Run in with a cop at my local city beach

[brianb87]

Before I even got the bird in the air a cop pulls up. I asked him, "am I ok to fly here" He responses "I don't see why not".. He hung around for 30 minutes or so asking questions about the P3. Then he said have a good day, now you got me thinking about buying one.

 

[RoyVa]

There are reasonable law officers who understand and don't try to inflate drone problems. Good officer!

 

[GadgetGuy]

Many people, with whom I have had interactions, also end up saying essentially the same thing, "If I had the money, I'd get one, too!" Others, after a brief tutorial, and an offer to hold it, are afraid to even touch it, as though it's possessed! It's the latter that reflect the irrational paranoia fueled by the media. They are the same ones who bark out loudly, "Is that a drone?" followed immediately by "I hate drones!"

 

[snerd]

Good encounter!


Sent from my iPhone 6+ using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Christoph559]

Had the same thing happen with a sheriff. He was cool with lots of questions

 

[GadgetGuy]

Had the same thing happen with a sheriff. He was cool with lots of questions

That's because you had him on video!

 

[43k]

Before I even got the bird in the air a cop pulls up. I asked him, "am I ok to fly here" He responses "I don't see why not".. He hung around for 30 minutes or so asking questions about the P3. Then he said have a good day, now you got me thinking about buying one.

That cop is just a normal human, as is 99% of them.
All we hear in the media is about the other 1% that don't have a clue on how to handle their power of authority.

Glad you told this story, there is hope.

 

[GadgetGuy]

That cop is just a normal human, as is 99% of them.
All we hear in the media is about the other 1% that don't have a clue on how to handle their power of authority.

Glad you told this story, there is hope.

It also depends upon whether the cop is responding to a complaint about you and your aircraft, requiring his/her intervention, or just independently out on patrol, when he/she encounters you.
Regardless, if they tell you not to fly, best not to argue. Better to live to fly another day somewhere else!

 

[MPD352]

Speaking as a recently retired police detective, most all cops I know would react the same way. Almost certainly some turd, ahh, I mean citizen, is going to complain, and the cop will have to respond. Hopefully he or she will tell the citizen that there is nothing unlawful in what the person is doing, and if they don't like it the answer is to move out to the middle of the Gobi Desert where you don't have to live with and around other people. I actually did that once when I answered a call for service. The guy thought there were too many kids in the neighborhood and wanted me to do something about it. By that time I was at the point in my career where I could tell him to move to the Gobi and get away with it.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Speaking as a recently retired police detective, most all cops I know would react the same way. Almost certainly some turd, ahh, I mean citizen, is going to complain, and the cop will have to respond. Hopefully he or she will tell the citizen that there is nothing unlawful in what the person is doing, and if they don't like it the answer is to move out to the middle of the Gobi Desert where you don't have to live with and around other people. I actually did that once when I answered a call for service. The guy thought there were too many kids in the neighborhood and wanted me to do something about it. By that time I was at the point in my career where I could tell him to move to the Gobi and get away with it.

Too bad you weren't at that point in your career where you could have said, "Which ones do you want me to shoot first?"

 

[43k]

Too bad ...

ouch, that must be the most tasteless post I have seen on this site so far

 

[prostreetcamaro]

The truth of the matter is really most cops are good people. Sure there will always be a few on a power trip but most are very good. The one you encountered will very likely go back to his precinct and tell others about it and how cool it was and they will then have a better perspective on these quadcopters.

 

[GadgetGuy]

ouch, that must be the most tasteless post I have seen on this site so far

At least it would have gotten the RP's attention! RP's should be careful what they ask for! It was supposed to be tasteless! I guess I win! Obviously, the cop would only be testing the RP's motivation, and following the logic of how the cop was supposed to solve the problem of too many kids in the neighborhood, which was an absurd police call in the first place! Maybe it would have been more appropriate to get Fiona from Burn Notice to ask, "Shall we shoot 'em??!!" It certainly was not intended in any way as a slam on cops, if that was the way you interpreted it.

 

[Matt W Ruff]

In Tennessee with have this great scenic drive called the Natchez Trace Parkway trouble is it a National park and they have banned drones in all National parks (Stupid). A Ranger followed my drone to me outside the park and told me nicely not to fly in the park. After landing and turning off the drone we had a pleasant conversation. One I was not in the park I was on the side of a State Highway and not to be disrespectful he's out of his jurisdiction. But then I told him you bosses have banned drones yet you want our help in the case of search and rescue. Every point you make for banning drones is weak:

• They can crash - True and so can cars, bikes and the like
• They can do damage to people - True but check the statistic of people dieing from our drones (not the one the Military is using) and compare to car and bikes
• Could distract drives - so can the deer, birds, and that babe in a Bikini

He said most people flying drones don't follow the rules, That may be true and I showed him my limit of 120 M hight to stay below the 400 foot limit of the FAA and my distance limit of 750M (which is as far as I normally can see).
At which point he said have a good day and we parted. The older I get the more I get fed up with how much Government I pay for and how much they waste!