Who to contact for city regulations?

[fieldsjoe89]

I just recently moved to Alabama and I'm looking to metal detect in my local city but I'm not sure who to contact for laws and regulations? Is there a certain department in the PD I should contact? I'm used to just asking land owners for permission, but I'm looking to detect the grass areas between the roads and the sidewalks where I'm at now. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[cudamark]

Was going to reply but iI found this thread from 6 years ago here on Tnet and it covers what I was going to say in agreement with you---
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/metal-detecting/82494-national-register-historic-places.html

Yup, tom nailed it in post#5

 

[Lefty]

I usually hit local parks and have detected in front of city workers and police who have asked if I've had any luck. One time a city worker made a bee line for me and told me I could pick up something on the surface but not dig, I just told him "Ok" then he went and told someone else that their dog needed to be on a leash then he went back to work cleaning the BBQ's on the park. This was about 6 months ago, I still hunt the parks but look out for this one guy (looks like George Zimmerman, haven't seen him since) everyone else has been fine. I do try to limit any digging if I see a city worker or a city car around. I also do most of my hunting at the crack of dawn when people aren't around or late in the day.
Nobody seems to have an issue if someone litters which is illegal, bottle tops at parks (glass is illegal), beer top at parks (drinking is illegal). I've seen people smoke pot, I've found drug needles. The city employees drive their trucks on the grass. The soccer players do huge amounts of damage to the grass compared to me.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

... One time a city worker made a bee line for me and told me I could pick up something on the surface but not dig, I just told him "Ok" then he went and told someone else that their dog needed to be on a leash then he went back to work ..... This was about 6 months ago, I still hunt the parks but look out for this one guy ..... everyone else has been fine. .....

Lefty, yours is a case-example of a lesson to learn from: After that encounter, you could have

1) stopped detecting there (because what good is it, if you can't dig, eh?). Then you'd be out of a good detecting spot. Oh well. Or

2) you could have gone to city hall and appealed, sought clarification, etc.... And odds are, the minute someone else there heard the evil "dig" word, they too would have taken the safe approach and said "no" too. Afterall, why should they be bothered? This isn't a gauranteed "no", but .... just saying .... you risk a further entrenching of the "no".. And then you'd be out of a good detecting spot. Oh well. Or

3) you can do as you did, and avoid just that one kill-joy. Treat it as an isolated incident, and avoid just that one person in the future. I mean, sure, give lip service, don't be obnoxious, etc.... And then you're NOT out of a good detecting spot.

I too have had isolated incidents in my 35+ yrs. of this. Sometimes it pays just to give that one place a break (so the immediate encounter is forgotten), and just pick lower traffic times in the future. It's not that you or I probably wouldn't want that city BBQ pit cleaner to love and adore us, sure. It's just that we realize that in an odd-ball hobby like this, it's simply not going to be possible to get every last person on earth to sign off on it.

 

[Lefty]

Yep. I agree. The good news is i found a gold ring at that same park just last week.