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Police came to my house?

Jangles

Well-Known Member
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Feb 20, 2018
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73
So I'm at my local park Sat. beautiful warm summer day, lots of college kids lounging around well they didn't like me filming, especially the bikini clad ladies and a couple boys came over and let me know so I like a good citizen decided to pack it up and leave...no prob. I went home and about an hour later a cop showed up at my door and said he got a complaint, (they got my tag number) he was real nice, said no crime was committed and we stood on my front steps for about 5 minutes and he left. I guess it's true people get freaked out by drones!
 
People automatically assume they are the subject of the drone footage. Even if you think by yourself "why would I want to film you" :)

Well, you/they don't know where the camera is pointed at. Except one time my Girlfriend got stalked and force filmed by a fellow spark pilot. Even when she clearly signaled that didn't want to be filmed.

Ha, first he didn't knew what I was talking about (of course) but in the end I got the footage and deleted it from his SD card :)

This is what makes people hate drones.
 
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There kinds of people really piss me off. However, no matter how much they piss me off I always try to show them what I am doing and explain why I enjoy flying a drone. I have noticed that showing the aggravated bystander my screen while flying is a fantastic way to help ease their worries. Good on ya for not making a scene out of it, it's quite frustrating to get your hobby interfered with by a busy body.
 
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"ladies in bikinis" would no doubt be a little suspicious.. and their fellas too IMHO. Avoiding people would be a good way to avoid such hassles no? Or at least get some serious altitude first.... What if there had been a reporter at the park.. day off, chance for a story... Just sayin'

Thanks for sharing this all the same... its eye opening. I will remember this when getting near the public (thought I aim to avoid that as much as possible)
 
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Before the faa got involved, a lady came up with a man and started complaining. I showed her my screen from only 150 feet in the air. I said, now show me “you”. She couldn’t and no matter what I tried, she still didn’t like drones. The man though thought the whole drone idea was cool.. Guess we can’t impress everyone.
 
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I think personal space and privacy concerns really vary in different parts of the world... Here in North America people are keen on those rights, but if you look at places like the UK, they have CCTV almost anywhere there is a village, town, city, etc... so I think folks may be more accustomed to cameras in other cultures. Other places there simply no rules...
 
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Ahh, life in The United States of the Offended. So the bikini babes laying out in the sun in a PUBLIC park got their bikini bottoms in a twist over a drone. Well how many people (guys mostly) were they worried about that had their cell phones out and possibly taking pictures or video of them. Why it is that drones are picked on so much is due to bad publicity mostly in my opinion. Seems that so many non drone fliers have now been hard wired by the media to hate drones. Not fair in my book but it is what it is I guess. Makes me even more glad that I live in a very small town.
 
I was on vacation last year, flying my Phantom 4 before I purchased my Spark and some lady got all offended that I was flying above a marina at a hotel I was staying at. She was literally the only one out that day, on her boat. She came over complaining that I was “invading her public privacy...” I politely told her there was no such thing. She began swearing at me and then threatened to call the police, which I then advised her I was a law enforcement officer lol. It wasn’t worth arguing. I flew another few minutes and wrapped it up for the day. People are just rude.
 
Thankfully, I mostly get inquisitive people. I suspect some have been leery of what I'm doing, such as the neighbour who approached me as I was flying out front of my house (quick test flight of a home build). She asked if it had a camera, and I showed her it did, and how it cannot see into her house across the street. Just thought it was cool in the end.
 
In times past girls prancing in their underwear, in a public place, would have been arrested. These days its a crime to watch them, unless you have permission. What doesn't make sense about this change?
If you want to jiggle in your undies or bikini, do it at home! Anything in a public place should be view-able and film-able. If you think it's private f#k-off home.
 
I think personal space and privacy concerns really vary in different parts of the world... Here in North America people are keen on those rights, but if you look at places like the UK, they have CCTV almost anywhere there is a village, town, city, etc... so I think folks may be more accustomed to cameras in other cultures. Other places there simply no rules...
It's true, there ARE a lot of cameras here in the UK but there's a difference between being watched by The Man and someone whipping out a smart phone and chucking it up in your grill. So far I've only had positive and interested reactions from people - including off duty cops and their kids, mountain bikers, RC clubs, and dog walkers. But I'm pretty careful about where I fly and who's watching.
 
Here in Italy if you follow the hobbyists' rules you don't risk nothing: keep at least 50 meters from people not involved in the drone op. With operators rules and an "inoffensive" drone, as a Spark under 300 grams with guard props on, all this changes, the only limit is that one can not fly over crowds, so one can fly close to people and here starts the trouble. I only had curious people asking how far does it go etc etc and always showed them my display to help them have a clue of what the drone sees. And many kids in their 15-16 ask me how much weight it can carry: too much Breaking Bad-like shows methinks ;)
 
In Malaysia, we do not have a strict ruling concerning small recreational drones which don't need a licence to fly. There are laws covering flying in areas around airports and certain government facilities, which are forbidden. But I try my best to fly in areas away from view of public roads where police cars may pass by. Sometimes, even though I may not be breaking any law, there may be a 'hassle' which I prefer to avoid with the cops.
 
I really don't understand why people are going crackers about Quads, so called looking at them, after all Google have been looking at us all from space and with road cameras for years and no one seem to mind. I can sit at home here in the UK with my laptop on Google maps and see what you've got in your back garden, even if you live in the out back of bum **** nowhere and no one bats an eyelid.
 
So I'm at my local park Sat. beautiful warm summer day, lots of college kids lounging around well they didn't like me filming, especially the bikini clad ladies and a couple boys came over and let me know so I like a good citizen decided to pack it up and leave...no prob. I went home and about an hour later a cop showed up at my door and said he got a complaint, (they got my tag number) he was real nice, said no crime was committed and we stood on my front steps for about 5 minutes and he left. I guess it's true people get freaked out by drones!
It is said ( by a CCTV association) that we ( the U.K. ) have more cameras than ANY other country in the world..........
 
Ahh, life in The United States of the Offended. So the bikini babes laying out in the sun in a PUBLIC park got their bikini bottoms in a twist over a drone. Well how many people (guys mostly) were they worried about that had their cell phones out and possibly taking pictures or video of them. Why it is that drones are picked on so much is due to bad publicity mostly in my opinion. Seems that so many non drone fliers have now been hard wired by the media to hate drones. Not fair in my book but it is what it is I guess. Makes me even more glad that I live in a very small town.
Thank you for bringing up this point graywoulf. It is something that I have always felt.
Cell phones could easily be used for the same purpose but some of the first media stories that came out about drones we're ones of pilots flying near bathroom and bedroom windows to film a peek.
That's why even if you show the complainer your footage from 100 feet up they still complain.
 
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So I'm at my local park Sat. beautiful warm summer day, lots of college kids lounging around well they didn't like me filming, especially the bikini clad ladies and a couple boys came over and let me know so I like a good citizen decided to pack it up and leave...no prob. I went home and about an hour later a cop showed up at my door and said he got a complaint, (they got my tag number) he was real nice, said no crime was committed and we stood on my front steps for about 5 minutes and he left. I guess it's true people get freaked out by drones!

I had a cop come to my door. Someone in my neighborhood complained said I was hovering in her back yard. He mentioned they must have some pull in town and even mentioned the HOA banning drones all together. He went on to warn me of potential FAA fines in the hundreds of thousands I laughed and said that will never happen because i dont do anything that would warrant such crap.
 

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