Your Opinion Of This Police Harassment Of Drone Pilot:

[MikeK]

My impression of what happened here is the private security staff of a breeding farm for research animals called upon the New York State Police to investigate the flight of a drone over the farm's property -- and the police complied.

I believe the police were as wrong as two left feet in this example. What is your opinion?

 

[ServiceCall]

Well I watched the whole video and in my opinion, you did this to yourselves.

They just wanted to ID you. No one knows wether that drone had a bomb or not.

I believe had you guys not acted like a**es you could have been going home in 10 minutes, but you decided to cause issues, so you got what you deserved. IMO!


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[ryantrax]

I understand why they didn't want to give up their names knowing they were investigating a puppy mill, but I'm always compliant with Police and show them respect, they normally reciprocate if you aren't doing anything wrong.

 

[tcope]

They just wanted to ID you. No one knows wether that drone had a bomb or not.

It's not the posters video, the poster is only linking to it.

In the US you cannot be detained unless you are the suspect in a crime. No crime and you can't be a suspect. The police can _ask_ for ID (which they usually do, as a "request") but you are not obligated to produce ID upon something that is just a request. The police attempt to hide this legal right by not explaining this and making it _sound_ like you have to show ID. When/If that request fails some (bad) law enforcement agencies will then start making up illegal reason's to obtain your ID, which is appears that they are doing in this case.

But we are getting off topic.

I saw this video yesterday. It's not really about drone flying. It's more about property owners and an animal rights organization not getting along and the property owner wanting the group stopped for "questioning".

I believe had you guys not acted like a**es you could have been going home in 10 minutes, but you decided to cause issues, so you got what you deserved. IMO!

Sure, anyone can feel free to give up their constitutional rights in order to avoid an illegal detention. However, this only serves to erode ones legal rights and leads to further abuses. If someone is allowed to get away with something they will probably continue to do the same thing. Some people get pulled over based on the color of their skin. Should these people stop behaving like "jerks" and just allow it to continue in order to get on their way more quickly?

What those people actually "deserved" (that is a light term, as it's actually guaranteed in the US Consitution) is free travel within the US.

With that said, I think this _might_ have been a tough call for the police. Even the police admitted that they did not know if what was being done was illegal. They needed to investigate and make that determination. You could make the argument that they are required to know the laws before they detain someone but it's not always a perfect world. I could see them being detained for 20 minutes or so... but it was something like 40 minutes? The question is if the police were doing this to harras the animal activists on behalf of the property owner or not. [/QUOTE]

 

[tcope]

I understand why they didn't want to give up their names knowing they were investigating a puppy mill, but I'm always compliant with Police and show them respect, they normally reciprocate if you aren't doing anything wrong.

I think the SHARK people were very professional. He got a bit heated at the end but come on... being detained for a hour or so when the police even admit that they don't know if a crime was committed. I'm not agreeing with the SHARK organization but they have shown in prior videos where they get harassed by local law enforcement in order to help the local people.

 

[ServiceCall]

I'm still of the thought, that it was a simple request to provide the officers ID. Had they done that and informed the police of their actions, it would have been over a lot sooner.

This video shows how far drone flying "has" to go.

The video shows them hiding simple, silly info as if their lives depended on it.

I think the police did what they had to do.


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[Kirby Johnson]

Oh come on. Local Barney Fifes make it up as they go along if they don't have anything concrete.

It has become common to cite someone as failure to fart properly rather than violation of statute xx.yyy or some actual law. We sheep are letting them get away with it because most of the Americans are chicken and terrified of the Popo these days. Ever notice the popo are more aggressive giving a ticket for a seat belt or 10 over the limit than chasing down some thug who might actually whip their wormy a** or shoot them? Your mileage may vary

 

[Tymonstuff]

Whilst it seems clear that many of the points made by the police were unjustified, I can't help but think that this whole attitude of noncooperation is the reason for growing disparities between the police and a common citizen. Would the end result have been any different if they decided to provide ID on the first instance? A policeman has to make so many judgement calls and their aim isn't to look for trouble but to diffuse a situation to the best of their ability and as lawfully as possible. I don't care what theyre trying to film - I don't think I'd like it very much if someone was flying a drone on my property and the people fighting against the officers had an attitude of defiance more than attempting to co-operate with the cops.

If they just gave their ID, described what they were doing as the police wanted and moved on then there would be less drama.
I think a lack of co-operation and a mix of improper training is the reason for some of the troubles with cops in the America (at least the ones I hear on the news). Laws regarding drones should be trained into cops or be easily accessible if the cops are unsure.

 

[graybeard]

some people go looking for trouble, they went looking for it and they found it! whats the problem?

 

[blueh32006@gmail]

The sooner you give up your rights the sooner we will have a Police state written by a retired law enforcement officer.,[emoji3]

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[WillZX14R]

I saw this video before running into this thread and if I were the driver, I would've just shown him my driver's license and that's it. I would've not wasted 1 plus hour going back and forth with them.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

This is a neighboring county local to me and I am shocked and appalled at the treatment given to law abiding US citizens by the Wayne County & NY State Troopers. The town of Lyons had given up it's local police force a few years ago. This is a typical tactic of lying to the person to get what they want illegal or not.

Follow up -

 

[jakobe75]

How many drone bombs have been discovered by the police "investigating" folks when they are flying? 10,20....a few hundred? You would think that this type of thing would would be on the news more often if it were so common to expect a drone to be a bomb

"Police bust ANOTHER drone bomber tonight at 11"

 

[LuvMyTJ]

Well I watched the whole video and in my opinion, you did this to yourselves.

They just wanted to ID you. No one knows wether that drone had a bomb or not.

I believe had you guys not acted like a**es you could have been going home in 10 minutes, but you decided to cause issues, so you got what you deserved. IMO!


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The point of their stance was that they did nothing wrong and there was no legal basis for the stop. If everyone just "rolled over" some law enforcement would be sure to abuse their power, just like in this case. There was FAA info given to all law enforcement last year - https://www.faa.gov/uas/resources/law_enforcement/ I guess Wayne County and the Troopers can't be bothered to read the rules and how to handle drone interaction. That county has a bit of a reputation for this type of behavior.

 

[Air Ontario]

He was originally stopped for suspicion. He had been accused of filming in a secured area(had guards for some reason). So he was stopped operating a MV. He is required to present drivers license and whatever else is required in that state while operating a MV.

Operate a MV and refuse to comply, you will be arrested and taken into custody, your car search or "inventoried" to protect the Dept. from false casualty claims and towed.

Play stupid games and you will when stupid prizes EVERY time.

What an azzhat he was, I couldn't even finish the video. He set the video up to be confrontational deliberately. He gives drone operators a bad name.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

He was originally stopped for suspicion. He had been accused of filming in a secured area(had guards for some reason). So he was stopped operating a MV. He is required to present drivers license and whatever else is required in that state while operating a MV.

Operate a MV and refuse to comply, you will be arrested and taken into custody, your car search or "inventoried" to protect the Dept. from false casualty claims and towed.

Play stupid games and you will when stupid prizes EVERY time.

What an azzhat he was, I couldn't even finish the video. He set the video up to be confrontational deliberately. He gives drone operators a bad name.

On the contrary, this makes the law enforcement look like goons. I am pro-LEO but these guys take the cake. They stopped him for no reason. Should the NYS Troopers stop you if I call and say some guy looked at my house then drove on? How about the confirmed law breaker, the guy using the cell phone while driving, that is an actual law in NY, nothing was done in that aspect even though these LEO's were so bent on enforcing laws. By the way, what "secured area" on private property in the USA has a NFZ attached to it? Were not talking about a stadium, prison, power plant, etc.

I will say the NYS Trooper was the most professional of them all, the Wayne county cops were some smug mugs. Laughing about the situation and very unprofessional.

Answer me this... Should I expect to get stopped every time I leave the local park?

 

[elarryland]

It should not even have gotten to the point of pulling someone over, The police should have told the 911 caller that no crime had been committed so they would not be pulling over no one or investigating.


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[MikeK]

It's not the posters video, the poster is only linking to it.

In the US you cannot be detained unless you are the suspect in a crime. No crime and you can't be a suspect. The police can _ask_ for ID (which they usually do, as a "request") but you are not obligated to produce ID upon something that is just a request. The police attempt to hide this legal right by not explaining this and making it _sound_ like you have to show ID. When/If that request fails some (bad) law enforcement agencies will then start making up illegal reason's to obtain your ID, which is appears that they are doing in this case.

But we are getting off topic.

I saw this video yesterday. It's not really about drone flying. It's more about property owners and an animal rights organization not getting along and the property owner wanting the group stopped for "questioning".

Sure, anyone can feel free to give up their constitutional rights in order to avoid an illegal detention. However, this only serves to erode ones legal rights and leads to further abuses. If someone is allowed to get away with something they will probably continue to do the same thing. Some people get pulled over based on the color of their skin. Should these people stop behaving like "jerks" and just allow it to continue in order to get on their way more quickly?

What those people actually "deserved" (that is a light term, as it's actually guaranteed in the US Consitution) is free travel within the US.

With that said, I think this _might_ have been a tough call for the police. Even the police admitted that they did not know if what was being done was illegal. They needed to investigate and make that determination. You could make the argument that they are required to know the laws before they detain someone but it's not always a perfect world. I could see them being detained for 20 minutes or so... but it was something like 40 minutes? The question is if the police were doing this to harras the animal activists on behalf of the property owner or not.

Well said -- and thank you for the clarifying comments.

What pushed my button when I found this video on YouTube is the fact that the breeding farm's PRIVATE security staff enlisted the service of the state police to investigate persons who had done nothing identifiably unlawful.

If the police had simply asked those people if they had been flying a drone, and then asked for their registration documentation that would be one thing, but they didn't. They came right out and said they were "investigating" those people because the PRIVATE security staff of the farm asked them to. Is that any different from those people asking the trooper to investigate the farm?

Anyway, thanks for the intelligent assessment.

 

[MikeK]

It should not even have gotten to the point of pulling someone over, The police should have told the 911 caller that no crime had been committed so they would not be pulling over no one or investigating.


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Thank you! That's it in a nutshell.

 

[MikeK]

On the contrary, this makes the law enforcement look like goons. I am pro-LEO but these guys take the cake. They stopped him for no reason. Should the NYS Troopers stop you if I call and say some guy looked at my house then drove on? How about the confirmed law breaker, the guy using the cell phone while driving, that is an actual law in NY, nothing was done in that aspect even though these LEO's were so bent on enforcing laws. By the way, what "secured area" on private property in the USA has a NFZ attached to it? Were not talking about a stadium, prison, power plant, etc.

I will say the NYS Trooper was the most professional of them all, the Wayne county cops were some smug mugs. Laughing about the situation and very unprofessional.

Answer me this... Should I expect to get stopped every time I leave the local park?

Well said!