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Have you ever been caught exploring by police, property owners, etc?
It was another typical summer night here in Minneapolis. A few buddies and I felt like exploring an old mill that was under renovation. This happened to be our first time exploring a "real" site. We park a few blocks away and walk around the perimeter looking for possible entrances through a fence. We find a gap in the fence and quickly squeeze through. We slowly start creeping through the darkness alongside the building. All of sudden I catch something out of the corner of my eye....Shit! A Minneapolis squad car was driving by going very slow. I knew this was it. We crouch down and immediately began debating whether to run or turn ourselves in. One friend decides to take off into the building as the rest of us stand up and begin walking back towards the fence. "GET THE FUCK ON THE GROUND NOW!" We drop to the ground. I glance up and see a Glock pointing directly at my face, damn. The officer immediately radios for backup and at that instant I hear sirens in the distance. Three more officers arrive. We crawl under the fence and are searched and separated. Upon being ID'd and questioned, the officers decide to let us go and give us a warning. Luckily we covered for our other buddy and tell the cops that it was only us. We are escorted back to our car and politely told to get the fuck out of there. We meet up with our fugitive friend and call it a night. Did this stop us from exploring later? Hell no.
Post your stories below!
Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit. | |
For informational purposes, you'll find lots of links to similar threads here, under the "Legal issues / Getting caught" heading:
http://www.uer.ca/...=1&threadid=118368
Not that there's anything wrong with having another! 
"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." -Dr. Suess | |
Early on in my exploring "career", my brother and i were checking out an old resort on the lake that we used to visit with our family when we were youngens. We were just walking around the outside, taking photos and climbing stuff. We hadn't even made it inside yet. No big deal.
After looking around and not finding a P.O.E., we began leaving the way we came, but there was a red SUV parked on the path. We decided to take another route, but the SUV then drove to that path. This went on for a little while, and after hiding behind some bushes for a bit and making a break for it, we finally made it out and began walking down the street, back to our car.
We almost made it, but nope. Little did we know, the owner also owned the marina next door, and he saw us on the property. A squad car pulled up as we were walking, and the officer had us sit on the curb while he ran our licenses. He let us know that the red SUV was the owner, and the owner was rather angry that we were trespassing. We explained there were no "no trespassing" signs and we didn't know we were doing anything wrong; only taking photos and checking out the resort we had visited as kids, blah blah. The officer was pretty cool about it and agreed, saying he didn't understand the big deal and we were obviously just taking photos.. BUT the owner wanted to press charges. What a dick. The owner even told the officer to let us know that if we wanted to come back and take photos, to ask for permission first, and it would be perfectly fine. How nice of him.
Well, i ended up going to court and talking our way out of the fines, thankfully. So, that's good, at least. I even tried getting permission for the resort on two separate occasions, but the owner said no both times. Douche.
This was my first (but not my last) time getting in trouble while exploring.
[last edit 4/6/2015 1:29 AM by relik - edited 2 times]
"When it rains, just find bigger drains." | |
Posted by Wooly
Have you ever been caught exploring by police, property owners, etc?
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Was it your friend who "made a run for it" who got you all in trouble?
Sucks to be you, LOL
Rise before Zod
Kneel before Zod
www.mycophagia.com | |
Does that ski resort start with a T and end with a K? Someone I know was just there about a month ago and got run down by the sheriffs and got a fat trespassing ticket. The pictures he has of the trip look unreal though. So much land to explore.
Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit. | |
Met Gary's finest a couple of times in the same day.
The first one (literally reminded me of Carl J. Winslow) had never dealt with photogs before and was really cool about the whole thing, even gave us a police escort halfway across town (before realizing his lights were still on) to Miller Beach - it had just been rehabbed and he suggested it was a good place to take pics (it was). Crossed paths with him again a few months later, we just waved and kept walking.
The second one's wife happened to also be a photog, so he off the bat started listing spots we should check out (but we had already been through). He didn't give a shit about what we were doing - just about our car being parked near what looked like a bank but was actually a greasy strip club.
I also got caught at Dixie Square once, trying to park my car on the site of the demolished Woolworth. Cop was sitting at the Harvey FD. I was sweeping for nails/tire hazards when he rolled up. Got frisked and the usual Q&A - once he saw the camera though he lit up a smoke and we BS'ed for a few minutes before parting. Told him I would only be there an hour but he never came back within the eight-hours I was there that day.
[last edit 4/6/2015 9:59 AM by jonrev - edited 2 times]
[jonrevProjects] | Flickr flicks
Founder: Belvidere Cinema Gallery - Waukegan, IL | |
Always have wanted to explore good ole' Scary Gary!
Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit. | |
I've been caught at a few places, usually I can talk my way out of stuff pretty well. Only once was I actually worried. A cop parked by our car when we were at a sanatorium that people didn't know of at the time, which meant no cops were ever around. We popped out of the woods, and he was parked in a perfect spot so I didn't see him until I was sure we were out safe. Then he flew up and said he had been sitting there for over an hour, what could we have possibly been doing? He even threatened to take us to jail. After about a half hour of us dodging questions and keeping our nerve, he let us go. Thank god, if I got a ticket at this place I would probably give up exploring. It was a moldy shithole.
[last edit 4/6/2015 3:57 PM by EsseXploreR - edited 1 times]
https://www.flickr...62837453@N07/sets/
http://www.tfpnj.blogspot.com | |
Posted by Wooly
Does that ski resort start with a T and end with a K? Someone I know was just there about a month ago and got run down by the sheriffs and got a fat trespassing ticket. The pictures he has of the trip look unreal though. So much land to explore.
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No, it wasn't a ski resort. If you are talking about one in Wisconsin, i believe i know which one you are talking about, but i haven't been there yet.
"When it rains, just find bigger drains." | |
Wooly, you seem like a nice enough kid. Have you been to the rookie board? I'm asking because you will find many more active threads and more people willing to participate there. And I still go there because no matter how long you've done this there is always more to learn. Both the threads you have posted here would have been a wee more appropriate there. This is as nice as I can be. Ask around, I'm generally a dick.
Ezekiel 25:17 | |
Yes. Fuck bikes.
Oh good, my slow clap processor made it into this thing.
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Posted by Harvestman
Yes. Fuck bikes.
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Bikes are fine. Bikes chained to the front door of an abandonment? Houston, we have a problem.
Apart from that, yes, I've been caught. It's the risk one must accept. When I've been caught it's usually (but not always) thanks to folks I was exploring with. And more often than not, we've just been asked to leave.
they call me the hyacinth girl | |
I actually had a run in quite recently. Near my house are some traintracks which my friends and I basically have been walking on for years. Anyway, I was out there taking pictures of trains a couple of days ago just for the hell of it when I see some dude following me. He starts yelling some shit at me and I stop to see whats up. He then informs me he is part of the "csx police." Oh boy. Basically, after that he spent 20 minutes talking to me about how there was some graffiti issue that he was "investigating," and happened to see me. Now that I think about it, I probably should have just walked off and ignored him because I'm still not really sure if he was actually a cop, but in the end nothing happened and I was let off with a warning.
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Yeah those railroad "cops" are known to give people trouble. I've been walking down some tracks in my city too and had some bull pull up in a truck and tell me I'm trespassing and to get off their property.
Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit. | |
Posted by Harvestman
Yes. Fuck bikes.
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Although i would like to, i can't really count that situation as getting caught.. I know you guys went through some b.s. that day, but i think sitting with you guys and dealing with the po' would've been a better time than hiding under those stairs in the damn freezing cold for over an hour! Heh. Good times.
"When it rains, just find bigger drains." | |
Been caught a few times, although not for a while...the last time I was caught by actual on-site security was at a cement works at the beginning of 2011.
I find as long as you are nice to them they will be nice to you, they are only doing their job after all.
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I'm pretty new to exploring and don't have any exciting tales of being caught in buildings, but I have had a similar experience to Trackrunner's. Several years ago, I was riding my bike down a paved road through an active train yard, just taking in the sights, and I noticed a van really far away driving towards me. The driver never really told me who he was, but he clearly worked in the yard. There was no yelling or scolding involved; he basically told me that teenagers had been "pissing on the train cars" in the night, and he had been on the lookout for trouble. He then said that I didn't look like the type who would do that (I guess I looked innocent, being a dorky 13-year-old on a 10-speed), told me to be careful, and drove back down the road. I've been back since without any trouble, but it was definitely an interesting encounter.
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Trackrunner you are a dumb-ass if you had walked away you would probably have found yourself face down in the dirt with a new pare of silver bracelets. Railroad Police ARE REAL COPS, GUNS AND ALL. Let me repeat that (THEY ARE POLICE NOT SECURITY GUARDS) treat them as such or you could end up on the wrong end of the law.
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Well good thing I did what I did lol, there seems to be a fine line between police and rent a cops
[last edit 4/10/2015 4:12 AM by Trackrunner - edited 1 times]
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If you explore it
They will come.
The Urbex Zine Guy
https://www.cavecl...wtopic.php?t=12259
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