First run in with neighbor.....and the law

[Technodynamic]

I feel bad for you. Hillbilly cops obviously have no clue what they are saying at all.

 

[Sim597]

Remember it's totally legal to take pictures in public, so unless you were (which you weren't) that has no bearing and will be in your favor. The other thing you may have done to preclude anymore BS from this particularly dumb LEO is show him your flight log, and have your FAA card out and remind him that your totally within guidelines and this is close to harassment, intimidation and he's stepping out of his jurisdiction as no laws have been broken, you can fly over someone's house.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[zacksomeone]

This is something that has made me sad about our hobby as I'm new to UAVs and have already experienced similar people. It's sad that we can be in places flying 100% by the rules and there will still always be lots of people who don't want us flying due to paranoia, noise, etc. I had a guy ask me to stop flying somewhere I was 100% allowed to fly, all because it reminded him of a war simulation.

I need a hug

 

[Robertas Ra]

America is a freedom country! By the way, the world is full of angry people...

 

[DRR]

I haven't flown my P4 in weeks because it's too dang hot. I installed the last firmware update and took it out for 9 minutes until the battery was low. As I landed, a strange guy pulled up and looked curious and asked how far that goes. I said it can go around 3 miles on a good day and I started to approach him thinking he was friendly and was going to talk. He immediately revved away from me and got all sketch so I backed up. He took his phone out and started looking for my address obviously. I said my address is XYZ, I'm not doing anything illegal. He was recording me and said so are you recording people? You ar huh? And then took off. This was around 8:30pm.

I literally flew straight down my street block. I live on a hill/mountain so I have an excellent view and clear line of sight. I probably didn't get much more than 1/2 mile away. I live in a community that basically backs up to a wash and wide open desert but have to pass a few houses to get ther, so I really don't fly over any houses and when I rarely do its at about 350' and long enough to fly over.

At about 10:30pm I get a knock on the door which wakes my 2 and 4 year old kids up. It was the police. Dude called 911 and reported me. The cop was pretty cool and said he had to just take my information down and give me a warning. He said it would be best not to fly around there again because if they got called back, they would have to wrte me up for disorderly conduct and it would be up to the prosecutor if they wanted to pursue it. I told him that it's just a case of his word against mine, what if the guy just starts calling. Also, how is he or even you going to be abl to identify a small object 300+ feet in the sky moving 20+ mph as mine?

The guy claimed I was hovering over his house for 5 minutes taking pictures and video at 50' above his house. Mind you, my entire flight was not even 10 minutes, I did zero hovering, I never hover over houses, and I wasn't even cording that flight.

I can't believe I was told if they get called again I am getting a ticket.

If I see anyone doing the wrong thing in a drone, I will be the first to report them. I am licensed and I love to dob in those that are doing commercial work without one. In saying that,.. I would get even with this guy. He has not right to complain and I would fly everywhere but over his house. I would sit back and film any conversation with him and threaten him with the Police. Its not right. I wouldn't put up with threats like that if you are not doing anything wrong. At the end of the day.. what can he do???

 

[Suspended Moments]

I haven't flown my P4 in weeks because it's too dang hot. I installed the last firmware update and took it out for 9 minutes until the battery was low. As I landed, a strange guy pulled up and looked curious and asked how far that goes. I said it can go around 3 miles on a good day and I started to approach him thinking he was friendly and was going to talk. He immediately revved away from me and got all sketch so I backed up. He took his phone out and started looking for my address obviously. I said my address is XYZ, I'm not doing anything illegal. He was recording me and said so are you recording people? You ar huh? And then took off. This was around 8:30pm.

I literally flew straight down my street block. I live on a hill/mountain so I have an excellent view and clear line of sight. I probably didn't get much more than 1/2 mile away. I live in a community that basically backs up to a wash and wide open desert but have to pass a few houses to get ther, so I really don't fly over any houses and when I rarely do its at about 350' and long enough to fly over.

At about 10:30pm I get a knock on the door which wakes my 2 and 4 year old kids up. It was the police. Dude called 911 and reported me. The cop was pretty cool and said he had to just take my information down and give me a warning. He said it would be best not to fly around there again because if they got called back, they would have to wrte me up for disorderly conduct and it would be up to the prosecutor if they wanted to pursue it. I told him that it's just a case of his word against mine, what if the guy just starts calling. Also, how is he or even you going to be abl to identify a small object 300+ feet in the sky moving 20+ mph as mine?

The guy claimed I was hovering over his house for 5 minutes taking pictures and video at 50' above his house. Mind you, my entire flight was not even 10 minutes, I did zero hovering, I never hover over houses, and I wasn't even cording that flight.

I can't believe I was told if they get called again I am getting a ticket.

Your Flight Log and Flight Video will show everything your quad did during the flight, complete with time and date information. There are A-Holes everywhere unfortunately. IT would never go to court. The Police have to follow up on complaints, as for disturbing the peace? That's sort of a catch all category, but it sounds like local law enforcement is inclined to move against you rather than support your rights, so you may want to be careful. If someone videos you, video them right back, you can even hold your P4 and use the camera/video (no sound of course) to document behavior of someone harassing you, just hold it while you talk to them... Sorry you have neighbors like that, I think you're in for quite a bit of static unfortunately.

 

[Jezzy]

Next time you see the guy I would just call 911 & report he was stalking your kids, recording them, & you are calling to report him as a potential pedophile. Maybe they'll threaten to charge him with disorderly conduct next time they get a report? SMH....

Love this idea!

 

[Nick Goss]

I'm sorry but at the end of the day I actually think you did the wrong thing by flying over or near "anyone's" house. Had your drone/quad/UAV lost power then you have a heavy object at speed hurtling towards person and property? If you put the recording issue aside, what would have happened if you lost a prop and then your phantom fell out the sky and smashed a 4 year old little girl in the face leaving her with facial scars? Come on pilots if we want the law to be on our side we have to think of "safety first and always". This means never operating your UAV anywhere near person or property. Here in Australia the law requires us to stay 30 meters away from all person or property and includes no flying over cars / car parks / buildings. Would you like it if your child wore a UAV in the face? You even admit that you had not flown it in a while, what on earth were you thinking flying a UAV that had not been operated in some time, so it's effectively a "test flight" where any number of things could go wrong, over houses with people in them? I think you got off light with just a warning myself. Always do your test flights I am area where your UAV and others/and others property won't be damaged or hurt in the case of a failure. Once you know your good then fly where ever you want, but keep away from where there are people, unless they have otherwise given you consent (and are aware your doing it). Honestly this is the exact type of thing that will get UAV operation taken away from the hobbist and it will be back to RC cars after that. Rant end....

 

[FirstSgt89]

I haven't flown my P4 in weeks because it's too dang hot. I installed the last firmware update and took it out for 9 minutes until the battery was low. As I landed, a strange guy pulled up and looked curious and asked how far that goes. I said it can go around 3 miles on a good day and I started to approach him thinking he was friendly and was going to talk. He immediately revved away from me and got all sketch so I backed up. He took his phone out and started looking for my address obviously. I said my address is XYZ, I'm not doing anything illegal. He was recording me and said so are you recording people? You ar huh? And then took off. This was around 8:30pm.

I literally flew straight down my street block. I live on a hill/mountain so I have an excellent view and clear line of sight. I probably didn't get much more than 1/2 mile away. I live in a community that basically backs up to a wash and wide open desert but have to pass a few houses to get ther, so I really don't fly over any houses and when I rarely do its at about 350' and long enough to fly over.

At about 10:30pm I get a knock on the door which wakes my 2 and 4 year old kids up. It was the police. Dude called 911 and reported me. The cop was pretty cool and said he had to just take my information down and give me a warning. He said it would be best not to fly around there again because if they got called back, they would have to wrte me up for disorderly conduct and it would be up to the prosecutor if they wanted to pursue it. I told him that it's just a case of his word against mine, what if the guy just starts calling. Also, how is he or even you going to be abl to identify a small object 300+ feet in the sky moving 20+ mph as mine?

The guy claimed I was hovering over his house for 5 minutes taking pictures and video at 50' above his house. Mind you, my entire flight was not even 10 minutes, I did zero hovering, I never hover over houses, and I wasn't even cording that flight.

I can't believe I was told if they get called again I am getting a ticket.

Stand with your head held high, you've done nothing wrong.
FLY my friend! Enjoy life! Just stay legal!!

 

[Anthony Cirullo]

I haven't flown my P4 in weeks because it's too dang hot. I installed the last firmware update and took it out for 9 minutes until the battery was low. As I landed, a strange guy pulled up and looked curious and asked how far that goes. I said it can go around 3 miles on a good day and I started to approach him thinking he was friendly and was going to talk. He immediately revved away from me and got all sketch so I backed up. He took his phone out and started looking for my address obviously. I said my address is XYZ, I'm not doing anything illegal. He was recording me and said so are you recording people? You ar huh? And then took off. This was around 8:30pm.

I literally flew straight down my street block. I live on a hill/mountain so I have an excellent view and clear line of sight. I probably didn't get much more than 1/2 mile away. I live in a community that basically backs up to a wash and wide open desert but have to pass a few houses to get ther, so I really don't fly over any houses and when I rarely do its at about 350' and long enough to fly over.

At about 10:30pm I get a knock on the door which wakes my 2 and 4 year old kids up. It was the police. Dude called 911 and reported me. The cop was pretty cool and said he had to just take my information down and give me a warning. He said it would be best not to fly around there again because if they got called back, they would have to wrte me up for disorderly conduct and it would be up to the prosecutor if they wanted to pursue it. I told him that it's just a case of his word against mine, what if the guy just starts calling. Also, how is he or even you going to be abl to identify a small object 300+ feet in the sky moving 20+ mph as mine?

The guy claimed I was hovering over his house for 5 minutes taking pictures and video at 50' above his house. Mind you, my entire flight was not even 10 minutes, I did zero hovering, I never hover over houses, and I wasn't even cording that flight.

I can't believe I was told if they get called again I am getting a ticket.

Well if it ever came down to it you can easily prove your innocence by getting your flight log

 

[Monte55]

One thing many of you seem to miss is not everyone flying a quadcopter has one that has flight logs that can be accessed.

 

[flashoser]

I have looked at my flight data about 100x trying to figure out which house it was. It's not too difficult if I just drive by because I know his car now. I only "truly" flew over four houses, none of them had any type of pause or hover even over the house; in fact one or two of them I flew over in sport mode. The places I did hover (trying to catch my bearing and see where I was) was in the middle of a field, in the middle of the street, etc., so it could have appears as though I was hovering looking at you if you were being paranoid looked up at it.

What really makes me mad about the whole thing is that all this guy has to do is claim I was flying and that is enough for a cop to come by. The cop isn't going to care about my flight data - of course I would fight in court the ticket with my flight data to prove I didn't fly or anywere near him, but still. I work in a profession that does random background checks and I can't have any criminal offenses, even tickets look bad. I'm not going to let this dude ruin my life and so I will take the higher road and no longer fly anywhere near my house so he can't even be driving down the road and seeing it, but it stinks I have to do that.

Yeh but then he win's, we need to send a message that:

1. Don't Lie, i would have filed a false police report, on him for sure.

2. No more intimidation against us with the power of the cops.

 

[Sim597]

If I see anyone doing the wrong thing in a drone, I will be the first to report them. I am licensed and I love to dob in those that are doing commercial work without one. In saying that,.. I would get even with this guy. He has not right to complain and I would fly everywhere but over his house. I would sit back and film any conversation with him and threaten him with the Police. Its not right. I wouldn't put up with threats like that if you are not doing anything wrong. At the end of the day.. what can he do???

Yeah, that's always the answer! Add more conflict to the mix! And always report people too, because non-conflict and teaching or showing ppl and giving them the benefit to learn and correct mistakes or their ignorance wouldn't be the adult and Human thing to do.

You, ahh never mind, your too angry and just, mean and above it all because your a "Pro" lol
Lighten up Francis.....

 

[flyNfrank]

I haven't flown my P4 in weeks because it's too dang hot. I installed the last firmware update and took it out for 9 minutes until the battery was low. As I landed, a strange guy pulled up and looked curious and asked how far that goes. I said it can go around 3 miles on a good day and I started to approach him thinking he was friendly and was going to talk. He immediately revved away from me and got all sketch so I backed up. He took his phone out and started looking for my address obviously. I said my address is XYZ, I'm not doing anything illegal. He was recording me and said so are you recording people? You ar huh? And then took off. This was around 8:30pm.

I literally flew straight down my street block. I live on a hill/mountain so I have an excellent view and clear line of sight. I probably didn't get much more than 1/2 mile away. I live in a community that basically backs up to a wash and wide open desert but have to pass a few houses to get ther, so I really don't fly over any houses and when I rarely do its at about 350' and long enough to fly over.

At about 10:30pm I get a knock on the door which wakes my 2 and 4 year old kids up. It was the police. Dude called 911 and reported me. The cop was pretty cool and said he had to just take my information down and give me a warning. He said it would be best not to fly around there again because if they got called back, they would have to wrte me up for disorderly conduct and it would be up to the prosecutor if they wanted to pursue it. I told him that it's just a case of his word against mine, what if the guy just starts calling. Also, how is he or even you going to be abl to identify a small object 300+ feet in the sky moving 20+ mph as mine?

The guy claimed I was hovering over his house for 5 minutes taking pictures and video at 50' above his house. Mind you, my entire flight was not even 10 minutes, I did zero hovering, I never hover over houses, and I wasn't even cording that flight.

I can't believe I was told if they get called again I am getting a ticket.

This thread already was on the 3rd page by the time I got to it here. I just want to post say that the Law has been at my house 4 times...all last year. I finally found out who was calling. But before I did know who it was, I did a few things that made a difference in the eyes of the Law anyhow.

The 1st thing I did was, on the 1st visit by the Law they ask me if my name was Frank which I replied Yes. Next thing they asked if I owned a drone which I replied Yes. They then asked if I was flying it over the neighborhood in the past 90 minutes. I replied by why are you asking or what is actually going on? He said someone complained that a drone had been flying over their house. Now...it was me of course, but I did was I when he asked again was I flying I said...What color was the drone they saw because there is several others in this area that fly. He said he didn't know the color nor was it mentioned to him. I said go ask them, and that mine was red. I hang on a second and I'll show you. I walked over and grabbed my r/c helicopter and it's controller and held it up from around 20ft away from him. He came back from visiting again and said the people said it was White and I told them I just saw your drone and it was red. I said well...goes to show you some people just don't know what they're talking about. So that was my 1st visit.

I went to one of those dollar stores and bought different color contact paper which people usually use it for putting in the bottom of their kitchen shelves. It is just like decal or sticker type paper. So I use this to put on my A/C to make it look different from one day to the next.

My post will be too long to include all the details with the Law which is why I'm just posting what it was I did in case anyone else want some ideas.

The last thing I did after seeing these people cooking on their grill in their backyard was, I call a guy I knew that also owned a drone and also his son and had them fly over this guys house while I was doing nothing in my backyard. Needless to say these people no longer complain about my flying anymore.

 

[GeoffJ]

"There is no value in talking to the cops in this situation in my opinion. I'm not a cop hater, my brother is a sheriff. But coming to your house at 10:30 and waking your kids up. Naw, come back with a warrant and we can talk in the presence of my lawyer, have a great night officer. You have nothing to gain by talking to that cop, and potentially a lot to lose. "

I can't believe this ...
1. It's the cop who decides whether to take it further, be friendly to him, and show him your proof. He looks bad if you can disprove the claim and he still books you.

2. How much is engaging a lawyer going to cost you? Probably as much as your drone cost if it goes any further.

3. Don't be defensive, get on the front foot and try to nip it in the bud. Be helpful to the cops, get them on your side. It's the most cost effective and cleanest way through this.

 

[m0j0]

I am a LEO. That said I would not have said a word to anyone about the flight. 1030 pm... Really.. You are here to talk about an alleged drone flight...Lol. Good night officer.


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Chris0137]

As a 27 year law enforcement veteran this is my opinion. The most annoying calls we receive are (1) domestic disturbances (2) neighborhood disputes. Yes we are obligated by law to investigate a compliant no matter how we may personally feel about the call for service which includes “His dog **** in my yard”. Yes we have a right and obligation to come to your house if a complaint is filed no matter what time of the day or night.

If YOU were the complainant you would expect the same service as a “taxpayer”. I can promise you he only wants to find a peaceful resolution to the problem so he can go back to chasing meth heads robbing the local Quick Mart. The charge of “disorderly conduct” is definitely a "catch all" charge usually made when someone simply won’t shut their pie hole and move on with their life. The charge is more often disorderly intoxication (Beer muscles).

In your situation the only possible charge would be breach of peace based on the noise and NOT a privacy issue, it would be treated the same as a loud music complaint. Currently the police have no way to determine a “breach of privacy” unless you are flying it in their bathroom. In order to make a case of breach of peace he/she would need more documentation like other calls from other neighbors. If the same tool neighbor continues to complain in order to shut him up they could submit paperwork to the local state attorney (DA) and request a warrant be issued and let a judge decide if there was a breach of peace. This is more paperwork than the officer wants or needs, he simply hopes you will pick a better flight path and time of day because the METH HEADS need his attention and believe me he doesn’t want to be at your house scaring you kids. The WORST thing you can do is get an attitude and tell him/her to take two feel good pills and talk to your attorney in the morning. That would encourage ME to do the extra paperwork. Good luck and good flying.

 

[DRR]

Sorry this happened to you. Im sure the guy needs recalibrating how much 50ft is? Especially if you flew at night. People look like ants once you get above like 80 ft. and again, it was at night.

Its illegal to fly at night most parts of the world. Maybe thats what his complaint is about.

 

[Jeremiah Nelson]

I'm sorry but at the end of the day I actually think you did the wrong thing by flying over or near "anyone's" house. Had your drone/quad/UAV lost power then you have a heavy object at speed hurtling towards person and property? If you put the recording issue aside, what would have happened if you lost a prop and then your phantom fell out the sky and smashed a 4 year old little girl in the face leaving her with facial scars? Come on pilots if we want the law to be on our side we have to think of "safety first and always". This means never operating your UAV anywhere near person or property. Here in Australia the law requires us to stay 30 meters away from all person or property and includes no flying over cars / car parks / buildings. Would you like it if your child wore a UAV in the face? You even admit that you had not flown it in a while, what on earth were you thinking flying a UAV that had not been operated in some time, so it's effectively a "test flight" where any number of things could go wrong, over houses with people in them? I think you got off light with just a warning myself. Always do your test flights I am area where your UAV and others/and others property won't be damaged or hurt in the case of a failure. Once you know your good then fly where ever you want, but keep away from where there are people, unless they have otherwise given you consent (and are aware your doing it). Honestly this is the exact type of thing that will get UAV operation taken away from the hobbist and it will be back to RC cars after that. Rant end....

Actually your paranoia and over the top hypothetical rhetoric is what's devastating to the hobby. The op did nothing wrong here.

 

[HawkeyeImaging]

I'm sorry but at the end of the day I actually think you did the wrong thing by flying over or near "anyone's" house. Had your drone/quad/UAV lost power then you have a heavy object at speed hurtling towards person and property? If you put the recording issue aside, what would have happened if you lost a prop and then your phantom fell out the sky and smashed a 4 year old little girl in the face leaving her with facial scars? Come on pilots if we want the law to be on our side we have to think of "safety first and always". This means never operating your UAV anywhere near person or property. Here in Australia the law requires us to stay 30 meters away from all person or property and includes no flying over cars / car parks / buildings. Would you like it if your child wore a UAV in the face? You even admit that you had not flown it in a while, what on earth were you thinking flying a UAV that had not been operated in some time, so it's effectively a "test flight" where any number of things could go wrong, over houses with people in them? I think you got off light with just a warning myself. Always do your test flights I am area where your UAV and others/and others property won't be damaged or hurt in the case of a failure. Once you know your good then fly where ever you want, but keep away from where there are people, unless they have otherwise given you consent (and are aware your doing it). Honestly this is the exact type of thing that will get UAV operation taken away from the hobbist and it will be back to RC cars after that. Rant end....

I don't know how it works down under...but here in the States people use their drones for business purposes a lot of times! Which means flying over or very near buildings...sometimes within feet to get a shot!! Flying over houses with people in them? So is it safer if they are standing outside? That statement is so pointless you should be banned from commenting on here!