Big Boys Hobbies

Curb strips, law enforcement encounter

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MXTshooter

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Mar 17, 2021
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Tried detecting some curb edges today. First time, smaller farming town dating back 100+ years.

About 1 hour into it, a guy walking a dog asked if we had a permit. He was wierd and was smiling real big so I thought he was joking. He walked passed me before I could answer.

Short time later 2 city police pull up. Says some guy complained we were digging on his property. I explained I was metal detecting only on on curb strips which are public easements. The first officer said he didn't know the particulars about that but the caller claimed he owns the curb strip. He seemed pretty hesitant about letting me continue.

The second officer, the sergeant, stepped in and said naw those curb strips are city property far as he knows. Said his dad used to detect on beaches and found lots of cool rings. Asked if I found anything good and let me go back to detecting.

That's it, brief encounter with local law enforcement in a small town. Apparently not a regular call for service.

Found some coppers, and plenty of clad, no silver. But there's a bunch more streets to hit.

First time detecting curb strips, and got the cops called on me. Should I expect this every time?
 
Small town.... Small force... Hope you got the officer's name that said it was OK. Could drop it to the next officer that stops you and let them know that he said it was not an issue. But I doubt you will get called in on every time.
 
I think it's safe to say that you won't have to deal with this every time out. I've been detecting for going on 40 years and have had the cops called on me only 5-6 times. I just politely leave. Fortunately for you the sergeant was there otherwise the other cop would probably had you leave, not being aware of the FACTS, saying he wasn't aware of the particulars but took the complainers statement as fact.
 
I turned on the detector recently at a 100 year old defunct hotel in central Florida. No signs saying keep out and the parking lot was empty. Before i could noise balance two female officers pulled up. They asked for my license and ran my plates. While waiting we chatted about detecting and they had lots to say about coastal treasure.

When my name came up clear they told me i was welcome to hunt the curb strips but not the property. They gave me the name of the property manager who is the only one who could grant permission. I emailed him but got no response.

A week ago i tried the strips but only found some recent clad.
 
MXTshooter said:
Tried detecting some curb edges today. First time, smaller farming town dating back 100+ years.

About 1 hour into it, a guy walking a dog asked if we had a permit. He was wierd and was smiling real big so I thought he was joking. He walked passed me before I could answer.

Short time later 2 city police pull up. Says some guy complained we were digging on his property. I explained I was metal detecting only on on curb strips which are public easements. The first officer said he didn't know the particulars about that but the caller claimed he owns the curb strip. He seemed pretty hesitant about letting me continue.

The second officer, the sergeant, stepped in and said naw those curb strips are city property far as he knows. Said his dad used to detect on beaches and found lots of cool rings. Asked if I found anything good and let me go back to detecting.

That's it, brief encounter with local law enforcement in a small town. Apparently not a regular call for service.

Found some coppers, and plenty of clad, no silver. But there's a bunch more streets to hit.

First time detecting curb strips, and got the cops called on me. Should I expect this every time?
Click to expand...


I’ve had similar encounters as well. One karen must of called cause as soon as the cops said carry on she came out pissed. I told her to piss off since I wasn’t even on her strip and she told me to be careful cause some are armed. I told her so am I. Lady was a complete female dog. Anyhow I finished that block and saluted her on the way out. 9/10 it’s a woman and most have tons of political and equality signs in there yard. At this point I actually look forward to the confrontation as I find joy in there petty anger.
 
I hunt a lot of strips and I’m normally the one who tells the homeowner to call the cops! Ha! Lol 😂 I love how they think they own the strip…
 
I never have problems on curb strips cuz I’d never hunt them. Whenever metal detecting becomes a “balancing act” as to whose right to what is right…I’m out. I’m not going to put myself out there quite that far…and I’m sure this conversation will grow legs and be 3-4 pages long before long.
 
IDXMonster said:
I never have problems on curb strips cuz I’d never hunt them. Whenever metal detecting becomes a “balancing act” as to whose right to what is right…I’m out. I’m not going to put myself out there quite that far…and I’m sure this conversation will grow legs and be 3-4 pages long before long.
Click to expand...

Your missing out!!! Some of the interactions are very pleasant. And lead to permissions as well. Had more good than bad encounters. And the finds are pretty good since people drop miscellaneous getting out of car, buggy, bus or off a horse even.
 
DiggingThePNW said:
I’ve had similar encounters as well. One karen must of called cause as soon as the cops said carry on she came out pissed. I told her to piss off since I wasn’t even on her strip and she told me to be careful cause some are armed. I told her so am I. Lady was a complete female dog. Anyhow I finished that block and saluted her on the way out. 9/10 it’s a woman and most have tons of political and equality signs in there yard. At this point I actually look forward to the confrontation as I find joy in there petty anger.
Click to expand...

Karens exist on the right side of the political spectrum too.
 
MXTshooter said:
First time detecting curb strips, and got the cops called on me. Should I expect this every time?
Click to expand...

No, its unusual. Ive been detecting curb strips for 20 years or so and have never had cops called and have only had 2 bad expriences, and one was just recently and the other was a lady i know was a nut just causing problems.

I would recommend trying to hit them early in the morning on the weekends, and be discrete about it.
Try not to hunt where the house is right up close to the curb strip and get a yellow safety vest, people will completely ignore you.

Every city I have lived in and hunted, the curb strip belonged to the city.
 
mh9162013 said:
Karens exist on the right side of the political spectrum too.
Click to expand...

That is true. Usually the very-far-right, that dabble into conspiracy theories. And have an overblown caution level. Yes, they exist on both sides of the political spectrum.
 
I gotta get me one of those vests :lol:

I’ve had one police encounter (someone confronted me, rudely got in my face, with his dog on a ball field (signs said “no dogs on field“) and later called the cops…after a short chat with the officer I kept detecting said ball field… sucka!

Another time a business park security guy told me I couldn’t detect, a place I had detected probably 10 times before.

Another time someone musta called the park maintenance crew because a guy drove his truck across the field :roll: to confront me but left after seeing I wasn’t “digging huge holes everywhere” like some caller told him.

Aaannnddd one other time a lanscape crew guy on his lunch came over and told me “I shouldn’t be doing that”, to which I told him I had been there a dozen times, turned out he owned a detector and after talking told me I was okay, but I left anyway and will be back regardless.

Oh! And one other time some lady yelled to me asking if I was digging holes everywhere on a former school ball field turned community center. I yelled back that I was being respectful and she just walked away.

This is all over 9 years or so.

Ohhhh, I also got kicked off of some lake beach multiple times. I was finding a decent amount of gold there over a couple years so just kept going back :lol: cleaned that place out and haven’t been back - got to give it time to replenish although now days it’ll be tungsten or Ti…

I’ve only hit a few curb strips as I prefer to hunt far as possible from people :lol:
 
Bajanick said:
No, its unusual. Ive been detecting curb strips for 20 years or so and have never had cops called and have only had 2 bad expriences, and one was just recently and the other was a lady i know was a nut just causing problems.

I would recommend trying to hit them early in the morning on the weekends, and be discrete about it.
Try not to hunt where the house is right up close to the curb strip and get a yellow safety vest, people will completely ignore you.

Every city I have lived in and hunted, the curb strip belonged to the city.
Click to expand...

This is 1000% correct. Earlier the better.
 
Tom_in_CA said:
That is true. Usually the very-far-right, that dabble into conspiracy theories. And have an overblown caution level. Yes, they exist on both sides of the political spectrum.
Click to expand...

Those “crazy fat right” ones seem to be more interested in history and not to anti disturbing of said area in my experience. Especially recently. We at one point door knocked the trump people signs cause they were more interested than others to be honest Tom. Truly there beliefs mean nothing to me I just want the chance.
 
GroundSweeper said:
I gotta get me one of those vests :lol:

I’ve had one police encounter (someone confronted me, rudely got in my face, with his dog on a ball field (signs said “no dogs on field“) and later called the cops…after a short chat with the officer I kept detecting said ball field… sucka!

Another time a business park security guy told me I couldn’t detect, a place I had detected probably 10 times before.

Another time someone musta called the park maintenance crew because a guy drove his truck across the field :roll: to confront me but left after seeing I wasn’t “digging huge holes everywhere” like some caller told him.

Aaannnddd one other time a lanscape crew guy on his lunch came over and told me “I shouldn’t be doing that”, to which I told him I had been there a dozen times, turned out he owned a detector and after talking told me I was okay, but I left anyway and will be back regardless.

Oh! And one other time some lady yelled to me asking if I was digging holes everywhere on a former school ball field turned community center. I yelled back that I was being respectful and she just walked away.

This is all over 9 years or so.

Ohhhh, I also got kicked off of some lake beach multiple times. I was finding a decent amount of gold there over a couple years so just kept going back :lol: cleaned that place out and haven’t been back - got to give it time to replenish although now days it’ll be tungsten or Ti…

I’ve only hit a few curb strips as I prefer to hunt far as possible from people :lol:
Click to expand...


Perfect. Good get those finds.
 
Just have a reflective vest made with the letters HCS on the back. Get a matching hard hat. When people ask what you are doing, tell them You work for the Government and are not at liberty to disclose your mission. (After all who is going to call the cops on someone working for the city?) Technically since it's city property you WOULD be cleaning ground for the government.

Oh yeah, The HCS. That stands for "Hunting curb strips"
 
These vests-posts are an interesting subject. I bought a yellow vest with silver braids a few years ago after asking a dozer driver doing work on a new park area. He just wanted us to be visible. I saw what looked like new orange vest on the ground in a parking lot a week ago, and it was two, new looking vests I grabbed those. They are all in my trunk where I pack my detecting gear.

I still feel a bit unsure about intentionally using them in public hunt areas though. It would seem strange to find BS-words about my reason for having one on. That would border on dishonesty. I only used the yellow construction vest twice at that park renovation a few years ago.
 
Martin_V3i said:
These vests-posts are an interesting subject. I bought a yellow vest with silver braids a few years ago after asking a dozer driver doing work on a new park area. He just wanted us to be visible. I saw what looked like new orange vest on the ground in a parking lot a week ago, and it was two, new looking vests I grabbed those. They are all in my trunk where I pack my detecting gear.

I still feel a bit unsure about intentionally using them in public hunt areas though. It would seem strange to find BS-words about my reason for having one on. That would border on dishonesty. I only used the yellow construction vest twice at that park renovation a few years ago.
Click to expand...

I understand your unease. But if you're hunting a curb strip or any location near a road, it will help to wear the vest to be more visible to drivers. So as long as it doesn't have the town or state's logo or name on it, I can't see how you could get into trouble.

Think about all those joggers who wear vests when they run at night or early in the morning. No one accuses them of trying to be deceptive or anything.
 
mh9162013 said:
...

Think about all those joggers who wear vests when they run at night or early in the morning. No one accuses them of trying to be deceptive or anything.
Click to expand...

Good point.

There comes a point-in-life where, if all we ever did was sit around worrying about "someone who might not like something we do", that : You might as well never leave your front door in the morning. :roll:

Sure, there *might* be someone that "doesn't like your yellow vest". Ok sure. And I can add to the list of potential things that "someone might not like". Eg.: The color of your sneakers, the length of your dog's leash, your language accent, etc.... The list is never ending.

If someone wants to "worry themselves silly" over what everyone else on earth will think of their hobby, then : Metal detecting is not the right hobby. Because sure, md'ing has connotations. Not everyone on earth will love & adore you.

The hobby of passing out $100 bills is a much more conducive hobby, if love & adoration is what we're after :)
 
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