Arrested for flying a drone; UPDATE video

[Riteguy]

I had an encounter with a park ranger in Orange County, California. I was climbing a hill in Anaheim Hills and was going to fly my drone when I reached a peak. I sat my case down, began to unpack my drone when a park ranger came up behind me and said, "I hope you're not going to fly that here." I said, well I was. She replied drone flying in the entire county park system of Orange County is prohibited. I asked why, and she stated the danger of fire should the drone crash. I laughed and told her the vehicle she was driving was more apt to begin a brush fire than my drone. I also informed her that she does have the right to stop me from controlling my drone from within the park, but if I walk down the hill to a city street, she would have no jurisdiction and could not prevent me from flying over the park as the skies are controlled by the FAA. She didn't believe me, but my nature was not to argue and I put the drone away. I feel I need to bring this issue before the county board of supervisors and have it reviewed as it seems to be the case many places -- just simply prohibit so they don't have to deal with it.

 

[mrreddog]

Congrats @Lapeer20m , I used to frequent The Mounds often with lifted Jeep Wrangler, I seen your video on this when it 1st happened. In my eyes this is pure tyranny and contempt of cop, which is all too familiar these days. What ever happen to protect and serve?? They all forget we pay them to work for us!! Thank You for going the distance on this..

 

[Ranger]

She didn't believe me, but my nature was not to argue and I put the drone away. I feel I need to bring this issue before the county board of supervisors and have it reviewed as it seems to be the case many places -- just simply prohibit so they don't have to deal with it.

Asking for the policy to be reviewed is the way to go. Even if there is no change, you're inquiry will be noted. Here in Maine they went with the blanket prohibition in state parks so they won't need to work out which areas are appropriate for drones (for now, at least). Not arguing with the ranger also the way to go; she was just doing her job and may know nothing beyond 'Not Allowed'. So I think pointing out that flyovers are OK is a good thing to do.

 

[monahantd]

The entire process has been eye opening for me. I still believe that most people are good and want to do the right thing. which makes what happened here difficult to understand.

Also, this isn’t just some small park, at 11,000 acres and with over 100 different sites, this is the largest county park system in the state.

When this first started, I honestly thought there was some misunderstanding with the rangers and a simple email with administration would correct the issue.

instead, administration essentially said they don’t care what the law says, these parks belong to them (park officials), and we citizens should just do what they say.

most normal people would have probably walked away at this point but i am not wired that way.

later, when I’m having conversations with the officials I can’t even grasp what they are thinking. Every single commissioner, the chief of park police, and the director know and understand that their ordinance is in direct violation of state law, but they don’t care. They even admitted they were offended that some citizen would try to tell them what they can do with their parks.

it’s an issue they could not possibly win in the courts. They must have thought we were bluffing During the months of conversations we had.

Anybody who spent 5 minutes researching the issue would see that the county lacked the authority to regulate unmanned aircraft. It’s not as if there was any real controversy about the text or meaning of the law.

Good on you for managing to keep your cool in the face of such unbearable myopic ignorance. You managed to see this to a (I hope!) positive outcome rather than causing a blow up which could have sent the whole thing backwards.