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Drone Seized

robert826177

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Age
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Location
Hull,England
Having just owned my dji mavic air 2 for only a month,I was visited by Humberside police in January of this year and arrested on suspicion of stalking and harassment and my drone combo was seized.After the investigation was over and after numerous attempts to claim my property back i have been fobbed off by the investigating officer DC1252 Watson.I said when I was arrested (when am I going to get my drone back) The reply from her was ( when the investigation is complete).Well,that was a lie and I'm still waiting for my £1000 bird back.
The fact is.I have a paranoid neighbour who reported me to police as he thought I was spying on him.and that I was hiding in the car park with my remote controller.Ha!
[Phrase removed by ADMIN] Look who's talking mr paranoid neighbour who has his curtains closed all day.walking his dogs eyes left,right,up,down,behind,What can you do with such a paranoid idiot of a neighbour.He cost me 1000 quid.
I believe Humberside police have unintentionally damaged my drone as I had a sponge block to jam the gimbal movement whilst in transit.and are not returning it for that reason.It certainly isn't to prevent (so called) re-offending because I telephoned the police in spite to tell them I now have a mavic enterprise thermal, Now when are you coming to seized this one.
BEWARE OF PARANOID NEIGHBOURS!!!!!
 
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WOW..... In my state in almost all cases they will just relieve you of your controller. They don't want a thousand dollar liability in their evidence room. I will say in the U.S. the police rarely arrest a person without some sort of cause or proof. Most Dept's will gather as much evidence as possible before making an arrest. Either intentionally or unintentionally you must have given them cause for your arrest somehow even if you are innocent.
If the Government there is anything like ours Then your poor drone is in Limbo and at the mercy of your government.
Do you have a Cousin Vinny?
 
Wow - that sounds horrendous - my sympathies, and hope you get it back asap.

Without implying that this is what you should have done, it does raise the question of could this have been avoided by popping a short note through all your neighbours doors before you ever took off, explaining that you sometimes use the grounds for drone testing, and not to worry - you are not spying on them, or even necessarily filming most of the time but usually conducting test flights in order to setup the machine. Of course we can't know with hindsight if it would have made a difference here, or whether it may have made it worse (no predicting the reaction of paranoid nutters to that sort of note!) but I would posit there might be a reasonable chance it might have helped. Of course it's a shame we have to think to do things like that to avoid dreadful problems like this, but perhaps it is inevitable when we are flying in close proximity to people's homes and gardens ?

I have a small private field up the top of my drive and used to consider myself fine to fly there for the 'home tests'.
I also didn't do the notes, but the very first time I got a big quad off the ground the woman next door felt it necessary to barge her way through 5 ft of hedgerow into my field to tell me I couldn't fly it anywhere here because it upset her dogs. I managed, on that occasion to pacify her by promising to keep it mainly under the treeline, but it easily could have gone the other way. I do understand the worry people feel if a noisy, hover-y thing with a camera suddenly appears and hovers in the vicinity, but you'd really hope that once explained people would chill out and just accept your hobby means occasional local flights.
 
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Having just owned my dji mavic air 2 for only a month,I was visited by Humberside police in January of this year and arrested on suspicion of stalking and harassment and my drone combo was seized.After the investigation was over and after numerous attempts to claim my property back i have been fobbed off by the investigating officer DC1252 Watson.I said when I was arrested (when am I going to get my drone back) The reply from her was ( when the investigation is complete).Well,that was a lie and I'm still waiting for my £1000 bird back.
The fact is.I have a paranoid neighbour who reported me to police as he thought I was spying on him.and that I was hiding in the car park with my remote controller.Ha!
What a F##×ing joker.Look who's talking mr paranoid neighbour who has his curtains closed all day.walking his dogs eyes left,right,up,down,behind,What can you do with such a paranoid idiot of a neighbour.He cost me 1000 quid.
I believe Humberside police have unintentionally damaged my drone as I had a sponge block to jam the gimbal movement whilst in transit.and are not returning it for that reason.It certainly isn't to prevent (so called) re-offending because I telephoned the police in spite to tell them I now have a mavic enterprise thermal, Now when are you coming to seized this one.
BEWARE OF PARANOID NEIGHBOURS!!!!!
You need to get all your facts and documentation together and make an appointment with a solicitor. I'm surprised you haven't been down this path already... 7 months is more than enough time for Dibble to investigate a minor complaint.
 
A drone is contraband. Contraband is never returned even after the investigation is completed. Even a court order may not get your equipment returned and if you do, it will be damaged and destroyed beyond repair. You would be better to write this one off and chalk it up as a loss. Not sure why you would want it back anyway, just put in a claim.
 
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A drone is contraband. Contraband is never returned even after the investigation is completed.
In the UK I believe that is not the case if there were no subsequent charges, and possibly even if there were ! It was evidence, will have provided the information they sought from it, and has completed that function at the end of the investigation. It is not a banned item, or illegal to own, so why would they not give it back ?

And there is no need for them to damage the drone in retrieving the footage from it, so what makes you think they will have ? Some of our police might be a bit vague about the drone laws initially, but I don't think any of them are taking hammers to them unless they get destroy orders from the courts !
 
Lets not forget that somehow this person was arrested. I am not the one to be saying what happened BUT if this Happened in the U.S. The police would need more than just a compliant to ARREST you. Of course they can investigate a claim BUT to actually arrest someone there must have been at least a few witnesses. If those people are lying I sure hate it for them! Now you could have very well been flying around with NO intent at all to video this person (and I believe you OP) and maybe the OP was arrested for violating something by flying the Drone..Who Knows. It would seem to me that they would need proof that you are actually videoing what they are accusing you of, BEFORE They could arrest you for it. If they did that and found something they would take the drone to the boys at the lab ( too much Columbo lol) and have the deleted stuff looked at. If they did that you may just get back a "Kit". SURE! Then you could sue "Can you smell the horses commin" lol. BUT You will tire of that.......
 
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If anyone wants to see what it looks like to have your drone seized by the UK police, check it out after the 16min mark (not me, not my video):

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Having just owned my dji mavic air 2 for only a month,I was visited by Humberside police in January of this year and arrested on suspicion of stalking and harassment and my drone combo was seized.After the investigation was over and after numerous attempts to claim my property back i have been fobbed off by the investigating officer DC1252 Watson.I said when I was arrested (when am I going to get my drone back) The reply from her was ( when the investigation is complete).Well,that was a lie and I'm still waiting for my £1000 bird back.
The fact is.I have a paranoid neighbour who reported me to police as he thought I was spying on him.and that I was hiding in the car park with my remote controller.Ha!
What a F##×ing joker.Look who's talking mr paranoid neighbour who has his curtains closed all day.walking his dogs eyes left,right,up,down,behind,What can you do with such a paranoid idiot of a neighbour.He cost me 1000 quid.
I believe Humberside police have unintentionally damaged my drone as I had a sponge block to jam the gimbal movement whilst in transit.and are not returning it for that reason.It certainly isn't to prevent (so called) re-offending because I telephoned the police in spite to tell them I now have a mavic enterprise thermal, Now when are you coming to seized this one.
BEWARE OF PARANOID NEIGHBOURS!!!!!
It will cost you more than 1000 pounds but a lawsuit might be considered for false charges. With damages to your reputation, you could recoup it back and more.
 
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Having just owned my dji mavic air 2 for only a month,I was visited by Humberside police in January of this year and arrested on suspicion of stalking and harassment and my drone combo was seized.After the investigation was over and after numerous attempts to claim my property back i have been fobbed off by the investigating officer DC1252 Watson.I said when I was arrested (when am I going to get my drone back) The reply from her was ( when the investigation is complete).Well,that was a lie and I'm still waiting for my £1000 bird back.
The fact is.I have a paranoid neighbour who reported me to police as he thought I was spying on him.and that I was hiding in the car park with my remote controller.Ha!
What a F##×ing joker.Look who's talking mr paranoid neighbour who has his curtains closed all day.walking his dogs eyes left,right,up,down,behind,What can you do with such a paranoid idiot of a neighbour.He cost me 1000 quid.
I believe Humberside police have unintentionally damaged my drone as I had a sponge block to jam the gimbal movement whilst in transit.and are not returning it for that reason.It certainly isn't to prevent (so called) re-offending because I telephoned the police in spite to tell them I now have a mavic enterprise thermal, Now when are you coming to seized this one.
BEWARE OF PARANOID NEIGHBOURS!!!!!
Now I understand even better the movie, “Mr. Bates vs. The Post Office.”
 
If anyone wants to see what it looks like to have your drone seized by the UK police, check it out after the 16min mark (not me, not my video):

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

With so many overhead shots of Stonehenge it's hard to believe a guy that far away filming a sunrise would have his drone seized. If he was in a NFZ I expect he would have been warned before takeoff and if not could have proven it on the spot, including his onscreen track.
 
@Capt KO I think you misquoted me in your previous post. The fact of the matter (from my angle and my POV) nothing this guy could have done would prevent the seizure. The police said it, he was told to take the drone and that's what he was going to do, regardless. It sends a message to the flying public, don't come there intending to fly your drone even if you come for the sunrise; period.
 
Another UK example of seized drones. They don't ask you to land and ticket you, they ask you to land and they take your equipment. Good luck with getting it back! So yes, there was a TFR in place but is it really a TFR is anybody can order up one for any reason? Is that what the UK government does, provide cover and muscle for private companies to do their work without interference from the public being a "nuisance" and then send government agents to enforce it? I guess it's the same as blocking off a parking lot and if you drive your POV into the lot (where there are no barriers, no signs, but only an online warning) then you get your car seized, is that how it works?

Let's not fool ourselves. Even with no TFR, who's the say the same wouldn't happen. Yes, absolutely it's the pilot responsibility to check for a TFR *and* obey it but at least in the US (with the exception of Cali), not just anybody can ask for and get a TFR because they feel as if their event is important and needs government taxpayer protection and they consider other drones besides their own a nuisance even if you fly there mistakenly or don't interfere with the program because let's face it, that TFR is bigger than it needs to be.


 
Personally speaking I never fly anywhere near where I live and no one knows I fly UAV’s.

I travel about 10 miles to a countryside location and fly there, the local farmers and residents know that I fly with respect to their properties and privacy.
I’ve assisted the farmer who’s land I fly from and his neighbours when they’ve had flooding, security issues and criminal activity, in return I get unhindered access.
Best advice I can offer is - don’t fly from home regardless.
 
The rules are straight forward so if you plan to fly somewhere where you think you might cause an issue (even if you believe legally you are in the right) probably best to go somewhere else its not worth the hassle.

I have watched many of those audit videos where the people who own the businesses don't want drones flying over their property yet the auditors ignore them and do it anyway because they legally can to me they should respect the owners wishes and move along to the next.

Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
 
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Ok folks.... this forum is all about DEBATE and BANTER but a couple of you have made this one personal and even became ugly towards each other. This posts have been DELETED and "points issued" accordingly.

Keep in mind the fundamental rule of the forum - BE NICE!

In fact here are a couple of quotes from the Community Guidelines:

" and above all - be nice."

and

14. We take the "be nice" rule VERY seriously! We do not tolerate discourtesy or disrespect.

Regards,
Allen
 

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