So here I am, 1:00 AM this morning, out on the reef in a Narragansett spot, black as a hole, waves crashing around me and I'm slinging eels. Suddenly there isa spotlight on my back and some guy yelling at me. Long story not so long I ignored him and he actually crawled out to where I was. He was mad as a wet hen. Wanted to know what I was doing. I look at this guy and he is a DEM CO complete with badge and gun.
Now I have on waders, Korkers and eel bucket strapped to my wader belt and a 10' Saber blank with a VS250 on it. he asks me, "What are you doing". I asked him back "what the hell do you think I am doing?" Things went down hill from there he was yelling at me that I didn't respect him as a police officer and on and on. He finally storms off the reef and says as he left "don't let me have to come back out here again".

Has anyone else run into RI DEM CO's that are slightly crazy in the middle of the night?

I cant understand what he was doing anyway? if he was checking for fish all he had to do was look and then leave? you have every right to be there anytime you want and should not be harrased for it. Most likely a rookie, wanting some glory picking on an old timer slingin eels...jerks! :splat:

wait sorry did I say old? :jump1:

I'm not that old.....

I'm not that old.....

I am sure you could have tossed him in the drink if need be :bl:

Poor guy just doin his thing. Probably got asked to scope out the place for party kids, they've been pretty frikkin rampant. Then he sees you out past the at last and thinks maybe you needed help. Give the kid the benefit of the doubt :bl: Did he walk out there and get all wet n stuff! Man I wouldda paid to have seen that! :call: Piemma, draggin some kid across the reef by his ear.... :vamp:

Sounds like a jamestown cop....Remember that night Vic.... :D

As a matter of fact he did get wet. if you know where I fish in Black Point then you know where he had to get to to get to me and that meant crossing some water.... He wasn't wearing waders.

"What are you doing"...........sounds like he's a smart one

he asks me, "What are you doing". I asked him back "what the hell do you think I am doing?" Things went down hill from there




:rotfl:

Can't say i've had any trouble with them on this side of the bay....only one or two run-in's with them on the other side.

none as funny as yours :D

everytime i park over there i see the DEM. kinda makes me feel better knowing they're around, that place was notorious for break-ins. the other night i was down there and there were a bunch of kids lighting off fireworks. maybe that was why they were there.

if only they would patrol jamestown :hs:

hahahaha Jamestown was funny.. Umm guys we're gonna hafta go Im on probation.. :err:

[QUOTE=piemma]I "what the hell do you think I am doing?" Things went down hill from there .....
too funny... :biglaugh:

Was he of duty?

You stole his spot didnt you.

For shame!

Rhody's finest....wish you got the officers name....I would like him to teach my "Master of the Obvious" class this fall!

that yahoo should be all over that place and the other scup havens durring the day busting litter bugs. :lasso:

Sounds like "Barney" failed his detective exam again and was taking it out on you. I hate arrogant ,stupid authority figures.

Sounds like given where you were and the water as you described, you should've been asking him what HE was doing. I have a lot of respect for law enforcement, but I've run across more than a few that have some type of "authority complex."

Oh well. :huh:

BBJ is probably on the right track.....he probably got his bullet wet!

too bad most enforcement are good guys.
Piemma, didn't he know you have the "key to the town of narragansett?" Too funny! That's almost as good as the "bottles breaking on the rocks" episode (korkers).

Maybe he just transferred from Montana and they don't fish at night, on a sandbar, in the middle of a black hole. Actually I'll bet he's a rookie and he thought YOU WERE DROWNING AND HE GOT SO TIGHT WITH YOU BECAUSE HE EMBARRASSED THE S#$T OUT OF HIMSELF, WHEN HE REALIZED WHAT WAS REALLY GOING ON.

Piemma, remember hte last time someone harrased you on that rock? :rtfm:

He was also likely young, right? The younger guys tend to be a little more aggressive and show a little less tact. Striking the right balance on these things comes with experience, right? I bet we all have a bit more tact then we did when we were 25. The older and more experienced officers like to have the upland spots as they are more, I dunno, comfortable positions :) than pulling the 2 am watch in the surf.

The positive thing was that the guy was there in the first place. Too many complain that they are never around in the dead of the night and now they are listening to us and going out. That is really a good thing when you think about it. The Rec community has been asking for it and now they are responding a bit.

What I would have done is strike up a little conversation with the guy and give him a little insight into what and why we are getting soaked by the surf at 2am in the morning. It will help him understand more about surfcasters in general and likely make him more respectful of surf anglers and understand our position better. Instead of us being included with the littering masses of jackasses, maybe he would not lump us as a group in with the rif-raff like the partying teens and such....

You're absolutely correct JohnR. After all he is "Our" guy. He is protecting our pastime and it's up to us to "Train" him. I use train for lack of a better word. He'll learn with experience the difference between poachers and surfmen. If we do it right , he'll also thank God that it's one of us on the wee hour patrols and not some drunken, littering, poaching, bottle breaking , stoned,vandalizing jerks. In time he'll realize that we who are sportsmen are ultimately those who hired him to protect our interests in the surf. If he learns respect, fairness, and interest, then he will develope a mutual respect with the law abiding types. We'll get FROM him what we give TO him.

Jake's got it right.

John and BBJ :claps:

All of the positive points are well taken. I would have been more cordial to the officer if he hadn't been so arrogant.
Now on to the "broken glass story". You guys will love this one.
Last summer RIROCKHOUND and I are fishing one of the Avenues in Narragnasett. It's midnight or 1AM and we are crawling rocks. Waders, Korkers, the whole bit. We decide to go somewhere else and climb out of the rocks. Suddenly we run into more Narragnasett cops than you would see at a riot. Seems that one of the rich land owners around the Avenues called the police and reported "people breaking bottles" on the rocks. So Bryan and I are walking toward the cops and this lady officer looks at us and starts laughing. She says, "Scuff your feet". Remember we are wearing Korkers. "It's their Korkers" she tells the other officers. By now the other police officers are laughing and shaking their heads. They apologized for bothering us and wished us a good night. :boots: :boots:

When he asked what you were doing; straight face you should've answered "Skiing"

I've done X ammounts of nights there the last 4-5 years and NEVER seen DEM in there in the middle of the night; usually the roar through the lot with their DEM bronco and leave;
As far as being hassled by others (kids) never had a problem, I leave them alone and they leave me alone...

Now the family of nomads/gypsys living in the wood paneled mini-van last year at the end of the path for a few nights; that was creepy...

Piemma, remember hte last time someone harrased you on that rock? :rtfm:
Some crazy who blows glass....

What are you doing?
So much for the deductive reasoning powers of those who elect to join law enforcement.

In addition to your garden variety sexual exhibitionists & partiers - I've been able to immediately discern that the people I've happened upon in the dark were:
Santeria Pratitioners
Wiccans
Nocturnal Sculpters
Druid Drummers
Deer Poachers
Fish Poachers
Thiefs
Homeless Campers

I finished a conservation law enforcement training academy in April. I can understand why the DEM guy might have been acting the way he was. Out of my class of 35 there were only 3 fisherman in the group, and they are more the worm and bobber types, and only 2 hunted, and one only "hunted" shoopting preserves with his dad, he was a harvard grad afterall. I made damn sure he understood that he has never hunted before. In all the role playing scenarios we did it was blatantly obvious that they dont understand sportsmen. One instance was an "officer" approaching a duck hunter with his plastic gun trained on the perp, oh i mean legal duck hunter. Some of the people that took the MA EPO civil service exam were blatantly anto hunting. Wanting to end all hunting because they are memebrs of PETA or atleast very sympathetic to their cause :rocketem: . Its going to take these rookies a while to understand the sportsmen as not being evil bastards but people who make their jobs have meaning. Just like any law enforcemnt job, if you look at everyone as being a criminal and treat people like crap you will be workin towards an early career change. I wanted to work in RI with the DEM but dont have the right kind of educational background. Which is prolly good for you guys that want to keep your spots, cuz that is one of the best perks of the job, finding the good spots, unfortunatly i dont think they get a chance to fish and hunt enough. Just imagine night vision goggles, korkers, and an aquaskins top all paid for by the state because they are essential tools of the job. :) i got breifly checked by an EPO at the canal. He looked at me and my equipment and figured i wasnt you average short taker, we had a breif chat and he watched BassBAbe fight a fish and left before it even got landed. A nice guy who fished and understands fisherman, the kind of guy you want on the job.

Rob:
Great post. As a lot of the guys on the board know I have surf fished for a long time and I had never encountered a CO while out in the surf. I certainly didn't intend any disrespect to the officer but I didn't KNOW he was a CO. He was on shore shining a million candle power spotlight on me so I couldn't see him, just his light in my face and him yelling. I still have not figured out what he wanted. he never said. When he came out to where I was he asked me what I was doing which is really quite bizarre considering I had on neoprene waders, Korkers and a 10' rod slinging live eels.
Oh well, I think we have beat this to death. I just hope that I go another 40 years without running into another CO in the dead on night 50 yards out on a reef. :wall:

I had the same experience years ago at Groton Long point. I spent a fall/winter house sitting. I was walking up a public right of way on the way back to my house, in the pouring rain. I had oilers on, korkers, plug bag, and a 10' surf rod, when I got a spot light put on me and the flashing lights turned on. Very similiar dialog... What are you doing? My wrong answers was "Stealing VCR's.. what do you think I'm doing!" Things went south from there!!! His biggest concern was finding out were I had parked my car. GLP has their own police department for all 300 think their rich summer resident's. Most of the time they sit right at the entrance turning non GLPer's away. Can you say nothing to do, I got a speeding ticket for doing 27mph in a 25 zone. By the way this was before the rainy night.

Almost sounds like these two CO's knew each other...... :wall:

Actually it sounds like you and Sbass1 could be related. You boys ever think to ask...hello officer, how may I help you this evening :read:

:faga: :hee:

-spence

Not when it starts out by him asking what are you doing?Plain ignorance :humpty:

Sounds like the Conservation Law Enforcement Academy class is used as a stepping stone by people looking to land other law enforcement jobs (City, Town or State) - the Environmental police are probably the only ones hiring. Too bad that more people in your class were not really immersed in hunting and/or fishing. Having an understanding of hunting or fishing and a desire to be involved in such activities would seem like it should be a prerequisite to be a good CO.

I briefly worked for a fish and game agency in the West and met some wonderful CO's while there. The ones that I met were all anglers and hunters and this seemed like their dream job. On the whole, I think the majority of them are decent guys that have to deal with all sorts of cr@p, but the officer in the story seems like he was a little thick-headed.

Pete

The "animal rights" advocates graciously have provided links to each state's hunter / fisher / trapper anti-harassment statutes at:
<http://www.animal-law.org/huntharass/>.

I'd suggest carrying a copy of your state's law to counter any challenge to your right to fish.