Great weather today, and Nick, Eric, newbie Pete from NJ and I were out spotting. Rwy 31L/R was active, so we started at Costco, and were there for better than two hours without incident (Nick was across near Firestone earlier, and got checked out, but he can tell that story). They shifted to 13L arrivals, so we headed down to the AI cargo lot.
We were there probably an hour without incident, but at one point an elderly security guard from AI (who was working on his car in the lot) said something to us - I tried to approach him to hear what he said, but he turned and went back to the AI building. About 20 minutes later, two Port PD cars pull up to AI, the guys there (probably 4 at that point) point to us, and PD pulled over to us (about that time a third car joined them).
I approached them first, and the first officer, a female, upon exiting her car said "Guys, the days of taking pictures of airplanes are over!"
In a polite, innocent way I asked "Why is that?" I thought she was going to have a stroke :)
She said "Don't you read the papers?" (To me, in my Newsday hat!) I said "Yes, but what does that have to do with us taking pictures?"
We had a few more minutes of back and forth, definitely confrontational on their part. One of the officers saw Pete's scanner sitting on his car, and that got them excited. Nick and I both commented on the legality of what we were doing. They asked for ID from all of us, recording our info. They clearly knew why we were there, at one point she said "I know about the clubs, and you guys taking pictures, but this just isn't the time."
Once they saw we knew the law, and that we were going to be polite yet weren't going to be bullied, their attitude changed, she made a little joke about getting bored seeing airplanes every day at work, and finally she said "Guys, just give it a couple of weeks."
They returned Pete's radio, and asked us (more politely now) to move along, and said that we were on AI property. I replied that if AI wanted us off their lot, we would be glad to leave, they should have said something.
Strange thing - a little while before PD got there, two guys pulled in and parked near us - at first I thought they were spotters, but they didn't come over to see us, and they sat there, sort of watching the planes while talking. One of the Port PD officers did go over and check their ID, and also asked them to leave.
In the end, it worked out OK, but it sure didn't start that way. They clearly knew why we were there, but were using the recent activities in England as an excuse to come on strong. By remaining polite, yet standing our ground, we ended up with a decent resolution to the encounter.
