OK today i was out railfanning and a local cop drove up to me and asked me what i was doing so i had proof and i think i dumdfounded him and i said railfanning and he didnt understand so i said train watching. and i asked him why and he said that some people call in about someone doing something which he did not say to me. Note its in Clinton,MS and i been doing it sicne last year so what up is the people just stuipd or not educted enought. but in the end i caught two trains one east bound and west bound so it was this a good time. i railfan the KCS meraidain speedway in mississipp and if you would like to see some vids here is the link http://www.youtube.com/user/guitar446 Please tell me what u think thanks
I don’t think someone being unaware that taking pictures of trains is a hobby makes them stupid. Besides, I would check your spelling and grammar before you start calling the local boys in blue–who are just doing their jobs–stupid and uneducated.
Thanks to post-911 paranoia, the general public is spring-loaded to the suspicious position, and will call 911 (or the non-emergency police number) if they see someone walking around wearing an odd-colored shirt.
If the local law enforcement people DON’T investigate, it may turn out that the caller was a local news weenie looking for a story on police incompetence.
So a police officer didn’t recognize the word, “Railfan.” Big deal. Every activity has its own subset of specialized words, and only the people involved in that activity know them all. (Quick! What’s a skate? I can think of at least five noun definitions offhand, three of them involving things you wouldn’t want anywhere near your feet.)
I have been approached by law enforcement on several occasions when prowling around things that might be security sensitive. In all cases, I produced a little plastic card that quickly de-fused the situation from confrontation to friendly encounter. It’s called a DD form 2 (Retired), aka Military ID card.
Chuck [Msgt(ret) USAF]
I think it’s a little arrogant for the author of this piece to call other people stupid.
We are well on our way to becoming the least educated industrialized country on the planet.
With the constant fear mongering that has been going on in this country for the last ten years no one should be surprised when people call the police to investigate a person doing anything that seems unusual to them.
Comes with the territory these days. Considering that you were able to get and keep your videos, and apparently weren’t detained for any length of time or hauled down to the police station for more questioning and a background check, fingerprinting, etc. - I’d say you got off about as lightly as one could expect anymore. I forget the precise legal term for it - maybe “investigatory stop” ? - but many years ago the US Supreme Court said it was OK for a police officer to stop someone and ask them a few questions, without having enough formal ‘probable cause’ for a full search/ seizure or to arrest them - but the ‘contact’ couldn’t go too much further than that. This encounter seems to have complied with that concept.
Suggestions for future endeavors:
A. Carry a recent issue of Trains with you - preferably one with your subscription name and address on it - to show the uninformed that it’s a legitimate and serious hobby.
a little RESPECT goes a loooong way in this situation.Having talked to railroad an regular police officers they appreciate the extra eyes.
stay safe
Joe
It’s not just the last 10 years. People have always been getting called in as suspicious. After all, not many people understand the attraction of standing next to some tracks. They may even think it is someone contemplating suicide.
But would we rather have it the other extreme? Come home, find your home was broken into, and your lovely neighbors saw some guy sneaking around, but didn’t want to be nosey or want to bother calling the cops? That happens, too.
The original poster wasn’t arrested, he wasn’t shipped in an Automax car to Beech Grove, so I think all is ok. I don’t understand why some railfans go into “freak out mode” every time a cop asks someone what they are doing (usually in response to a call)?
I don’t have any complaint about the officer’s actions. Someone called and reported what they thought was suspicious activity. He responded, checked it out, and apparently found no reason to take any enforcement action. That is his job.
I just said that the OP should not be surprised that someone called. We in America are slowly sinking in a swamp of paranoia.
I don’t think it’s paranoia for someone to want to know what someone is doing standing along the tracks.
The cop did what he was supposed to do. The OP could well have been nailed for trespassing, among other things, depending on where he’s been. Maybe he’ll get paid a visit by the grammar police next[:-,]
Even working for the railroads, people get challenged (and here in Denver a BNSF Asst. Supt and a marketing bubba recently got pulled in for taking pictures around a refinery…) I politely respond to the challenges and go about my business, usually w/o delay…
I have bigger problems with people who have never seen GPS gear or a surveyor’s total station/level before and “want to get their picture taken”…knuckleheads[banghead]…anything with a lens is automatically a camera? The “deer in the headlight look” when you explain to them what you’re doing speaks volumes about the Dumbing of America.
[swg]
That problem - which seems endemic to those males under the age of about 20 and/ or IQ’s under about 60 - reminds me of what I heard was said to some guys to keep them from continually stepping into the light beams for a tamper/ liner and thus screwing up its operation:
“Keep doin’ that, and those rays will make you sterile !”
thanks Paul North i will keep that in mind and other thoughts sorry about my grammer and spelling no ones precff
Excuse me while I put on my grammar police hat…
Here’s how your last post should look:
Presentation is everything. If I came across your resume and it was written like what you’ve posted here it would get an immediate, one-way trip to the trash can. I don’t care how qualified you might be for the job.
Taking off my grammar police hat, now.
As everyone else has said - know the limits and respect them. Understand that people are nervous, and be glad your hobby isn’t watching airplanes at airports (which used to be a popular diversion…)
Last week in the newspaper was an item out of Burlington, Iowa. The city council narrowly passed an anti-loitering ordinance there. It’s now a misdemeanor to loiter on public sidewalks or public streets.
The article said public sentiment was running against such an ordinance. It also stated that enforcement was going to be left to the discretion of the police.
I doubt railfans waiting for trains on public property prompted Burlington to do this, but it could have ramifications for railfans. Especially if more localities pass ordinances like this.
Jeff
Absolute nonsense.
In my old neighborhood, calling the police for suspicious or unusual activity was the norm. And that dates back to the 1960’s. We could spot an outsider a mile away. More times than not, we did not need the police, a few adult males would easily chase off some neer-do-well without altercation.
To me, it is not fear mongering to want a quiet, safe community.
Also, I am a local, so anyone hanging out where they should not be, gets my attention right away. In the case of a rail-fan, be gracious, obey instructions, and go on your way if asked. No big hairy deal. I ask once, and then drop the dime. Especially at work.
absolute nonsense? no. over dramatic? yes. However, the United States is tends to rank in the lower half of any sort of statistical study.
WORLD EDUCATION RANKINGS
UNICEF rankings of educational systems in the world’s richest countries, indicating the percentage of 14 and 15 year olds scoring below a minimum level in literacy, math and science.
- South Korea 1.4 percent
- Japan 2.2
- Finland 4.4
- Canada 5
- Australia 6.2
- Austria 8.2
- Britain 9.4
- Ireland 10.2
- Sweden 10.8
- Czech Republic 12.2
- (tie) New Zealand 12.2
- France 12.6
- Switzerland 13
- Belgium 14
- (tie) Iceland 14
- Hungary 14.2
- (tie) Norway 14.2
18. United States 16.2
- Germany 17
- (tie) Denmark 17
- Spain 18.6
- Italy 20.2
- Greece 23.2
- Portugal 23.6
A suggestion: does your computer have a word processing program with a spell checker and a grammar checker? If you compose your posts on such a program, you can easily check the spelling of most words (there are some words that sound alike, but have quite different spellings and totally different meanings) and get some checking of the sentence structure (the composers of the grammar checking programs could use some instruction in the use of the passive voice and the use of intransitive verbs, and a few other matters, but the programs can still help). After composing, checking and making corrections, copy your post, paste it to the thread, and send it on.
I agree with the others…be polite to the police…answer their questions, and most likely you’ll be left alone. No sense in getting upset with the police…
Unfortunately George Orwell’s vision of the future as expressed in his book “1984” has come to pass…and Big Brother is always watching. I took a bus to visit my mom not long ago and decided to take a picture at the bus station… A uniformed security person quickly approached me and told me that I could not take pictures of a Greyhound bus… (the new buses contain technological advancements that might aid a terrorist I guess)… but there again that’s a sign of the times. And that’s especially true in small towns where everything is treated with suspicion (in my opinion small towns are small minded and mean and often petty…I like the big cities better for that reason)…neighbours know everything about each other and when you’re not from there you’re not treated as a guest but as an imposter and criminal.
It used to be innocent until proven guilty…and then it changed to guilty until proven innocent…and now its just guilty…if you’re standing on an Amtrak platform with a camera you had better be prepared to PROVE that you’re not the next underwear bomber… maybe we should get some pointers from the graffiti artists…these guys apparently never get caught in the act…yet you/me with a camera do.
This incident reminds me of a situation I was involved in about 35 years ago…I was railfanning the old Pennsy Buffalo-Harrisburg line in Emporium, PA. There’s no question about trespassing…I was standing on railroad property next to the old station in Emporium when a southbound freight pulled in. As the train came to a stop, the conductor swung down from the caboose, came up to me and asked me what I was doing…I told him I was taking pictures and then, as he breathed an obviously inebriated warning to “get the hell off the property or else I’ll use my 38 on ya…” I quickly retreated.
It scared the hell out of me, to be honest…I stopped railfanning for a while…I wonder if I could have made life interesting for that conductor if I’d turned him into Conrail’s police department…?.I was wrong, but it didn’t make sense to threaten me, in my estimation, when the most dangerous thing in my possession was a camera…
It’s a risk we all take as railfans…I have to think that young railfans are probably going to be the target of threats, etc. more than us “greyheads”…I can’t say that I’ve had any problems in recent years although I’m not frequenting trackside locations as much as I used to…