Posted by blackhawk With cops each situation is different. Wait for them to ask and stay calm. It always serves the lawyers interest to remain silent, but not yours. If you aren't in cuffs the cop may simply be curious why you're there. Sometimes they even say go ahead and shoot but be careful or give you useful info. Cops respond positively most times when you report scrappers, vandals, or worse. I was given free run of Pennhurst by tagging a copper scrapper by the state police plus other obscure sites to explore. I had two FBI Agents stop by my house about 10 years ago unannounced. They asked me about a bunch of images I shot over 3 days in Chester. I showed them. Why not? I learned more from them than they did from me. If you are guilty the FBI will give you one chance to come clean, if you lie or stonewall them and it's something they're interested in, you are boned more than likely. The DEA is similar. Many times what they say is on the level. At a fair I was shooting had 3 local cops ask to see my images. They wouldn't say why. They looked and looked, finally the Lt looked, then talked to the fair president. The fair president was appalled they were hassling me. The fair has a photo contest every year. She told the Lt, 'Let him shoot all he likes!' Oh too funny, free rein to shoot the hell out of it and I did for many more fairs. Latter I learned latter from one of the fire police the cops got a complaint from the girl in a bikini in the dunking booth. She was a minor. Lol, I got a couple AF locks on her, but decided not to punch the shutter; not a good subject. No image... and that's what the cops were looking for. I find if you treat cops, people, and property with respect and integrity when shooting things tend to work out right. I've had more encounters with police and detectives with no lawyers and no arrests. One thing I can you tell about most leos is they really hate being lied to. Never lie when the truth would serve you better. If you must lie, do so by omission... and remain silent. Remember criminals come out at night;at night you're in for a harder time if spotted.

Wow. Don't trust this guy. He just admitted to being a snitch and cooperating with the FBI and police.

Posted by Gunner Trees Wow. Don't trust this guy. He just admitted to being a snitch and cooperating with the FBI and police.

Destroying others historic structures for profit is not exploring.

TL;DR Know your local laws

I agree with Blackhawk - we aren't fucking gang members. You can talk to the police if they want help stopping taggers, scrappers, and vandals. People who destroy the sites we explore are our enemies, not the people enforcing the law.

Of course, I wouldn't consider cops to be our friends, but really, people...

Posted by Pongo TL;DR Know your local laws I agree with Blackhawk - we aren't fucking gang members. You can talk to the police if they want help stopping taggers, scrappers, and vandals. People who destroy the sites we explore are our enemies, not the people enforcing the law. Of course, I wouldn't consider cops to be our friends, but really, people...

You do understand that to the cops and property owners, we are the same as scrappers, taggers and vandals, right?

Posted by Gunner Trees You do understand that to the cops and property owners, we are the same as scrappers, taggers and vandals, right?

Are you a vandal, a thief, or worse?
That scrapper committed a felony and some over $100G in irreparable damage. That's a lot more than defiant trespass.

How presumptuous of you to superimpose your skewed values and inept reasoning on me gunner tree.

Yeah, Gunner, I get that, which is why my last sentence was agreeing with the idea that cops aren't our friends. That being said, not all property owners or police are unreasonable people and there's a bigger issue at large.

Obviously there's a line to walk here. There's a difference between protecting history and being a dumbass or a nuisance to the exploring community. If someone is tagging the Damen Grain Silos, who cares? But if I can stop people from tearing apart Chicago's abandoned Synagogue, I probably will. That site stands a chance at being reused someday, it's historic, and it's beautiful. Maybe this is just the architect in me speaking, but to me... Seeing a historic site getting scrapped and not doing anything about it is akin to walking past the mouth of an alley after hearing a rape victim call for help.

Good discussion, guys. Let's try to keep things civil despite our clashing ideologies.

Dam that shit crazy