A tad pi$$ed off!!!!

[Dusty]

Guys, can a copper 'seize' finds you've found in a public park, road side, public foot path or picnic area?

Me and the other half were minding our business today plodding along with the detectors and the little lad (4) having a few hours out in the air when from nowhere the old bill turned up. I'm gonna cut a long on short because I'm so bloody annoyed  

We were in the picnic area sitting down for a sandwich and a cuppa when Starsky and Hutch came into the car park, allegedly they had been 'watching' us for some time and ask what we thought we were doing, it immediately it got my back up and said we were racing japanese pigeons pointing to the detectors (my fault, should have been nice) when one piped up and said under powers of section 123 of the never heard it before act they were going to seize all items found and asked up to open our finds bag. They noted the 5 coins, gave me a copy and said if they are not claimed within 1 month we can have them back. At this time the boy has started crying because he found a coin (1899) and wanted to take it to play school to show his friends and teacher.....

Both me and the other half are in stunned disbelief, Ive taken a day off work tomorrow to find out what its all about.

Talk about blood - boil!!!  

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

were they real police or pcso's?

[Pipster]

I know what your thinking 

[adesace]

Speak to the local press. Bang out of order..

[shunggav]

Hi dusty around my neck woods. Forest of dean the council are doing a licence  for park and council own land u might want contact ur local council.most Cops are  big headed  and the wanna be ones are just as bad.......give ur boy a hammie to go school with make his little heart go some......I now it not the same as his find but good start  to cheering him up

[geordiefred]

Hi Dusty  I have checked with a friend that worked for Avon and Somerset police until 2009, and he assures me there is no such thing as a section 123. You properly just p****d them off a bit m8 and they were on a power trip,on the receipt for the coins they gave you it should have their badge nos on it, he suggested you go to the police station and ask to know what a section 123 is, if the desk staff cannot tell you then demand to speak to the duty inspector.
best of luck m8

[outlaw]

When any of us are out detecting, and are confronted by police, if you can state you have permission to detect where you are, i cannot see a problem. Parks and designated picnic areas sound like council owned area's.

the other side of the coin forgive the pun  someone may have complained.

Leave it a month and see about getting the coins back with your receipt.

[Al.Thepastfinder, ( Alan )]

 i Guess because you got awkward with him   he thought'd he'd be awkward with you and apply the law,
 anything found that has been lost by the public i'm sure you have a legal obligation to report in case anybody claims it.

 he may not have been so bothered if you'd have been polite and helpfull towards him

 i think he may have been in his rights,  sorry
Alan

[Chef Geoff]

It Does sound like over zealous policing by a couple of really bored officers. There is no law (or bye law) that forbids detecting per se on public land although the two laws that are usually cited are:- section 1 of the theft act 1968 (intention to commit theft) or the more usual one is section 10 (?) of the criminal damage act 1971.

It can happen to anyone and everyone should remember that every piece of land belongs to someone and permission is needed to detect (and dig)on any land.
But as I have said it does just seem like over enthusiastic policing and as long as you had filled in any dug holes then nothing else will probably be heard about it.
A word of obvious advice from an ex-copper (although military) just smile touch your forelock and say "yes officer", humiliating it may be, but some are little Hitlers who just love to exercise their power.

[dances with badgers]

yes over the years i have found out the hard way that the yes sir ,no sir three bags full sir aproach is always best with the facsist bullyboy jumped up little hitler, allo allo whats going on ere then, uniform wearing,one rule for them and another for us b#st#rds .not that i'm bitter or anything,they are useless at their job so they have to hassle little kiddies in a park,w#nk#ers.                                      at the moment we are awaiting an outcome of a case against a local druggy and p#sshead who slashed the tyres on the mother-in-laws cars ,even though he cut himself in the process and the d.n.a result prove it was him he could be getting away with it because his lawyer has told him to say that he was beaten up and fell against the tyres,every tyre.what a fecked up justice system.the police will give you fine for a tail light which just blew 5 minutes ago but it took them 24 hours to send a forensics guy out when someone broke into our house.we told them who it was but they still couldnt get him

[rjm]

I wasn't there and can only surmise on things.

I wouldn't mind betting they were 'plastic police' (PCSO's) as they always go around in pairs
and like to think they're the real thing.

I doubt if Proper Police would have had the time to watch a family 'picnic' and then swoop
like starsky & crutch to harange 'tidy' people.

Personally, I'd be booking a meeting with the duty Inspector to make a complaint or if he/she
tried to fob me off I'd be contacting Standards Dept at Police HQ.

I think a phoncall to the local paper may get a local journalist rubbing their hands at a nice
story.

[dances with badgers]

yes get a local paper involved.plastic plod grrrrrrrr one step up from traffic warden on the fascist scale.the scale does like this jobcenter worker,car park attendant,shop security guard,traffic warden,plastic plod,headmaster,policeman,roit squad plod then hitler .if you can think of anyone i've left out feel free to ad them before the thought police swoop and kick ur door in for wearing the wrong colour underpants on a monday or farting within 100 yards of a library without a liscence.grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr b#st#rds

[Dusty]

Off down to the cop shop in a mo, they were PCSOs and I don't know the difference other than they are community police - a coppers a copper right?   

Perhaps I should have been a little more patient so my bad on that front but its the idea of yes sir no sir that winds me up, we both did absolutely nothing wrong, we did not start being shirty or awkward they did! We are probably one of the most considerate detectorists about in the sense that we are very careful to leave things as they were. And another thing, who on earth is going to stake a claim on a 1899 coin.... I can see it now, an old fella goes into a police station and says as a kid I lost this coin in 1905 can I have it back please, its just complete nonsense!

The section 123 of an act I never heard of was sarcastic!! It just seems we were targeted for nothing but enjoying a hobby..

[dances with badgers]

its a sad state of affairs but unfortunalty we are all going down the orwellian route as we fumble through the best part of our lives having to work in jobs we hate for just enough money to survive and pay for our houses so maybe oneday if the state doesnt  take them away in order to pay for nursing home care that we can leave them to our kids who will still have to pay a tax on them.welcome to the matrix my friend and the worse its going to get.

[rjm]

Off down to the cop shop in a mo, they were PCSOs and I don't know the difference other than they are community police - a coppers a copper right?   

Perhaps I should have been a little more patient so my bad on that front but its the idea of yes sir no sir that winds me up, we both did absolutely nothing wrong, we did not start being shirty or awkward they did! We are probably one of the most considerate detectorists about in the sense that we are very careful to leave things as they were. And another thing, who on earth is going to stake a claim on a 1899 coin.... I can see it now, an old fella goes into a police station and says as a kid I lost this coin in 1905 can I have it back please, its just complete nonsense!

The section 123 of an act I never heard of was sarcastic!! It just seems we were targeted for nothing but enjoying a hobby..

No. The Plastic Police are basically 'civilians' in a police looking uniform. They have no invested Powers of Arrest and are instructed not to get involved in any incident but to radio for POLICE attendance. They can issue fixed penalty
tickets for certain offences.

They go around in pairs (when a supervisior gets them out of the station!!!!) and just walk around, basically, talking between themselves and and anyone who wants to talk to them!

As they work in pairs The Police Authority may as well employ a Proper Policeman as that's what their wages would come too.

Plastic Police were something that were introduced under the previous Labour Government to save money. They aren't exactly cheap if they can't deal with much! As I say, you get what you pay for!

I'm sorry if anyone reading this is a PCSO but that's my feelings on it, and I know a lot of my family and friends things similar.

This incident shows me that they aren't up to the job illustrating a sketchy knowledge of the law and no common sense.