Thought I would add my experience to what seems to be a growing list of posts about encounters at the mounds.
I showed up to the mounds at about 7:30 in the morning and stayed in my truck for a while due to a brief rain shower. I headed up onto the mounds about 8:00. I was snapping off pics for about a half hour and I saw an NYPD van drive by slow but never stop. I continued to take pictures for about 45 mins and got hold of KAZ to come out since the skies were clearing up. After about another 15 mins of photos I saw the same NYPD van approaching again. This time it stopped. I noticed it said "School Safety" on it. The officer came over the wooden rail/fence and started to approach so I decided to come down off the mound. The conversation went something like this:
Officer: Excuse me, sir
Me: Good morning.
Officer: You can't be on school property like this. You can't be up there video taping the planes.
Me: I'm sorry, I didn't realize that. I'm sorry.
Officer: Yeah, this is school property.
Me: You want me to leave?
Officer: Yes, please.
Me: Ok. Not a problem.
I start taking my gear off and put it in the truck and...
Officer: Where are you from?
Me: Conneccticut
Officer: Why are you taking pictures of airplanes?
Me: I like airplanes. I have ever since I was a kid.
Officer: Ok.
The funny thing is that it wasn't just one officer. There were about 4 others that got out of the van. The others were all wearing sweatshirts with NYPD logo on them and they looked like teenagers. I was later told by someone that they (not even the one wearing the uniform) were "real cops".
I used my better judgement, eventhough I was well within my right to be taking pictures and was in a public area, but just cooperated and left as not to risk a good spot for the hobby.
Bookmarks