Mellow Mike Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> One such example of me being cross examined, was
> when I was up on the Fancher overpass last year. I
> was on the sidewalk loitering with my camera
> waiting for train action early one weekend
> morning. I may have looked directly down a few
> times to see what freight cars were beneath the
> overpass. Been doing it for years now.
>
> Well, apparently when you do that, and your camera
> is not visible to traffic behind you, it could be
> construed as something scary. I then see a patrol
> car come up the bridge, and he looks over at me
> curiously. I'm not doing anything illegal, and I
> am not on public or RR property, so I just grin
> and nod. He drives down to the bottom of the
> bridge, and immediately flips a U-turn with
> squeelie tires, and guns it up the overpass with
> his blue & red roof lights all lit up. Double
> parks in the lane, and steps out to question me.
> The usual stuff. "What are you doing up here...?"
> and so on.
>
> "I'm taking pictures of trains", I said.
>
> He goes "Why would you be doing that?"
>
> "It's a hobby of mine, and as far as I know, I'm
> not trespassing up here".
>
> He asks "Where did you park your vehicle?" having
> not seen one in the vicinity.
>
> "I took a bus", I said.
>
> He then tells me "Well... somebody called 911 to
> report a jumper".
>
> So I said, "I've been up here for an hour or more,
> and I haven't seen any". "Oh... wait... ME?"
>
> "Someone didn't see your camera... and you were
> looking over the railing.", he said.
>
> He asks for my ID, which I presented, and he
> called it in. Nothing on file. Gave it back.
>
> We went back and forth a couple more times, and
> then when he realized he couldn't make me leave,
> he drove off. But he pulled into a dirt lot by
> Trent Ave and sat there for a while. Perhaps doing
> a report - or watching me to see what I would
> do".
>
> I continued to hang out up there for another hour
> and a half. Taking pictures. After about 20
> minutes, he drove away.
>
> Whether someone actually called 911 on me was not
> confirmed. He may have been out cruising, and
> figured I was a good write-up, making up the
> tipster story. I don't know.
>
> So this time, the camera wasn't a cop magnet. And
> in hindsight, I could have looked like a jumper to
> most folks, including him. My backpack was out of
> view to all.


Dear Mr. Mellow,

Since you have a cool blog, why not get a business card with your url on it? I did, haven't had to whip one out to show what I was up to yet, but it's in the wallet. Since cops have access to the web these days, it wouldn't hurt.