I had a somewhat bad experience this weekend that I would like to share and get some opinion on. It is a bit of a long story but I will make it as short as possible. Once a year some good friends of mine and myself will get together with our families at our favorite beach and have a cookout, swim and enjoy each other’s company. Because we all play one instrument or another we decided it would be nice to sit around in a circle and jam, trading songs and leads. Anyhow, we began to attract a small gathering of beach goers of which we figured the more the better. What we didn't know was that people were beginning to toss change into some of the guitar and banjo cases.
Well, sure enough the police came around and told us that we had to stop. We protested siting that we had the right to be there and asked if anyone was complaining about the music. He had said that there were no complaints so he gave us a warning and just sat and watched us from a distance. Then a bit later on people starting tossing coins in the cases and having witnessed that the police officer came over and threatened to arrest us for gathering in public without a permit. When we asked why he said that we were there not as a friendly gathering but to raise money. So I ask this question. We were not there to panhandle but to have fun and picnic. Because someone through coins in our cases without us knowing does that warrant the police officer's claim that he had the right to make us stop?What is your opinion? Was the police officer right for breaking up our gathering?
-Eric

Nope. A police officer is expected to exercise discretion. From reading your description, nothing you did rises to the level of nuisance or disturbance as long as you were on public property.

It sounds to me like that particular police officer needs to get sent back to the factory for some adjustments......

It may have simply been the banjo.

NAH! That guys needs to read the constitution......or have somebody read it to him.
I got cop friends, I got a son-in-law that's a cop........but I think the word that best decribes your particular cop is ASSHOLE!

This guy just sounds like he was being a dick. Although this wasn't the case, there are communities that require a busking or busker's license. A busker is a street performer who performs for tips and gratuities. I know you have to have one in Northampton & Boston, MA and NYC. Some communities don't require one at all. But this cop sounds like he's got anal issues.

He may have been musically abused as a child......forced to listen to Tiny Tim for hour after hour, or perhaps he had a wicked old piano teacher......

Here's my take :The cop was jealous because the music was cool, and he was, well... not.

I once had an experience with a similar type of cop in Denver, 1979. The cop was about 20 years old, and did not like me due to my arrogance and youthful beauty (white) , not to mention I was driving my boss' car. I had just come out of a Denver Nuggets game, made a crazy U - turn, but did not technically break the law, since it was in fact a U turn where no NO U turn signs were posted, but the cop stopped me after all cuz he was thinking what is this 22 year old blond doing making a crazy U turn in the VIP parking area at McNichols Sports Arena in an $80,000 Mercedes...must be a drunk or high stalker of professional basketball players!

So yeah, I was arrested because I made a U turn, but more importantly beacuse I told him he was making a big mistake. I said he was making a rookie mistake. ...in fact did call him a rookie pig. I was young and fearless! What did I know about cops ? All I knew was that I was not breaking the law....like ERP. you were not breaking the law.

So the rookie cop arrests me. It was later dropped but I was forever marked by the show of bravado.

Of course I had to tell my dad, who then goes and blows it for me by calling the judge and getting the whole thing thrown out! In the end it was - who is more wrong here? The cop that makes an unwarrantable arrest because he can, or the judge who takes a phone call from the kid's dad? Ya know?

Another victim of the thousand fingers of dr t.

Cops who behave like human beings usually earn my respect......I tell the ones who don't (or say "I'm only doing my job"), "Ya know, you coulda joined the Peace Corps"......

This is a much better comeback than rookie pig!

You weren't breaking any law...but next time, close and latch ALL the cases and put them all in one area together, so it doesn't look like you're inviting people to toss money in them. You probably don't want sand in the cases, anyway.

MG Wrote:

"This is a much better comeback than rookie pig!"


I don't think it's better, but it's probably safer......

Sue Wrote:


You weren't breaking any law...but next time, close and latch ALL the cases and put them all in one area together, so it doesn't look like you're inviting people to toss money in them. You probably don't want sand in the cases, anyway."


Sue you are pragmatically correct as usual. We overlooked the obvious: why in the world would we leave guitar cases open on the beach??? My Taylor don't like no sand ......the location of the brain cell is getting narrowed down

I admit leaving the cases open wasn't the smartest thing we ever did but we were at the lake. At the lake the picnic area is away from the beach area and no sand just grass. Anyway, I agree never the less it wasn't a good idea to leave the cases open not only because it is bad for the guitars but it gives the wrong impression to passersby and onlookers.
I am going with the cop was just being a dick..pissed off because he's got duty watching the beach instead of patrolling on wheels. We decided that next time we will keep the cases in the middle of the circle, closed of course : ), so that folks realize that we are just there for fun. So if you see a bunch of forty something’s at a beach in the lakes region of New Hampshire sitting in a circle jamming. Grab your lawn chair and come on over and join us.
I am calling the police office in the town we were in to find out what is acceptable and what isn't and if there is in fact an ordinance. Next time we will be prepared for this guy.
-Eric

It's not just bad for the guitars, but where there's people, there's usually dogs. Male dogs like to pee on stuff...it seems, the more valuable/unusual, the more likely they're going to mark it...especially if you've got pets at home. It's really difficult removing that odor from the case lining. And one three year old child wandering around with an open can of Pepsi can do a lot of damage, too. If the damage is to the outside of the case, no problem cleaning it up...the inside is a different story.
Doesn't matter where I am when I'm out and about with guitars or other musical instruments...I always close the case and latch at least one of the latches. Ya just never know!
On the UMGF site, awhile back there was a long thread about how to get cat pee/odor out of a case. That is really difficult! I don't give my cats access to the inside of my cases, either...no matter how cute it is to see them napping there.