My neighbor keeps calling the police

[Lbesing]

Does your area have any drone clubs, like on Facebook?

In San Antonio Texas, where I'm at, we've got several police officers as part of our group of 1,500 members. Any time we have a minor squabble like this, we asked one of them to help us out.

Otherwise, in three years, feel free to move to Texas.[emoji57]

 

[DroningOn]

Once again I find it bewildering that drone operators continue to engage with local law enforcement especially under the pretense of “investigating a complaint“. In literal terms that “investigation” is an effort to gather evidence against you and you are under no legal obligation to help them.

To the OP, the next time a police officer comes onto your property without an actual citation or warrant in hand, politely ask them to leave.

Now I will sit back and wait for all the “smart“ mega posters on this board to tell us how this is incorrect.

 

[Tim S]

I was a police officer for 25 yrs. Guaranteed none of them know what, if any, drone laws are. They were bluffing you. You're right that their beef should be with the caller. My suggestion is if they come out again, dont answer the door. There wont be any door kicking. They may leave a contact card then leave. They have more important things to do.

 

[Dizzydan]

there's lots of places to fly so I would say try that first because that sounds like that guy doesn't like people having fun

 

[Earthman]

I live in a reasonably nice residential neighborhood and my neighbors know I fly drones in my (smallish) backyard, like 20-ft off the ground. I’ve never flown over or near anyone’s house. My yard isn’t an ideal place to fly so I don’t do it often. I doubt I‘ve bothered anyone.

We are polite and neighborly, but not friends with our neighbors. Their dogs poop in my yard, all the leaves from their trees end up in my yard (and they know it), and the runoff from one neighbor’s property is a problem for me, all of which irks me. I do get mad sometimes about having to tolerate a lot more from them than they have to tolerate from me, but if I couldn’t put up with ( Mod Removed )I’d be a lot less happy.

Sometimes, you have to be tolerant and willing to compromise to be happy. Big picture wise, I think that an inability to compromise is a weakness in our society that our enemies are exploring through social media and our current so called leaders.

Anyway, I do plan to do do an aerial survey of my property this fall and I plan to tell my neighbors what I’m doing, when I’m doing it, that it’s legal, and I’m insured. I don’t expect any problems.

if you feel like you need to do something about your neighbor, I suggest that you take the high road and don’t provoke him by pushing your rights. Go fly somewhere else. But meet with the police and educate them about drone law and let them know that even though you can do what you were doing legally, you are tolerant of your less reasonable neighbor and willing to compromise for the good of the community. The police will respect you for being reasonable, and less tolerant of your neighbor.

The police aren’t perfect, but they try hard and they are necessary.

Good luck and happy flying!

 

[Mavic Ron]

I totally agree with the three above. I guess I was writing as you were posting and I missed it.
Yes the city can’t regulate airspace. That’s the FAA. I need to find the backup document on that so I can go to the city council and present it. But do I really want to open that can of worms?


Look I get the safety issues of flying over wires, homes, streets and all that. Maybe it’s not the best idea. But helicopters regularly fly from NBC/ Burbank Studios pad. That’s literally less that 3/4 mile away. I hear them every morning at 3 am. They fly over the neighborhood and no one is concerned about them? They have way better cameras than my M2Z.

whatever. I’m over it.

This may give you some guidance. Local municipalities can govern takeoff and landing but cannot regulate operation in the US Airspace System. Thats the FAA's.

Press Release – FAA Statement–Federal vs. Local Drone Authority

www.faa.gov

 

[Jazzman154]

AMann and Skywatcher2001 make a couple of very good points. If cooler heads prevail all of us enthusiasts will have less problems in the future.

 

[TampaTC]

Respect goes both ways first off. Popo is not how I would address a police officer in person or on a forum. You appear to be playing by the rules when flying.
I would make a one pager to hand to the officers when they respond to your address. The one pager has your information: Name, Address, DL#, aircraft make model and FAA number. A spot for date and time of related flight to be written in. Place in bold the local FAA administration phone #. Place a snapshot of your airspace above your home.
Back side:
Have it read that this is to be placed into the call report. It is an official statement summited by you for the call. You request a report number.

Say as little as possible, you are not required to provide any hardware, or visual (photos/videos) evidence to the officers unless they provide a search warrant. If talking to the police ask to speak one on one to keep a clear conversation going. When either side has extra person(s) it becomes a weighted conversation .

I wish you the best, it sucks having that neighbor. Take the high road tho. I would almost think the neighbors may have something to hide.....

 

[DroningOn]

The one pager has your information: Name, Address, DL#, aircraft make model and FAA number. A spot for date and time of related flight to be written in. Place in bold the local FAA administration phone #. Place a snapshot of your airspace above your home

In the absence of a local or state law that states differently, you ARE NOT required to provide any of this information to a local cop. If you want to then knock yourself out but people on this forum need to stop spreading this misinformation.

 

[TampaTC]

In the absence of a local or state law that states differently, you ARE NOT required to provide any of this information to a local cop. If you want to then knock yourself out but people on this forum need to stop spreading this misinformation.

First! No where am I stating that you have to do so.
Second! no miss information spread from my statement.
It works, I will also hand out printed material with local, state, and national web pages for more information on regulations regarding airspace, my rights as a UAS operator, and the boundaries of laws regarding in operating from private property.

 

[TampaTC]

https://www.faa.gov/uas/public_safety_gov/media/Law_Enforcement_Drone_Card.pdf

 

[dirkclod]

In the absence of a local or state law that states differently, you ARE NOT required to provide any of this information to a local cop. If you want to then knock yourself out but people on this forum need to stop spreading this misinformation.

Hold on there Mr DroningOn you seemed to have saw an opening after 101 post in this to try and get something started back up with your negitive LE advice with 2 post.I was trying to wait till this just burned itself out but see thats not going to happen now. And with that in mind.
To the guys that have participated in this trying to advise Skydog on his dilemma thank you.
@SkyDogII Good luck .
I don't see anything else can be said that hasn't been said so I am closing this episode of

As The Prop Turns.
CLOSED
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