivial as this isn't it?!

If you carry water to water the plugs they will not as brown....... When hunting dirt I am primarily looking for jewelry, and coins, I dig with a small 1 1/4 inch shovel (EZ-Dig-R)and use a probe....Basically i am sliting the grass, dig with the tiny shovel then put the little dirt back in the hole and pinch the grass back together.....Never a sign I was there.....

EZ-Dig-R is no longer made, but you can make your own......It works great, I have actually had park employees watch me recover targets and never say a word to me about my digging, the hole is so small, no plugs, and no visible sign I was ever there when I leave.....

 

[cheese]

I'd be tempted to go to the parks and recreation dept, and with the attitude that it's fine to detect in the park, tell them that some guy you don't know is coming up to you and hassling you for detecting in the park and saying that you can't be there and you would like for her to give you a note on paper with parks and rec heading that you do have permission to be detecting in the park so that he will leave you alone if you ever see him again. Tell them it's not like you leave holes in the ground or trash lying around, and unlike many park users, you take the trash to the trash can and dump it, so you are actually helping them. Don't say it's a cop giving you trouble or all of a sudden he/she will be scared to give you that paper because in their mind, "who knows what might come of it if a cop is involved... he/she could get into trouble". Put that paper in a ziplock bag in your detector bag or with your gear so that you have it with you any time you go to that park. You won't be arrested when you have written permission by parks and recreation, no matter how much the cop doesn't like it.

 

[ohioaxeman]

The BIG problem is that too many newbies and amatuers are so fixed on finding TREASURE, that they dont fill the plugs in and leave their trash around for the rest of us to pic up! SOOOOOOOOOOOOO.... next time you see someone digging and not filling plugs or throwing their trash around, just walk right up and punch them in the mouth! Works for me!

 

[rusty nail]

dont let it get you down, the guy sounds like an ASS and he's probably hording it for himself

 

[Newt]

You do have the right to a jury trial. Let the jury see the waste of time and MONEY(To them).
It's hard to make a living sitting in a jury box for things like this,
Newt

 

[suprdave]

when that cop confronts you and you are not doing something wrong, just tell him that someone in your family lost their grandmothers ring and your are just trying to find it . he want have answer for that, you get to keep on mding with no harm done. sometimes you just have to have a better answer for some of these busybodys even cops without a cofrontation which you will never win. dont make any more waves than necessary