Cop at Farrington

[saxmatt]

I was fishing Farrington Lake today by Church ln and got kicked off by an East Brunswick police officer. The ice was about 6" think, half black half gray. The officer was very confrontational from the beginning of our conversation and he made something up about fish and game not wanting people on the ice. I explained to him that fish and game does not have to say the ice is safe for people to fish it and I called a game warden to double check. The warden said fish and game has no problem with people fishing Farrington and he wasn't sure why the East Brunswick police officer kicked me off. I also told the officer I have ice safety training and I was wearing ice picks and a suit that floats. I even offered to drill a hole by shore so he could see how thick the ice was. The officer just got more and more angry the whole conversation while I kept my cool, and it finally got to the point where he said if I wasn't off the ice in a half hour he would be waiting at my car for me and there would be problems. I called the East Brunswick police station to complain about the officer and the only thing they said was if he wants to kick me off he can, and if I don't get off I can be arrested. Shouldn't the police be spending their time fighting crime instead of ruining the afternoons of several people who aren't doing anything illegal? If anyone can think of other ways I can report this officer and get them to leave us alone let me know. If anyone else has been kicked off the ice at Farrington and you want to complain, please call the East Brunswick Police Department at (732) 390-6900. Maybe if we keep bugging them they'll stop bugging us.

[nyr114]

Hey Matt....I was thrown off just before you were, thats why I didn't come back over to see you. He was even hesitant to let me back on the ice to collect my gear!

Then some guys showed up and started yelling at the cop telling him he was wrong to throw me off. The officer then said that numerous people called the station complaining that someone was on unsafe ice! I also saw a police officer pass by me six times earlier in the morning without stopping or saying anything to me. Why did they wait until 12 noon to throw me off when they knew I was there since 7am?   

[saxmatt]

He really went out of his way to kick me off. I wasn't visible from the road and wasn't within shouting distance from the parking lot, so he went down one of the side streets and went through someones backyard to yell at me. I've met plenty of nice cops, but this guy is a real ass and has no business being in a profession where he is supposed to help people.

[tziegert14]

Had the same thing happen to me at Budd Lake a couple of years back. A female officer tried the same thing except she never got on the ice even. She muttered "This is not safe, this is not safe" and then proceded to jump in  her squad car and tear out of there! I called Mt. Olive police department, don't you just love calling about this dumb type of stuff! The desk Sargent said ok you ice fish but you can't tresspass on the town beach parking lot? I guess you have to try to save some type of face and back up your force. So, they forced everyone to park off of Rt. 46, how safe was that? Plus I never understand way people would call about unsafe ice I would love to me one of these concerned citizens.  I honestly believe 95% of all ice fisherman know what safe and what's not, the other 5% voted for our current prez!

Icepants

[Knoodles]

What is most troubling about this is the fish and games failure to stick up for outdoors man.  I had a situation duck hunting many years back.  Hunting public river and some land owner FREAKED out, we were completely withing the law.  2 cops and a DNR showed up as the dude called PD.  Cops were pricks and told us to respect land owners (we were over 200 yards from any building this guy had; WI law states 100 yards from a building) and basically told us we cant hunt there.  My buddy and I looked at the game warden who just turned the other way.  This guy new we were totally legal and just let the cops hammer on us.

Fish and game should be sticking up for outdoors man and working to save our sports.  The DNR in your state should have called the local PD and asked for clarification. 

[HaveAuger]

Who is this lake owned by? If it is town/state owned, town can kick you off. (Spring Lake (Monmouth County) is owned by town, state and they do kick you off. They also kick you off when they recently get sued by some idiot who ventures out and falls through. Always someone elses fault when they get hurt that being the town's for not posting signs or a cop not intiminating you to leave. I would ask a lawyer if the town could be sued for interfering with your right/privledge to icefish.

[Surefishalot]

Sax, last year we were fishing by sir johns, a north Brunswick cop tried kicking us off after we fished there all day. We just ignored him til we were ready to leave. They left and came back when we got to our truck. He give me a ration of sh3t said the ice was unsafe,it was 7". I asked didn't they have any thing better to do then harass us. He said a neighbor complained the ice was unsafe and they had to check it out.Told him every where we got on the ice we check and would not put our selves or children at risk if it wasn't safe. Then he said someone drowned there a few years ago so the neighbors were skidish .I asked if they were fisherman,and he said no. I told him there's always people walking out there that have no business being there. No clue where they are walking,No safety equipment ,Nothing .He said well if I fell thur the ice I'd be putting rescue worker at risk, meaning him, at risk. Told if I fell thur dew to my own stupidly not to come rescue me I'd be happy because I died doing something I loved. Told them next time a neighbor called to complain about an icefisherman to tell them we had the right to be out there and mind there own business. With that they left.

[SLIK]

I was just surfing around and I ran into this one. I can't imagine fishing lakes where cops come around and harass you.
 
I've ran into fisheries twice in the last five years. Never seen a cop near a lake. Rarely do I see people either.
An idea, next time bring some big headphones with an mp3. When you see the cop come around put em on and look the other way. The way you guys are describing it, they won't go on the ice after you.

[LoneWolf]

First I wouldn't call him dumb. Put yourself in the officers shoes. If some one calls in that the ice is unsafe and he lets you remain or doesn't respond it's his liability. You fall thru and drown .. he's sued and loses his job. You get hurt .. again it falls on him.
It's the person who made the phone call ... not the officer. JMO

[mcl79]

I would call him dumb for the simple fact he probably has no clue about what safe ice is.  He is just going on what some citizen told him rather than being educated on the facts. If you are trying to uphold a law (which he probably wasn't) than you should know the law itself and what it relates to.  Having a badge makes you no better than anyone else.   I love how they (some of them) strong arm you into doing what they want even if they were wrong.  If this were me I would be making the biggest stink about it.  Then they would have to listen to me because I would be the complainant.  I would also print so ice safety information and pass it out to all the neighbors on the lake and to the police station.   You are in your rights unless the town has some ordinance.  I believe the pursuit of happiness is a constitutional right, isn't that what we are doing. 

[mcl79]

There appears to be a law in NJ protecting us.
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=10779
This is an old case but I could not find anything else that overturned the law.

[Reb]

Its all about liability and big brother protecting us from ourselves..We are not smart enough to know what is safe , so some governing agency needs to make some more rules..

[saxmatt]

The reason I called him dumb is he couldn't construct a logical argument, he was confrontational, and didn't listen to anything I had to say.

Update: I called the police and fish and game to complain and also wrote an email to the town council. The police lieutenant got the letter and gave me a phone call today. The lieutenant seemed like a great guy and was very apologetic. He said he looked into the situation and I had every right to keep ice fishing. He talked to the cop and sent a memo to the East Brunswick and North Brunswick police stations telling all the cops not to bother the ice fishermen on Farrington Lake. He said the only people they will be kicking off now are kids that are causing problems on the ice. I'm glad the situation got resolved and it's good to see the East Brunswick police station has some great people working at the top.

[LoneWolf]

Glad to hear it !   

[WaterSupplyGuy]

Saxmatt,

Sounds like you handled it in a very professional way, you kept your cool which is hard to do when the officer seemed confrontational. Kudos to the lieutenant that called and handled it in that matter.

[catfish_onthelake]

Good to hear.

I used to fish for channel cats at night by the Church Ln. boat launch when I was going to Rutgers. A cop came by a few times, but once they saw that I was just fishing, they didn't say much else.

Glad to hear all ended well.

[Tep151]

I was with Surefishalot when we got asked to leave last year and ignored them....they said at that time they didnt want to have to resuce us and i was pretty upset with that comment.....

Anyway it looks like someone finally pulled their head out of the sand and realized we are not hurting anybody or anything...thanks for following up Saxmatt and keeping the respect they do deserve even though they sometimes act like total ________ (fill in the blanks) 


Now we just ned to catch some fish.....keep the flags flying boyz......... 

Tep

[mtbusch]

I am not in favor of these new "ONE WORLD ORDER PROGRAMS"  these sob's in washington and congress are doing it slowly and deliberately.. this is how they get the "GUNS" .. they know fishing and hunting go together.. they are being made to break balls because alot first time and certainly second time offenders get their 2nd amendments yanked away! jmho .. I live in new jersey but haven't purchased a resident fish/hunting license since 1984! lol just not worth it imo.

[mcl79]

That is the outcome I would have expected.  The officer apparently was not well versed in where his powers start and end.  Now he knows.  Good work!

[mtbusch]

Its all about liability and big brother protecting us from ourselves..We are not smart enough to know what is safe , so some governing agency needs to make some more rules..

I use to think too it was  due to some liability thing but, if you really want to know the truth about the program.. it isall about control.. they want our guns.. these are little steps we are witnessing in how they are systematically working to remove each gun owners rights to own a firearm.

[Tom_K_from_NJ]

nice job Saxmatt.  I got thrown off Farrington, I think it was 2 years ago.  Same bulls***.  I was fishing off Chruch Lane and the cop was in the parking lot by that bar (Whalebones?)

[Gorilla]

Good job following up at the station... lets see if they continue to harass fishermen next weekend

[GiantSquid]

I fish Farrington all the time in the summer from my boat.  I see cops all the time cruising Church Lane and Riva Road.  I get license checked often by the game warden but never got stopped by the cops.  Then again I haven't fished the ice there yet.

You neglected the most important piece of info..  did you catch anything?

[NJIceFisher]

Hey Matt,
                  Great Job Man! as I am glad to hear something finally got settled there after all these yrs as I too, had gotten kicked off of there back about 5 yrs ago near the Sir Johns Bridge Area (Same BS Too! East Brunswick and North Brunswick Cops - (I think it was, were even working together near the Bridge telling me it was either one of their responsibilities to chase people off the Ice even though at the time the damm Ice was like 6-8" that yr) and they still insisted that I couldn't be out there and were also getting nasty with me too that day. It is a shame as they never did this crap yrs ago and I have been fishing there through the Ice for over 20yrs and back then you hardly ever even seen a Warden let alone a Cop on the Lake to Bust your Balls! lol But most of the time back then we allways Fished the Riva Ave Cove area (Walked out from the Power Lines to the Point of the Cove there ) and nobody except a few Ice Fishermen would ever walk that area as to probably why we never saw any F & G or Law Enforcement out there! 

Again Good Job Matt as you may have made it good for us again to fish it there the rest of this Season and Next!

 
So now the ? is for all your Troubles did you even get a chance to Catch Anything there over the Weekend? 

Take Care,

JD

[saxmatt]

1 drop, 1 stole my bait, lost one at the hole, another came off near the hole. 2 flags came within an hour of when I got kicked off, so I got the skunk and left the biting!

[NJIceFisher]

To Bad to hear that Man! With all the Trouble & BS you went through too! Did you fish there today again ny any chance or No?

 Anyway liked I mentioned in my previous post a few min ago about my old Spot - The Riva Avenue Cove Area (If you walked out Near the point of it  - Where it meets the Main Lake was allways a Secluded Area kinda were not to many people fished it except me and my Family/Friends yrs ago but it was allways the Best Fishing there at that edge of the Point and nobody bothers you out there as they aint gonna Drive no Police Car through the Snowy Woods to get out there thats for Sure! 

Talk To You Later,

JD

[saxmatt]

I tried the cove before the big storm, now the parking on the side of the road is covered with a snow bank. The other lots had not been plowed as of Sunday, so the parking situation all around the lake is bad. I parked in the lot by church ln and I have trouble getting my truck out, even with 4 wheel drive. I haven't been back since Sunday, but I'll be back soon. There were a bunch of small holes all over the place that had an inch or 2 of ice on them, none bigger than a beach ball. It looks like all the snow weighed down the ice and forced water up through the cracks making the holes. I was going to fish there today, but with the coating of snow we got this morning I wouldn't have been able to see the holes and I didn't feel like putting a foot through. Another cold night or 2 and we should be good.

[NJIceFisher]

Matt I'll PM you later-on or tomorrow about a Possible End of the Week trip down here (Thursday or Friday) ok Man!

JD

[Gorilla]

I am just surprised that Farrington has that much ice on it...  I live 5 minutes away but get home from work after dark, so I have not had a chance to check it out.

Maybe Saturday morning I will hit up Farrington of Davidson Mills.

[mojofish]

I live in NJ, but I grew up in the Midwest, where fishing and hunting is protected, usually by the police.  Most police I know were great guys and fished and hunted themselves.  What you have hear is a failure of communication.  Hunters and fishermen support local stores and help greatly with tourism and licenses.  Unless I am missing something this "is" a form of harassment by a citizen or township using the police as their tool against you.  I am going through similar problems with our lake which is private.  Anti-fishermen used to call the cops on us until we educated the police that they are interrupting a legal activity... the police eventually did get the message.

Assumption of risk in a sporting activity protects all of us, including those who worry about being sued by us.  Basically if you are injured in a sport, it was assumed that you knew the risks involved.  Yes people can sue for anything, but that does not always lead to a favorable judgment by the injured party a judge would throw the case out.  Further, you paid for a license for the privilege to fish and certain protections are attributed to those privileges such as protection against harassment. 

I like to think that this above is form of passive aggressive harassment.  I call the police acting worried "there are people on the lake and they might fall through and die"  the police respond and do my dirty work.   The call knows that you are in no immediate danger but the police must respond.   At some point, this is an illegal activity by the caller (who thinks that you are white trash).    Try calling 911 on your least favorite neighbor everyday Sunday when he is working around his house and garden.  Say to the 911 responder that "there is a man holding a chainsaw and woman (probably that man's wife) is on the patio in a chair, and I am very worried for her life" and see what happens to you when you make that call a second time.  What is the difference?

I say be strong protect your sport (your roots) or it and who you are will be taken from you... fish on.