asked to leave great spot by police

[sjbrian]

i found a great spot recently, one that would have taken many weekends to dig. last week i was approached by 7 different policemen, who had no problems with me being there. today a different cop came by and was very upset and wanted to arrest me. anyone here have this problem? i think he wanted to dig that place or had friends that would or probably will.
this place is deep in a creek area and its hard to say who actually owns. this guy says i was stealing from the city. in 24 years, i've never had this happen to me or any of my friends.

 

[RICKJJ59W]

Someone owns it.The first step to digging there is find out who does.

 

[farmgal]

I honestly have to say I would of never got into digging bottles and other goodies if it wasn't for doing it on my own property. I haven't found people to friendly here and would hate to have any more conflicts then I have. Harm my dog or dogs and you crossed the line! period!! farmgal!

 

[appliedlips]

ORIGINAL: sjbrian

last week i was approached by 7 different policemen, who had no problems with me being there.

If 7 different policemen are showing up,someone has a problem with you being there.It sounds like the city owns it,if you are in a small town you may be able to get permission.If that isn't possible move on,there are spots to dig everywhere or dig at your own risk.

 

[Lordbud]

There is a park in San Jose adjacent to one of the larger creeks which was closed due to the discovery (via soil testing) that it was built over what was the city dump around the turn of the century.

Apparently "substances known to the state of California to cause cancer" are buried there along with the bottles and everything else thrown away 100 + years ago.

If you're digging in a place similar to this there may be concerns that you're exposing long buried "substances" like lead, pesticides, and who knows what else...lamp black, partially burned coal/dust, arsenic, et cetera.

I had the police called on me once (and only once) digging in a dump I had dug dozens of times before and after. One of the mobile home park denizens across the creek and way up the other bank decided my partner and I were up to no good. The police came and talked to us, and had no problem with us digging.

 

[kastoo]

are you in Ohio? I don't what city but I know there is a cop in Ohio who digs. Maybe you ran up on him, haha.

 

[caldigs]

Do you know the serious digger in SJ that is a cop. Bet he is the cop that kicked you out. Was he about 35-40 years old ? Remember his name ?

 

[VA is for Diggers]

I agree that someone is calling in on you or your digging in a very visible spot (such as the police station) haha... Permission is really a must, and it looks bad on the hobby to have a few get caught like this. Frankly, most people think we are nuts digging for bottles, and unless its a nice manicured lawn, many will give permission if you ask. On the other hand, visible surface bottles (trash for the untrained eye) is another story, and it's difficult to clearly delineate if it's right and ethical to pick them up or not from unposted property. If I catch a digger in my yard making a 3' deep trench, I would not be pleased; sometimes you have to look at it in the other perspective.

 

[sjbrian]

can't remember the guys name, but he was around 40+/-. i've been metal detecting here for 24 years and bottle digging occationally and never run across something like this. i've dug everywhere and the police have always been very cool.
dug FW park since 1990 and never had problems. even dug the hole they did for the skate park. cops came around then and left. they were friends of mark, i believe.

this spot, BTW, is not in a very visible area. in fact it seems like its almost overlooked by most of society.

 

[sjbrian]

oooh the mobile park dump spot. is that near our area? i was there a few days ago and found it has signs all over it. was'nt terribly old, but good for coins.