Scrappers made the news today in my city. - Page 2

Originally Posted by tedanderson

Don't sweat it. From the perspective of the cops, they want to catch the crooks but they don't want the bad press from harassing law-abiding citizens in the process. Also, you have to do more than to just be hauling scrap metal in order to be considered "suspicious". Without a warrant, they can't legally search your vehicle anyway. If they happen to suspect you, they'll just follow you to the scrap yard and ask the buyer if he saw any grates in the pile.

In my state and I assume in all states that is not the case. Like several people have stated here most others see us as crooks and not law abiding citizens anyway. There would be no bad press even if the local news picked up on the story about a scrapper being harassed most people would be happy to try and get rid of us. Hauling a load of metal would be suspicious enough for most officers. All an officer needs is "reasonable suspicion". Or probable cause. Officers do not interpret these laws judges do. Officers act first and let judges sort out the legal stuff. I have seen this first hand (been involved in an illegal search) and at the officers discretion arrested put in jail for up to 48 hours without charges as an investigative hold. Are these bad laws? No. Just sometimes abused.
Things I have personally been pulled over for that I don't think were right but accepted as legal
Officer quotes
" I ran your plates and your "last" name (not first) matches the last name of someone I'm looking for"
No other reason or driving infractions yet proceeded to take my ID and my wife's to do a background check after he realized and agreed that I was not the person.
"
we just had a call about a vehicle matching the description of your car involved in a hit and run"
Then why was he shining the flashlight through the windows of the back of my car and never walked around my car to check for damage.

A friend of mine was pulled over and the probable cause to search his car was that they saw a box knife and duct tape in his car and claimed they were tools involved in drug trafficking. Dumped everything on the ground outside the car found nothing then told the friend to pick it up. The friend refused told the officers to pick it up that they dumped it there. TheY threatened to take him to jail for littering.

Originally Posted by tedanderson

Without a warrant, they can't legally search your vehicle anyway. If they happen to suspect you, they'll just follow you to the scrap yard and ask the buyer if he saw any grates in the pile.

They can do pretty much anything they wanna do actually ; )

Originally Posted by Bear

They can do pretty much anything they wanna do actually ; )

In every jurisdiction there are laws against scavenging. There will be a State, County, City, or some kind of township ordnance against scavenging if you take the time to look. These could be very old laws but as long as they are not repealed, they can be enforced but rarely are.

If there is a problem such as theft of drains, the cops certainly CAN and most likely WILL use the laws to curb the problem. This WOULD give them probable cause to search your vehicle. Driving suspiciously slow down the road with a truck full of scrap most likely would give the enough probable cause to at least do a visual inspection of what's in the back of your truck. No warrant is going to be needed.

In Indiana, there is no State law against scavenging. To the contrary, our Supreme Court clearly stated "trash is trash" and when you throw something away you are no longer the owner and anyone who collects it can do what they wish with it. In my township there are scavenging ordances. The cops warn people looking for scrap that they are not welcome, and if they see them out again they will ticket them. I am fortunate that they leave the residents here alone which limits the amount of people curb shopping to about 3.

Originally Posted by skylinejack

^^^I highly doubt that^^^

Have you even looked?

This is one of my favorites..........

City of Anaheim - Anti-scavenging Program

The City's organized anti-scavenging team responds to requests for service and patrols trash day areas in the City investigating individuals going through trash containers to collect recyclables.

I was at my local scrap yard yesterday.. turning in some small stuff.. up behind me comes in two guys- one from a local manufacturer here in town. One guy looked like a supervisor from the factory floor (earplugs, logo uniform shirt) and another guy in a suit. They were called by the yard owner- seems some brilliant employee decided to scrap brand new brass welding tips of some kind- mind you these are INDUSTRIAL tips- probably 3-4 lbs a piece- brand new. Chances are these things are bought for hundreds of dollars a piece. By a rough estimate I'd say he had about 40-60 lbs of $1.10 per lb brass- and chances are since they wanted the police called about it.. this dude:
1. Lost his job for under $100 bucks
2. Went to jail on top of it!

Makes it rough for ALL of us when we are fighting tooth and nail to make our runs out of honest finds, and hard work!