09-14-05: First Off-Airport Encounter
Agency - Federal Bureau of Investigation
Location - Queens West State Park (LIC, NY)
Time - 1530 lcl
since i needed to kill some time i got off the 7 train and walked over to queens west state park, right across the east river from the UN. i noticed some unmarked helos flying into and out of the 34th st helipad and wanted to get a closer look at them, hoping to maybe figure out a registration. i didn't have my transciever on me so there was no way i could get a callsign but a reg would help for research purposes. i did notice the local white bell 412 that operated out of floyd bennett field sitting there, as well as a bell 222 with the NYS insignia on the side. of course red and white police beacons were everywhere near the UN. when one of the helos took off, a dark blue S-76, i pulle dout my cam and snapped the 80-400 in place and took a shot. about 30 seconds later i was apporached by a suit, flashed a gov't sheild, and asked for ID. at this point i'm thinking to myself "****!" i had my PANYNJ SIDA badge around my neck so that's the first thing they got out of me. two more suits showed up, jackets unbuttoned which could means only one thing to me.
they went through the usual crap asking me about what i'm doing and what the camera is for. i told them that i was there to take a few pictures and that's it, asking what was wrong with that. these guys were relentless though, and asked if i had a driver's lisence. i told them i had one better and pulled out my sheild with department ID and handed that to them, then pulled out my phone and called my leutenant to let him know where i was and what was going on. a fourth suit comes over driving up in a dark blue suburban. they were just standing around talking with the guy in the truck.. i yell over to them asking for my IDs back and get ignored completely. so go back to shooting, first an NYPD 412, then another S-76 that frequents the pad. this is when my phone rings and my lue is screaming at me asking me what i did wrong, where i am and why he's getting calls from the FBI about me.
30 minutes my lue pulls up with the commander of my department and walk over to me to find out why the FBI was so pissed off about me. they walk over to the truck, get my stuff back to me and tell me to never again piss off the feds. i sit back down on the bench and started shooting a sailboat that passed on the river. the feds keep watching me until i got up and got into the truck and left. the walked over to the truck and appologized to me and actually called me sir. maybe he was a marine...
