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Cops and Scrappers

| A Day in the Life of a Scrapper
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    NJSouth started this thread.
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    Cops and Scrappers

    Hey all... Just looking for stories or input with anyone's involvement with cops while scrapping. Quick note... I"m BOTH a cop and a scrapper. I never understood scrappers UNTIL I started scrapping about a year ago.
    As long as its legal stuff I ENCOURAGE guys I get calls for or stop on the road. I scrap for two reasons.. Money (obviously) but I'm also an environment kind of guy and hate seeing junk dumped on the roads, fields and woods.
    Anyway, just looking for stories good or bad about your experiences with police while scrapping. No need to sugar coat your stories (I know cops are idiots a lot of the times, especially when they don't understand something)


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    I've been reported driving around a fairly rich neighborhood at 3am with a "truck bed full of suspicious things". I guess a neighbor thought I was stealing.
    Cop caught up with me (I was in the process of digging through a huge pile from people that were moving when he pulled up on me). He ran my plates and license, asked the general questions about my intentions, encouraged me to continue (said it'll help the trash guys out in the morning), I told him I am not taking anything past the sidewalk and he left. Didn't give me a warning or anything, just a "have a good one".

    He said it's not illegal, once the trash hits the curb it's considered "public property" until the garbage guys pick it up.

    But I'm surprised it's only happened that once. There are prison units and many police stations in this area.

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    got pulled over the other day, had the silverado LOADED lol bed was completely full, cops pulls me over comes to the window and goes" hello im pulling you over because i never knew someones could load a pickup like that" i lol'd and started up a convo about the scrap and the "thing blue line" decal i have on my bumper, nice guy he said i was on the right track in life, i guess being fairly young (24) he figured i wasn't the average young kid into other sorts of (garbage ie: drugs and such) anyways he wished me luck and that was it... not guna lied him pulling me over had my head twisted before he got to the window and said that line lol.

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    I've been pulled over on my way to the yard "because the sheets of metal I had in the truck looked like they were about to blow out." I don't think they would have gone anywhere. I had them tied down with ratchet straps.
    There's nothing more fun and more effective than hitting something repeatedly with a sledgehammer

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    Early one Saturday morning I was stopped while looking for scrap. The police looked through my scrap. I had about 10 lbs. of copper wire that had been given to me from work. They refused to believe that it had been given to me and thought that I had stole it. I offered for them to call my boss at which time they backed off and wanted to offer me some good places to find more scrap at which time I thanked them and we both went on our merry ways.

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    NJSouth started this thread.
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    So far it sounds pretty positive. From a law enforcement standpoint, the copper prices are wreaking havoc with wire thefts. Guys are electricuting themselves daily trying to steal wire. From a scrapper stand point its great... like a part time job!!! I pulled into the scrapyard last Friday and two local cars were in there. They seemed suprised to see me when I pulled in with my trailer and jumped out and waved.

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    I posted a thing a few days ago about the crackdown here in SC on "Illegal transportation of Non-Ferrous Metal". There is an old law that states that "individuals can not transport more than 25 lbs of non0ferrous metals on the highways of SC without calling their local Sheriff office and getting a permit". Then you have to have proper documentation proving where it came from ,blah, blah ,blah....
    Has anyone else checked on their local laws to see if anything is in place?
    How about you NJSouth ? Are there Laws in NJ about stuff like this?

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    no nothing crazy like that here in Nj im in central, have not heard anything like that.

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    If the they started that around here, I'd be in trouble. Lots of copper wire and tubing. No idea where it all came from.
    People may laugh at me, but that's ok. I laugh all the way to the bank.

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  12. #10
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    Was cleaning up a family friends ranch last summer. Worked there all day, on friday, so was VERY tired when i left. Go all the way back to town, and saw that i left my scrap metalscrap metalscrap metalscrap metal wallet in the barn i was workin in.

    Having no choice (Believe me i exhausted all options) I drove back to the sticks. ("Sticks" being rough idaho country, roughly 65 miles away from where i live). I get to the property, almost retrieve my wallet, when 2 Sheriff's roll up on me. On private property. They told me i was reported as a "cattle thief". I laughed and said im not going to be puttin any cattle in the back of my truck. We talked for a minute about what i was doing. Ended up nothing happening, but was still enough of a laugh.

    I understood why they stopped me. I have an issue with them coming onto private property. But its nothing too serious.

    Glad to have ya here!

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    *I left my wallet in the barn.

    Have no idea where all the "metalscrap" stuff came from.

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    Quote Originally Posted by TheHoss View Post
    *I left my wallet in the barn.

    Have no idea where all the "metalscrap" stuff came from.
    heh, don't worry about that. It is a word censor to help keep the forum clean and family friendly. That is all.

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    @parrothead Ahh. I didnt say anything on family friendly, did i? I sure aint here to offend nobody haha.

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    What part of Idaho are you in?

    Just outside of Boise here.

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    Quote Originally Posted by parrothead View Post
    heh, don't worry about that. It is a word censor to help keep the forum clean and family friendly. That is all.
    It's getting a little off topic, but while I understand and fully agree with the use of an auto-censor function, the use of simple asterisks in place of the censored word makes more sense to me. Like this: ****

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  19. #16
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    Been doing this for alot of years. Never had a scrapping incident with police until this year. We came up with 7 cars missing at a storage property about 20 miles from home. It was our choice to involve police.

    I did do a 4 ton clean up for a local sheriff's deputy a couple miles from me last month, if that counts.
    Last edited by c4f5; 03-27-2011 at 11:53 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by IdahoScrapper View Post
    What part of Idaho are you in?

    Just outside of Boise here.
    Same here buddy. Meridian, about a stones throw away from the meridian middle.

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    Quote Originally Posted by c4f5 View Post
    Been doing this for alot of years. Never had a scrapping incident with police until this year. We came up with 7 cars missing at a storage property about 20 miles from home. It was our choice to involve police.

    I did do a 4 ton clean up for a local sheriff's deputy a couple miles from me last month, if that counts.
    Here I went and ran my typing fingers. Just yesterday, on my way home for the day, I got pulled by state patrol in MY town. Must have been a new guy. There are 2500 people in my entire county, and I know most of them...I didn't know him. Stae Patrol were crawling all over our little slice of Heaven yesterday. I gather they were looking for something in particular. He was kind of rude and knit picked alot of little things on my truck. His BS excuse for pulling me was a verry slight bend on my trailer license plate.

    So to all of you police officers out there.......do your job, by all means, we appreciate it....even if I am the job! If I am doing something wrong or illegal, please correct me, but I think y'all can find something more productive to do than harrass the locals over petty nothingness. However, my time and my tax dollars are very valuable to me. Please don't waste either one. Thanks for reading.
    Last edited by c4f5; 04-01-2011 at 11:50 AM. Reason: additional comment

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    Okay My story doesn't have an ending at the moment because it is currently happening...

    It was about a year ago that I lost my job (of 5 years) and apartment due to the bank foreclosure problems. I

    luckily was a scrapper, when ever I had a moment to spare, that I was able to keep myself out of the gutters

    and move with my sister to a "Quiet" small town in Arizona called Youngtown. With no scrappers in the area I

    thought I would be making good money. My girlfriend and I were the ODD BALLS in this area, and so it was hard

    for us at first. But unlike the average scrapper, when we would see a trash pile, before we would touch it, my

    girlfriend and I would go knock on the door of the house it was in front of, and ask the owner if we could go

    through it. Out of respect. And got some respect back from some of the towns folks. We were doing good, until

    the day we met HER! We weren't properly introduced for the simple fact that we still have no clue what her name

    is. We don't know anything about her, just that she is a MCSO Sheriff. It was 11pm when she pulled us over

    with a lame excuse of a trailer brake light wasn't working. . She went to her car and ran my info into her

    computer and when she came back, she gave me a warning that I needed to change the address on my drivers

    license. Nothing else was said about the trailer's brake light. She let us go, and once we were far enough

    around the corner for her to no longer see us. We pulled over and my girlfriend jumped out of the car and we

    did a brake light test. The lights were fine. About a 2 weeks later our scrap mobile took a crap on us. (Would

    you believe it died right in front of Glendale Police Station parkinglot? Well, it did.) It was over a month

    before we got another car. Everything was looking up, or so we thought! We were driving the neighborhood alleys

    looking for scrap with a friend, its still early in the morning so there hasn't been many cars on the road. We

    pull out of the alley and are stopped at a stop sign, I want to turn left but there is a tree blocking my view

    to check for traffic. I pull up a bit and see one of Youngtown's finest, coming my way. I wait till he passes

    then turn left. I see from the rear view that he has flipped around and is now behind me. He hits his lights

    and I'm already cussing him out, but I stop as he comes toward my car. He stated that he pulled us over because

    I failed to stop at the stop sign, that I was stopped at, when I first saw him. Then 2 other police cars pull

    up one in front and one in back of my car, like they were blocking me in. They searched my car they searched my

    friend, and a lady cop searched my girl. Of course, they found nothing. Nothing except that the car wasn't

    registered to me yet so I wasn't insured. My mistake, I know. But I corrected my mistake before my court date,

    hoping it would reduce the fine they would be giving me. It was reduced from $989.00 to $595.00 plus the

    "Running a stop sign" ticket, $200.00. This whole town, the Courts, and the Judge are cruepted and I think it

    is all a plot to bring money into the town. The reason I say this is because strangely the courts accidently

    made a mistake of suspending my drivers license. I was fortunate to find out when I was pulled over by Peoria

    cops in a parking lot walking to my car, so I was safe from getting a ticket. I went back to the courts and

    they said it was their fault and "FIXED" the error. Since I've had my new car, the Sheriff (B word) has pulled me

    over 2 more times. She told me my car was undesireable and every time she sees me on the road, she will pull me

    over, and start looking for violations she can give me tickets on. I avoid that Sheriff (B word) as much as I

    can. And then...
    The trailer had a nail in the tire. Me and my girl went to QT to repair it. Went for a Quick Trip but ended up

    in HELL. The Sheriff (B word) was there! We stalled around for an hour fixing that dumb tire waiting for her to

    leave. But she didn't. She waited too. We left QT to go back home and she pulled me over...AGAIN!!! Asked for

    my drivers license, insurance, & registration, and as I handed them to her she tells me to step out of the car.

    She says your under arrest for driving with a suspended drivers license. She lets my girlfriend go, but made

    her walk home imeditly so they could tow my car and trailer away. After my girlfriend was gone and the

    sheriff's back up arrived, her commanding officer sent her away from the scene. I was released by the officer

    because of a medical condition, but got a ticket for driving with a suspended license, my car and trailer were towed away, and I had to walk home.

    After going back and forth(without my car or trailer for 2 weeks)getting rides from people, between the courts,

    DMV, and the tow yard, cost me about $500.00 this time. And that was to get another drivers license, to get my

    car out of impound and for gas money for who ever I had to bribe to give me a ride to fix all this bull crap.


    To be continued.....
    Last edited by trashman; 06-26-2011 at 12:55 PM. Reason: fixed cuss words

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    I would get a lawyer and sue the station for harassment. That's ridiculous.
    Faith x Needs = Motivation

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