I knew about all this but....here's what happened to me. Three of us were exploring an abandoned power station. We got there early; about 5:30 on a Saturday morning. The power station used to be owned by the government but it sold to a private company. By the time we got to the top floor (a long walk up many many many flights of spiraling metal stairs) at around 7AM that Saturday, we heard others inside the plant. We figured it was other explorers. My buddy went up to them to say "Hello" but when he got close enough he realized they were workers and not explorers because they wore those yellow hard-hats. Still, it was wierd to have a work crew there on a Saturday, so we thought they might be some clever copper thieves or something. As the rising sun began illuminating the incredible industrial interior, we made our way back down to the first floor to begin a full day of shooting. When we got to the first floor we heard even more workers. A generator was turned on and a set of floodlights in the center of the plant started to get brighter and brighter. We turned around and proceeded to head in the opposite direction of where the workers were standing. They started yelling and screaming and came running after us. We were decked out in full asbestos proof body suits and respirators and were carrying long metal tubes (tripods), so it really freaked them out. My two fellow two explorers that were with me had stashed some gear in a room and had to go get it before we could leave the plant. While they were collecting their gear, the workers especially the crew leader was causing a big commotion and yelling in a very heavy Spanish accent "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" - I am an artist, I'm taking pictures -I replied. - I'M CALLING THE POLICE! DON"T GO ANYWHERE! THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY! WE HAVE MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF EQUIPMENT HERE! -the crew leader kept yelling. - We don't want any trouble. We are leaving. -I said and proceeded to walk outside the plant with my fellow explorers right behind me and a couple of the workers running ahead of me to prevent us from leaving. One of my buddies is fluent in Italian and very good in Spanish, so he was trying to compromise with the chief, but to no avail. This worker was just freaking out like he never seen anything like this before. He was almost becoming physical. That's when my buddy yelled at him in Spanish that if he lays a hand on any of us he is going to regret it. Trust me, when my buddy says that, he means it (Sicilian background and connections). None of the workers spoke any english and kept asking "Why you take pictures? Of what?" They just couldn't understand why anyone would be taking pictures of old machinery. THe funny thing was that the workers were outfitted just like us, body suits, respirators, the whole bit. For a minute I thought this whole thing might be a very elaborate prank perhaps. But no, if we should have been so lucky. Once we were outside, the security guard from the lot next to the power plant showed up in a truck. He came out of his truck and said if we cross the fence to his side, which is an active site, he will call the police and we'll be charged with Terrorism and will spend at least 2 weeks in jail. Shit like that makes you cringe. We didn't have to cross the fence to his side though. Our entry point was another way along the fence and would not involve us crossing to the active side, but we didn't want to give away the spot we came in from, so we ended up just standing there like a bunch of idiots. What we should have done at this point is just leave exactly the way we came in and who cares about them finding out how we got in. We didn't, we stood there and pleaded with the crew leader to let us go. WE knew our rights. We knew that they had no right to detain us. We knew that if they use physical force, we could charge them with assault but we still thought they would understand and let us go. He (the crew leader) didn't understand, he called the Police. We waited and smoked cigarettes. Then the security guard from across the fence got back in his truck and drove away after warning us to not run away and just tell the cops what happened when they get here. This was our opportunity again to make a run for it, but the next moment two police cruisers showed up. They asked us a bunch of questions, just the usual. Upon realizing we are harmless explorers just taking pictures they wanted to let us go. When they were about to let us go the crew leader who's name is "Oscar" by the way, was on the phone with his boss who was the one in charge of the plant. Oscar then tells the police officers that his boss wants to press charges. This actually really annoyed the cops, it was obvious they had better things to do and this was just a nuisance to them. Now that the person in charge of the plant wanted to press charges and we WERE on Private Property, the cops had no choice. The Police Supervisor cruiser pulls in at this point. This was getting really ridiculous, 3 cruisers for 3 harmless explorers. The supervisor made us all open our bags and inspected our cameras and took a look at our pictures on our cards. He gave one of us shit for not taking good enough care of the camera. At this point the police supervisor motioned to one of the cops and he came over and put handcuffs on my buddy. I was next, and then the 3d explorer. I was thrown into the back of the cruiser and man were those handcuffs frigin tight, and theres no space for your knees. The cop told me not to worry, the worst thing that will happen is we'll get a Trespassing ticket. On the way to the station the cop scanned through some radio channels and to my surprise he settled on SlipKnot. He was chatting with me, trying to feel me out. I gave him the truth and answered all his questions to his satisfaction. Once at the police station I was searched again, not all the way though. I was permitted to keep my long-johns and T-shirt on and then was thrown into the Bull Pen. After about an hour or two of eternity, one of the cops came to get me and took me upstairs to be interviewd by a couple of detectives. The 2 detectives were very cool people. Friendly kind, treated me like a buddy having drinks at a bar or something(one of them actually asked me if he could get me a drink) I knew he meant water but I asked if they got some Crown Royal, and that made them laugh. I was completely honest with them. Nothing to hide really (well accept a little baggy, but that's another story). We are explorers and we take pictures. We are not terrorists nor are we environmentalists. I gave them my website address and they spent a good half hour going through my pictures. I was thinking "Great, now I gave them evidence of my previous trespassing activities. Killing my self with my own ammo." To my surprise though, the cops LIKED my photos, especially the artistic nudes ones (I do all sorts of photography). They told me I have some great work and advised me to next time ask for permission from the owner if I want to take pictures on private property. I was then let go with a $65 ticket. I met my two buddies outside the station where we jokingly started devising a plan to get back at Oscar. We were happy though that all our gear was returned and we got off with only a ticket but very annoyed at Oscar who could have just let us go. One of the cops took off with my buddy's car keys though and we had to wait for him to get back. He was cool about it though, we knew he was the one who went to the car and searched it inside out. I was not sure if he was allowed to do that or not but we didn't really have anything to hide. So yeah, the cops didn't care about my other pictures on my site where I was obviously trespassing, they just wanted to make sure that we are not terrorists or disgruntled environmentalists or something. So even if one knows all the rules and rights, shit can still happen, and people can act stupid in the heat of the moment. All in all it was quite an adventure though and a great learning experience well worth the $65. [last edit 2/17/2007 3:31 PM by Ride My Pony - edited 3 times]
Cam, tripod, and lenses. Industrial Decay. Loosing all my senses, spending my holiday. Climbing over fences. To roam where no one may. |