I had not spotted in over 2 months so I decided to hit the Mounds around 1pm, in spite of the bad light and the bugs. I was gone by 1:30pm!
After shooting 2 Delta's and 1 Austrian, a car stopped by with 2 guys inside. I didn't pay attention until the gentlemen jumped the barrier, onto the soccer field. No uniforms, no guns, but I knew they were interested in me.
I went down to the field myself and they introduced themselves as FBI, which was quickly confirmed by the IDs they showed me. They told me that the nearby school had called the police (how surprising...) and that they never came, explaining why the FBI took care of it.
Having been stopped several times at the same location, for the same reason, I was aware of the Mounds situation, but I (wrongly) assumed that school was over for the summer. Otherwise I wouldn't have bothered to come today.
They asked for my ID and checked it out on the phone, which took a good 5 minutes. I chatted with the other guy during the process. Questions I got:
- Where are you from? (my NYS drivers license mentions "TEMP VISITOR")
- What are you in the US for? (school)
- What do you study? (business management)
- Do you take photo classes? (told them that I should, and get better )
- Why do you shoot airplanes? (for fun, and I mentioned the bunch of talented photogs at nycaviation.com)
- What planes are you interested in? (Boeing's in general)
They said that the school was concerned about people potentially taking pictures of the kids, which is why they keep calling. I told them that I (and we) are aware of the concern, and that we have oftentimes met their NYPD colleagues because of that, and I apologized for creating concern and disturbing police forces. They said no problem.
He told me, nicely but firmly, "please do us a favor and come back in June, when school isn't in session". He didn't technically tell me to leave but I sensed that it was the best thing to do. I said no problem, apologized again for the trouble, to which they said "ah, don't worry about it".
They gave me my ID back, we shook hands, and off I went. They didn't go back to their car right away, I think they went to the school afterwards.
To sum up, no problems at all, nice and polite folks. But it would be nice if spotters and school representatives met and educated each other.
EDIT: they also mentioned that the soccer field is the park's property, and that the mounds is airport property... I wasn't going to question them but I thought that was weird.
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