Run in with the law

[wetfly]

Went to ft Zachary Taylor state park this morning as I have done for many years to detect. Awesome first half hour with honker silver ring and about 6 bucks in quarters and dimes----
Then..... A very young FWC officer ( never seen FWC at the beach before) walks up to me,as I'm the only soul on the beach so far, and tells me I can't detect here! I told him the names of the three rangers and park manager whom have told me good luck every other time I've been there have told me it's allowed from the tide line to the vegetation line-- incorrect sir he says, you can only do that from the waterline shoreward three feet!! I said, I'm sorry sir but perhaps you are mistaken or perhaps you can show me the law where it says that so that I can be in compliance from now on? He proceeds to tell me that I can only detect that three foot strip from the water inland but doesn't have anything in writing to give me so I ask for his supervisor or to get the ranger to make sure what exactly the law is , as I'm sure he does not know and is completely wrong! Supervisor gets on radio and tells him exactly what I said, that from high tide to foliage line is permissible! He turns to me and says ," they must have changed the law recently sir because you are correct" well duh!! But after being told by his boss that I was right he says but I have some bad news as well...... It's turtle season now so no digging at all until nov 1st!! WTF?? I asked him if he was going to hang out all day and snatch the plastic pails and shovels outta all the tourist kids hand till nov and he said if I see them I will!! Unbelievable man!! I'm the only one on the beach, it's 830 am, and this guy will just not be satisfied until he has taken a big stinky on my awesome morning!! I told him i thought that was bullshit but that I will comply for today until I can research further as they find nests and barricade them to prevent such destruction- now this kid is getting pissy and asks me to provide him with my id-- well now I'm done being polite! No sir you may not-- sir I need to see your id now! No sir you don't have reason to get my id without suspicion of a crime. Am I a suspect? No response.... Am I being detained?..... No sir he says ... So I turned and split cursing that sob under my breath!! What a complete ass in a uniform!! I've been stopped by plenty of cops and I must say that today I think I met the single biggest ignoramus I've ever met and when an idiot is negligent of the law and has a badge, bad things will happen!! Anyway sorry but just thought I'd vent a little!! So in closing guys I'm wondering if anyone has any idea if he is full if it about this turtle bs with no digging the entire summer on the beach? I just cannot see it!! I asked a ranger on my way out and they said that's the first they ever heard of it and that if that was the case the beach would be pretty empty this summer!! Curious and pissed in key west lol!!

 

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[Sandman]

Young Rangers are full or the power trip and have to feel the need for control. You did right and had more restraint than I would have.

 

[hubcap76]

The local state run park here in fort pierce also doesn't allow access to beach detecting during nesting season, which is whatever IMO plenty of other places, it's a pay beach so every time I get my turn in line I always ask if it is permissible even though I know it is, unless like you had an unfavorable experience, may depend on rangers mood as well. Being a young lad with not as vast as experience as some of the other rangers may have played a role as well. I went last year the day nesting season ended maybe a dollar in clad and garbage. It's my opinion where I am at that potentially since you can access "pay beach" by just walking from the public beach 1/2 mile down. So maybe people swing it unknowingly or secretively. Personally I opt to just go to another stretch of the multitude of miles of beaches to drop pull tabs for Sponge

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[R.Danneskjold]

Sorry to hear that. A badge and bad attitude are not a good mix.

 

[jfreakofkorn]

the inexperience can be dangerous in this situation ...

 

[VernonWalter]

Want to do yourself and everybody else a favor? Sit down and write a strongly worded letter to the Supervisor asking him/her to have a chat with the Young Ranger, and that you'd like confirmation of that conversation, or if she or he would rather not perform that function, they can let you know so you can direct your letter to their boss, etc, etc. Frame it as a "learning opportunity" and it might actually enact change. Ignorance and power are horrible combinations, thanks for sharing your experience and best to you.

 

[wetfly]

It was a Florida fish wildlife officer not even a park ranger

 

[gamiller]

Barney Fife?

 

[tarpon192]

Hell the turtles dig bigger holes than we do, and so do all the kids - who dont fill the damn thing back in. The turtles do.

 

[lookindown]

I doubt that turtle law is on the books...likely something an individual came up with...I would check into it because you cant hunt now no matter what...might as well find out if its true.

 

[Boatlode]

It was a Florida fish wildlife officer not even a park ranger

I have news for you - FWC are the highest ranking law enforcement officers in the state. They take precedence over all other state and local agencies.

All the ones that I see on a regular basis are good guys, and I know them by name. Evidently you came across one after somebody pizzed in his cheerios that morning.

I don't know what the turtle season rules are in state parks, but here on the east coast beaches they just want you to stay off the dunes.

 

[sponge]

I can see the tracks and the nest. They are pretty good marking the nests. I stay clear of all nest and share the landscape.

 

[twiasp]

Maybe get a letter from the department or copy of the laws, then if you run across a guy like this have a few pieces of paper or one master list to show him you are in the right. If you try to humiliate him to his peers, I fear he will just be more of a nuisance to you in the future.

 

[HARRASS]

I had a similar experience with "Ranger Rick". It was early Oct and I went to this beach in the middle of nowhere that was closed for the season for a month. I parked off the road way, let my dog out and walked a hundred yards to the beach. I didn't go 100 ft and Ranger Rick came out of nowhere and started into me. He was going to charge me with trespassing, desecrating sacred grounds, parking in an illegal place and having my dog off a leash. A young guy with a tin star who thought he was the Lone Ranger. The only thing that saved me was he thought he told me the year before he had give me a warning. I had never been there before. I guess we all look alike. That saved me. I honestly thought he was going to hand cuff me and put me in the back of his jeep. I believe the older guys would have told me I couldn't detect there.

 

[sponge]

The local state run park here in fort pierce also doesn't allow access to beach detecting during nesting season, which is whatever IMO plenty of other places, it's a pay beach so every time I get my turn in line I always ask if it is permissible even though I know it is, unless like you had an unfavorable experience, may depend on rangers mood as well. Being a young lad with not as vast as experience as some of the other rangers may have played a role as well. I went last year the day nesting season ended maybe a dollar in clad and garbage. It's my opinion where I am at that potentially since you can access "pay beach" by just walking from the public beach 1/2 mile down. So maybe people swing it unknowingly or secretively. Personally I opt to just go to another stretch of the multitude of miles of beaches to drop pull tabs for Sponge

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Ok I give

 

[CASPER-2]

I got thrown out of there about 10 yrs ago - they watched me suit all up and waited till I got into the water - soon as I turned my machine on - they asked me to step out and told me I could not hunt there
so youre lucky

 

[Tom_in_CA]

wet-fly, thanx for posting. It's all-too-often that someone on md'ing forum relates a story of a booting where .... the md'r just takes it at face value. And slinks away with his tail between his legs. Assumes the cop must be correct (afterall, none of us like encounters with cops). But as your post shows, there are times when someone says "You can't do that!", yet they are simply wrong.

And it's a refreshing when someone like yourself sets them straight so they change their tune

As for the turtle nonsense, I had a similar situation here in CA once: There was a bunch of seals in mating season invading all the beaches, docks, piers, etc.... here. And some naturist sierra-club type individual saw my friend and I detecting on a little cove beach. She alerted a harbor-patrol, who came by to check on us. He says to us that we can't be doing that. To which I replied that I had already confirmed with the city that this little pocket cove was city owned, and that there was no prohibitions on metal detecting. So then the harbor patrol says .... that .... well ... maybe we could metal detect, yet not now, since it was "disturbing the mating seals". I looked 360* around me, and said "what seals? there's no seals here". He pointed off in the distance, at a seal basking in the sun on some rocks in the distance. So I disputed that and said we were far enough away that we were not "disturbing" that seal. To no avail. It sounded like he was going to get on his radio, and fish for more semantics, so we stopped him in his tracks. We just said "forget it then, I'm not going to debate this, we'll just pack it in".

I went home and researched the net for all the wild-life laws that this patrol had alluded to. Found text that there is actually a set distance you are to keep from wild-life. And it was something like "200 ft" or "75 yards" or whatever. Next I went to google satellite to study the beach we'd been at that morning. I could see where we'd been detecting, and I could see the rocks where the sea lion had been. Then I measured the distance and determined that we had been in EXCESS of the required distance to be keeping from wild-life. I printed out that page, and carry it in my truck to this day. Oddly, I've never yet ever ran into anyone again that uses the "wildlife" card to try to boot me, so I've never had to produce this paper. Doh!

 

[shawninNY]

But when you give the proof of wildlife thing , they'll just make up some other BS to try to show they are right! I had an issue a few years ago while I was walking to my truck, with a county park maintenance man giving me a sermon on how there is no Bow hunting in the park, i told him I appreciate the useless info but why don't you mind your own business and go pick up trash like your paid to do ( which they don't ) garbage Everywhere , he ran back to his truck and I started driving away , I got pulled over by park police saying a worker claimed I pointed a bow with arrow at him! After the cop looked in my backseat and saw my metal detector , I could see he was fuming , I explained the interaction with the maintenance guy and stated the guy is clearly a f ing A hole trying to start drama , other park police where showing up at this point , he apologized profusely said I could leave never even asked for ID and was on his radio yelling and cursing this thing doesn't look anything like a Bow you're a Liar as I drove away I could see him shaking his head animatedly telling the other cops the story! I've been back many times since with only a wave from the cops and never saw that guy again , I hope he was fired ! I've had a few good runins with cops over the years too!

 

[wetfly]

I usually try and give any law enforcement respect even if just respect for the job, but I also know that not everyone graduated at the head of the class! Just because they are a doctor ,lawyer cop, doesn't mean they can't also be an idiot, or just an a hole lol!! I've asked cop friends of mine here that I've grown up with and they just laugh and say they never heard of it before. Either way, it's $4.50 to get in and I can find that in less than an hour usually so I'll be back there soon, prolly on Monday morning right when they open and it's dead slow!! I won't be an ass if anyone tells me to leave, but I def. won't be bullied just because! If it was another place with less opportunity to find stuff it might be different but I love goin there early when it's empty,and still cool out and it has been lucrative in the past so what the hell! So, do your research and if you have the right to be there then don't just go away just because, gently push back...... A little lol!!
Give em hell! Keep swingin it's out there!!

Also, I've been "asked" to leave places before as well but there's a difference in asking and telling!
If I'm beating you with a stick, would you ask me to stop or tell me? Lol why do so many people have this ...... Hatred or fear of frickkin metal detectors? I thought poindexter was a perty cool hip dude!!

 

[lookindown]

I usually try and give any law enforcement respect even if just respect for the job, but I also know that not everyone graduated at the head of the class! Just because they are a doctor ,lawyer cop, doesn't mean they can't also be an idiot, or just an a hole lol!! I've asked cop friends of mine here that I've grown up with and they just laugh and say they never heard of it before. Either way, it's $4.50 to get in and I can find that in less than an hour usually so I'll be back there soon, prolly on Monday morning right when they open and it's dead slow!! I won't be an ass if anyone tells me to leave, but I def. won't be bullied just because! If it was another place with less opportunity to find stuff it might be different but I love goin there early when it's empty,and still cool out and it has been lucrative in the past so what the hell! So, do your research and if you have the right to be there then don't just go away just because, gently push back...... A little lol!!
Give em hell! Keep swingin it's out there!!

Also, I've been "asked" to leave places before as well but there's a difference in asking and telling!
If I'm beating you with a stick, would you ask me to stop or tell me? Lol why do so many people have this ...... Hatred or fear of frickkin metal detectors? I thought poindexter was a perty cool hip dude!!

I wonder too, why metal detecting is looked down on so bad. I guess it associated with digging up the place. They have no idea that you could detect a soccer field and use a screw driver to retrieve targets...yet the soccer players tear it all to hell with their cleats. Its a very misunderstood hobby.