Discussion: enforcing the following rule

This past weekend, at a DVOA local event, New Jersey State Troopers reportedly tried to enforce the heretofor unenforced rule against following.
Read the eyewitness reports here- http://www.dvoa.org/people/eboard2/readtopic.php?t...

"I would have been 10 minutes fasters if the police didn't question me for so long". That's a new one!

;-)

That's bloody hilarious :) Shame the world is so suspicious though.

The lesson learned from this is probably that you shouldn´t be following women?

10 minutes? That's not bad considering the possible 'shoot first; ask questions later' mentality.
Officers: "That was a compass? It looked like a gun to me!
"Wearing that outfit I was sure he'd escaped from somewhere!"
"He was yelling something about looking for control!"
State Review Board: "OK. It was obviously a good kill."

Where is the like button when you need it.

"I'm just shadowing her."

Shades of the classic Diamond Hill A meet.

Don't think I've heard of such a bizarre orienteering-police interaction since the incident when the Goulburn police detained a carload of orienteers on 1999 Australian Championships weekend because they mistook bags of sports drink powder for drugs.

Sounds like Glen has a bit more coverage to imprint. And perhaps a phone call or two would be appropriate.

Did drugs exist back then?

Happened to me back in the 70ies while trying to keep up with Laila Stark along some park road on Long Island. But the Ranger was cool; as the world was at that time. Didn't take long since Laila stopped too and we jointly explained, maybe three mins. Concerned Citizen hadn't got the cell phone yet.

And drugs did exist, man!

At Diamond Hill, I and a couple of others got apprehended crossing a woods road right on the red line between controls. "Put your hands on the car!" Meet director bailed us out, eventually. He had forgotten to notify/ask permission from the neighbors, including the one whose house was on the map. I was crossing the driveway.

Although I'm not particularly a fan of bib numbers (and not that I especially think they're worthwhile for a local meet), I suspect they would have solved this problem.

I got bailed up while setting a course in 1984 for what became the (Aus) Xmas 5 Days because the two cops thought I had to be looking for dope plants.

Dope plants have been marked on at least one of our local maps.

Of the four maps I've fieldworked, the only one where I didn't find any dope was the map of my old school, and that proved to be only because they were better at hiding it (a hydroponic crop was found in a basement a few years later).

Takes on a new meaning of 'just following your nose'.

We could start a whole new thread on things found/seen in the woods while mapping ;-) Or make it a Family Feud question - "... Survey says?!"

1. Man-made objects (black X)
2. Pot plants
3. Trysting couples
4. Live (camouflaged) hunters
5. Dead bodies

An ex-eureka member got questioned at length by the police after being seen to show "too much" interest in the mines on Nerrina. Turns out a body had been found in one the week before.

Guess it shows how long I've been around that I can answer "all of the above" to Jason's list.

Orienteering is a sport in the World Police and Fire Games. I remember Mike Minium set a course for them when they were in Indianapolis. I've often thought we should do some outreach to police and fire departments, to expose them to orienteering. In 2015, they will be in Fairfax County, Virginia.

Once long ago our club ran the 212 mile "Southern Upland Way" as a 5-man relay. Descending into St. John's Town of Dalry at 2am (as you do), our headtorch lights on the hill disturbed the locals enough to call the cops. We picked up drinks and set off down the high street just as a jam sandwich disgorged its boys in blue. We cut down an alleyway out to the next hill aware of some commotion behind, which turned out to be the plods in pursuit, and our support crew chasing Dumfries' finest to "explain". Luckily, out support team did what a good support team should, and caught up with the police.

Good work. And lucky you that it wasn't trigger happy US cops!

The best orienteer - police interaction story I can recall goes back some 30+ years. A New England orienteer beat a traffic ticket issued when an officer saw him driving along the Mass Pike and reading something while he drove. Nowadays its called distracted driving. When NEOC member went before the judge he explained that as an orienteer he was trained to read maps on the run. Because of his training he was not distracted from his driving. Case dismissed.
(Apologies if I mistook any details)

Many of us recognize the orienteer in Gord's story.

If that was an Australian court, the culprit would likely get two fines - one for distracted driving and one for being a smart arse.

Many years ago, I think about 40, one o-meet was held at this place in Moscow.
http://maps.o-sport.ru/data_map/38.jpg
This guy http://moscompass.ru/news/photo/2/00/1113.jpg
ran to the control right across the dacha (land property) of this soviet police chief
http://img1.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/4/80/4...
Guards from KGB slept too long, but they took him, when he returning from control by the same way.
Was released on the next day.

Haven't police traffic patrols in Oz been pretty much replaced by automated enforcement? Or, as they are known by many in the US, scameras.

Multanovas, yes, so there is no arguing with one - just running them over generally. They'll only pick you up for speeding though, not reading a map. That's what the real police are for. Taking down the tough criminals.

Yes, the panda patrol would drive past a (probably unlicensed) motorcyclist with a passenger, where both are not wearing helmets, only to pull me over and fine me for having a faded Provisional plate.

so there is no arguing with one

And no way to force them to testify in court under oath, or be subject to cross-examination...

Newnes Plateau - O Flag here were I intended to set a rogaining flag the odd thing though was that it was blue and yellow, 1m on the edge - https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Lithgow,+New+South+...

and so many dope plantations from new to ancient with one planted with ten's of metres of my car whilst we were absent from the car for less than two hours - https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Lithgow,+New+South+...

This incident made today's post in "Running is Funny". Keep it up DVOA!
http://www.runningisfunny.com/