Well looks like I may be through metal detecting

kevinstang

Just got back from the local city park after getting thrown out of it, the local police chief saw me detecting and stopped to give me a warning. The parks and recreation department has complained to them too many times of detectorist in the park digging holes and killing the grass and from now on there will be no use of detectors on any city property- including parks, trails etc.. I asked if there was an ordinance against it and he said they didn't need one- you couldn't do it was basically what he said. He also told me to spread the word to any other detectorists I know that the city was off limits now ( I know a couple others). This time I got a warning but he took my license plate number and did not want to see me again. This is getting to be a great country. Whats really ironic is the city park workers are about the lazy bunch of crap around- the parks are filled with shredded aluminum can pieces laying right on top of the ground (part of the reason I started using my sniper coil) and after last winters extreme snow and snow removal, most of the parks are heavily dug up this year- the worst I have seen them in the three years I have been detecting seriously. I even put some sod back in place time and again where I could lift it in the parks and haven't seen a drop of grass seed laid down by anyone in the parks, great crew they have there- maybe their the ones drinking all the beer and soda in cans in the parks in the first place. I've had nothing but positives when approached by others in the parks- usually asking what I've found or if I'm having any luck, this sucks, probably 50% of the detecting I do in a year is in this cities parks and trails. I don't usually hunt in the summer much, but rather go in the spring and fall when the soil is soft and I figure the least damage is done to any grass thats disturbed. Think I'll type off a good letter to the city paper tomorrow and thank them for the great shape of their parks and for the warning. Probably end up selling my stuff soon or at the end of the year now- this is a real bummer.

mrguby

time to move sounds like sucky town.

marym

Kevin, this just doesn't sit right with me at all. If there is no ordinance against detecting on city property then you certainly may do so. I'd check with your local code enforcement officer to get a ruling. That being said, there are some wars not worth waging if it means you're going to make yourself a target for every ticket writing officer in town. Tough call to make, but you seem like a level headed sort of guy, so I have no doubt you'll make the best decision for you. Good luck!! Mary

demodigger

the county we live in requires us to have a permit to detect in city parks. in 22 years i've been asked a few times if i had the permit. you should inquire into a permit.
on the bright side, there are still many other places to digging. do let yourself feel restricted to parks or government controlled areas. there's always private property, residential, camp grounds, beaches etc...

the other problem could just be the techniques used when digging in grass. some people out there may just be careless and have ruined it for you and others. i used to use a "tap" and "pry" method. i used a slender steak knife and a long screwdriver with a blunt end. i would pinpoint exactly and use the driver to locate the target. it was like tapping and listening for the object. when found i would leave the driver there and cut a slit in the grass. take the driver and move it under the object and push up. this method proved easy after some practice and the grass never died. i liked to use this method alot when searching home sites. the less grass cut and dirt moved the better.

ROCKETMAN

Kevin - sorry to hear of your bad news!!!!!! What state and city are you in? Here in Oregon, you no longer can detect in State parks without a permit / permission. Thanks for posting this information! I will remember it when digging!!!

intocoins

I've run into the same problem. Seems my state (Delaware) has a law against metal detecting on any state land including parks and forest's. Other than the beach and private property i'm limited to where I can detect. I'm not ready to throw the towel in just yet though. Keep the faith and maybe do some research. I recently have been looking in the lost and found trying to procure some hunts for lost items.

davbec

Sorry to hear of the bad news Kevin. Come on up to MN. My towns mayor is a big local history buff. He's the one who tells
me where I should detect. Dont hang it up yet.

DUBBA

if sherriff lobo is making the laws up as he goes, and there is no ordinance or laws against it, i'd keep on detecting....screw him!....arrest me!

millennium

I had to go to city hall.....I was getting hassled by a city cop the exact same way you are....Every time I would detect a park, in no time, one of the city cops would show up and tell me to quit. I went to city hall and asked for a permit to hunt the parks and public lands. She looked at me like I was a fool, but after I told her how I picked a lot more trash than I dug little small holes, she got with the Chief of Police and they established a permit. I have a permit now, but have not been asked for it since...It's worth a shot, for them to either issue you a permit, or get the rule established by higher authorities...

Good luck!

BobGreene

Ordinance or no ordinance, I would think that if authorities have ordered you to stop detecting on public land, the next time you're caught doing so could result in a ticket for disturbing the peace, or even trespassing. Is that a possibility?

kiyote

In a way, I feel your pain. Massive swathes of land are off limits to me because they're state parks, beaches, etc. It's frustrating.

TwoSides2aCoin

Run for politics with an agenda. That's what the rest of them do.

crispy

Sorry to hear of your hardships Kevin. I can't shake the feeling that before too long we will all suffer this fate.

ASUtodd

Seeing as how I am the resident police officer here..I'll weigh on the matter. Even if there is no ordinance forbidding him from digging in the park, if the cops are asked by the Parks and Rec people to not allow that type of activity, then the person has to abide. He can be charged with a variety of things ranging from trespassing to vandalism. He could always argue in court that what he is doing is no more destructive than someone playing football....problem is this.... That is city property, which is governed by the city (eventhough tax payers pay for it), which means when the police say don't do something....you gotta do what they say. I can see where the city would have issues with people digging in the park, mainly because I have seen people tear up the spinkler system... However, I think that the city, or the officer, is overreacting and he appears to be an a-hole. I don't know what city or state you live in but it seems that the police there have nothing to do, expecially if the Chief is out telling you not to do something. Our Chief is so busy with real crime that he doesn't have time to even ride by the park! I would do this, go to City hall and ask to speak to the city council men, mayor, or the parks and rec people and ask for an explination. If they say it is ok then get it in writing and ask them to contact the Police Department. To be on the safe side always carry your paper saying it is ok to metal detect on the porperty. You MIGHT, and that's a big might, be able to win this in court but I doubt it since the cops said don't do it, going back would be dumb without talking to someone first. I know it sucks but that's how this great country of ours works. Sometimes we as cops have to enforce the dumbest crap because people above us want to be someone.
Todd

pocketpiececommems

I think that in many of these cases with parks and recs workers that they think that they have a little more power than they actually do. I had one guy tell me that I couldn't dig any holes in the park. I showed him the screwdiver and said I wasn't digging any holes. He said I couldn't use that either. Then I asked him if I put the screwdiver in the truck and just picked up the coins that were in the grass if that was OK. Then he said you could use a detecr in the park. This guy was just a jerk. Most of the time if there are workers around they might come over to see how I was doing and severl times they have asked if I could find corner markers for them on ball fields. Also if they see me using a screwdiver they will say that they like that idea as there aren't any holes when I get done.

I would go to City Hall and explain the situation and ask for some type of permission in writing. You also might want to ask them if they have time to go along with you and show them how you hunt and that you aren't the one causing the damage.

It's a bum deal caused by someone who doesn't care how they leave the grounds how they found them.

kevinstang

Thanks everyone for the good advice above, I've decided to wait and hang onto my stuff for a while- I've got a camping trip this weekend that will hopefully take me to some new areas to do a little exploration- areas outside my normal driving range as the price of gas just hit $4.03 here in upstate NY. Anyways back to update on the situation, I talked last night with a fellow detectorist who with his wife hunts many of the same parks and has been doing it a couple of years longer than me and told him of the news. Now he's a farmer (they can be stubborn at times) and said he was going to go down to one of the parks and make himself very visible and if they told him to leave, he said he was going to tell thme they would have to arrest him...will have to see what the outcome is going to be. He wasn't happy with it at all (the news). I told him maybe later we could hook up with the others that detect in the city and go meet with a city representative and find out what he deal is really. I've found out that there is a new head of the parks and recreation department that just started the job this spring- maybe that person has the issue- as it seems there was none in the past. What is funny is that as others have said, you think the cops would have something better to do- lots of drug dealers and drug related crime going on now- and this is a small town of around 10K . Two drug related murders and several gang stabbings have occured in the just the last couple of years, with several of the crimes unsolved- and some links to the police department have been brought up.

I'll probably wait to the fall before pressing the issue myself to much- the ground dries up in the summer and I usually hunt mainly these areas like I said in the spring and fall. Although there are several proposed park projects (mainly the removal of street sections to make the parks more green) that had hyped my interest- I hoped to get a shot at some of that old dirt, will have to wait and see, HH.

kiyote

The UK works *with* detectorists to bridge the gap between archeology and just plucking 1200+ year old relics out of the ground. I haven't heard of a single UK detectorist complain-- registering their finds or donating them to a museum gives them a hell of a lot of pride.

DUBBA

lots of good advice and viewpoints....hey, who's gonna come and bail me out? lol...hh

ricko

It is becoming more and more complex to MD.... some of this is due to the inconsiderate MD'rs who do not fill holes etc.... the rest is due to lack of understanding. Perhaps more understanding of the hobby, through town meetings, literature etc, would be helpful.. just a thought. Will have to think this through a bit more. Cheers, RickO

Blackborder

<< <i>Seeing as how I am the resident police officer here..I'll weigh on the matter. Even if there is no ordinance forbidding him from digging in the park, if the cops are asked by the Parks and Rec people to not allow that type of activity, then the person has to abide. Todd >>




I thought the job of the police was to enforce the LAW, not tell people what they can and can't do just because parks and rec people don't like a particular behavior.

If there's an ordinance against it fine, if not, the cop needs to be smart enough to tell the parks and rec people to get one and then he'll be glad to enforce it.

marym

Blackborder: I thought the job of the police was to enforce the LAW, not tell people what they can and can't do just because parks and rec people don't like a particular behavior.

If there's an ordinance against it fine, if not, the cop needs to be smart enough to tell the parks and rec people to get one and then he'll be glad to enforce it.

I couldn't have said it better myself!!! Mary

pocketpiececommems

Amen to Blackborder and Marym. If a Parks and Rec person didn't like bike riders and wanted the cops to keep them out of the parks would they just because they didn't like them?

Question for the resident cop. If you know that there is no ordinance or law against it how can the word of a Parks and Recs person be inforced unless a particular person is actually destroying park property?

DUBBA

good point you guys....and like i said earlier, arrest me!....hh

Leiascards

You cannot enforce a law or ordinance that does not exist.

Locally I had a police officer ticket me for Criminal Tresspassing several years ago because I was fishing in a city owned pond after dark. It was about 7PM. He stated that ordinance number whatever says nobody is allowed in the park after dark. I have read the ordinance and it is posted on a sign nearby to where I was that and said nobody is allowed in the park after 10PM until 7AM, when I questioned that he said that the new Parks head told them to enforce it at dark. I fought the charge and won. The judge simply said that an officer or no one else for that matter cannot make up a law or ordinance unless it is changed following the proper processes.

sumrtym

We've run into a nearly identical situation here in Overland Park, KS (KC area). Almost 2 months ago, one of our club members was meeting with a few others to detect in an Overland Park park. An animal control officer stopped, and informed him that there was no metal detecting in City of Overland Park parks, and doing so constituted a $50 fine.

Apparently, through subsequent research, we've determined that the current Parks Superintendent placed a "rule" in effect against it one year ago at the urging of the City Attorney. This prohibition is not posted, as required by law governing any park ordinance, since there IS no ordinance. On top of that, they're trying to enforce a fine for something without a law setting one or governing where the money goes!

We're still trying to figure out the best way of fighting this. So far, the FMDAC promised help from a similar situation, and then promptly seemed to have forgotten us. (Ironic, considering we're now the largest club supporting them with members all based at the same location in the nation). I have a letter into them regarding this matter again and their unsatisfactory response.