I am like most of you and just want to have a good time with my friends and family. This weekend was almost ruined by the LEO. They came by our camp several times for compliance checks and even were crepping up at night with all there lights off to see if we were doing something wrong. All our stuff is legal and we all had the proper passes. They are out of control. I can see some checks here and there but They came to our camp 8 times in 2 days. My friend even got pulled over for no whip on his truck in the flats when he was driving out of camp to take his dog to the vet when it got sick. I hope they calm down.

That does sound excessive. B-Cup or Gordon's? If you don't mind saying, where exactly where you camped?

EDIT. You said flats so I'm assuming Gordon's.

I had friends down there all weekend and look forward to a report.

i say let them check all they wunt if your legal who really cares. i do know and understand and think that 8 times in 2 days is a little bit much.

as for the ticket that is way to far and out of controlle from the leos. that is chicken shit of them for giving that ticket.thats just unbelievable.

Yes we were at Gordens and we camp along the drags edge but about 1.5 miles north of the vendors. were the hill starts to slope down.

The same guys every time?????????????

4 times it was the same guys but they switch seats and each day the other guy stayed in the truck

Another reason to stay away. I love the dunes but I'm sorry I'm not putting up with this garbage anymore, and I'm not going to pay for these keystone cops to continue their shenanigans. Efff the BLM, I will not contribute another dime! Hey California, get those fools out of the dunes or you can keep it.

What kind of hats were you guys wearing?just askin.

it had to of been a flat bill and wearing it sideways

Alex I know you've spent a lot of time in the dunes especially at Gordon's and wouldn't say that unless you'd had some "experiences" yourself. Remember, it's Federal land, not California's.

We must have been camped next to you.....
Effin LEO's were total DIKS!!!!!!
We had a ranger come in and say "you look young, let me see ID for that beer" Pfftttt..... My daughter looks young jackoff, not me..
Rolled in our camp 3x on friday and twice on saturday. Always asking for ID, nitpicking sticker placement, blah, blah.. No tickets cause we are "legit" but camon man.. A family group, lotsa lil ones, 2 newborns and you are going to roll up on us several times just to check on us..? we were nice and accomodating but by staurday night I was ready to start invoking rights and giving them a really hard time, I woulda lost and probably been jailed but I couldn't take it anymore.
KMA!!!

That blows that you guys are getting blasted like that
from what i hear its always like that on holiday weekends

I dont wear a hat and If I did it would be shaped to fit my head and the bill would be faced forward not to the side. oh and my pants fit me around my waist not below my A _S . we had 4 nice toy haulers at camp and 14 adults and 9 kids ages from 2 to 13. no crasy fire or excessive load music. like most of the people at Gordens.

That sucks.
I think after the 3rd or 4th contact, Id want their badge numbers and account the contacts after that and then send in a full complaint to Neal.
It might not do a thing, but it might also get some attention that it obviously needs.

I would be pissed by sat night like Legit said.. Total BS and the brass needs to lock down their freaking over zealous officers.. Contract or not.. Thats just unacceptable.

I think after the 2nd, if it really was the same guys...

The fish brings up a good point. If you start asking for badge numbers and names you will probably drop down on the list of people they want to visit.



Another question though, did you guys have something nice for them to look at? Maybe that's why they keep coming by....

How about this??? Call and tell those in charge what you think about it....

wow, I completely forgot about the hotline and I was the one that posted it here .

That sounds like something that I would do!!!

Was camped at Gordons... Saw them drive by at least 10 times, and they only stopped to ask me for my pass; which I had taken off the mirror in order to drive through the flats to camp. The Ranger was very respectful and understood why I had taken it down.

I didn't have any issues with them. My friend got pulled over twice for no rear light on his Banshee... his first encounter resulted in a ticket, his second encounter (no more than 3 minutes later) was nothing more than an officer checking to see he had already received a citation.

It seems kind of funny that they would even be over where you were camped. I would have thougt that they would concentrate on the drags, hill, and the sandhighway.

Does anyone else have similar reports? If it is just a few then I would it may be random. If it is a consensus then the LEO has taken a turn "to look for infractions" rather than providing a public safety role. I do not see sticker placement or ens color as a public safety issue. If this is the case we need to file concerns. I am all for law and order, but I do not wish to be afraid to sit in camp for fear of a loose gum wraper, too big of fire, or a sticker in the wrong spot.

While it is true that there is often times excessive alcohol abuse, excessive speed, disregard for personal safety of self and others and environmental (camp slobs that can't pack it out); the larger majority of folks at the desert are for the law. Remember, it wasn't to long ago that we considered someone in that position as somewhat of a hero. I for one would not want to be the one that has to scrape up the carnage of those who didn't play well or worse yet the collateral damage.

I realize that they have have a job to do and in turn I also realize that it used to be a position that demanded respect. It is unfortunate that we loose respect for those who, at one time, probably had good intentions of serving the public. What a shame on all our parts to some degree.

I have no answer other than to say that both sides need to see each other for what it is.

The LEO : To protect and serve - to conduct thyself in a manner befitting the position - to once again become someone we respect and could once again call a hero. To understandand respect that people come to the desert to treat themselves and their famlily to a camping and off road advetnture, not to be criminals.

The Duner: Obey the laws, respect the fact that our sport has consequences, sometimes not pretty, and understand that the fact that if you do not - there will be law enforcement.

It seems to me that communication of our intentions is partly an issue.


My 2 cents.

In a nutshell the Rangers were traveling in packs of 2 or 3 and going from camp to camp to camp,,,,, over and over... You couldn't turn at night without seeing their lights all lit up at some camp or car.
I can appreciate what they are trying to do but they are about 5 years too late...
Gordons was DEAD this weekend, I don't think the flats were even 1/2 full..

Anybody else have the opportunity to pass through the sobriety check point on the way to Olds Saturday night? OK, they called it "informational" but if that was the case why did they check registration and shine the light inside looking for open containers, etc? It did not bother me as I don't drink and drive, and the stuff is tagged, just curious if anybody else had a different experience.

All my encounters with the law this weekend were positive. Talked to one for a bit, he said the head count was down, and that the groups of party people were gone. He described it as "mostly off roaders,; not partiers" and said it was a quiet weekend. The ICSO seemed laid back, but the BLM seemed to be on a bit more aggressive approach. Just what I saw.

Well said.One member of our group recieved a ticket on cement flats last trip,for improper display of his pass was lying on his dash ,not hanging from rear view mirrior ranger said he couldnt see it without getting out of his truck!.

saw plenty of law enforcement but didn't stop by our camp or hassle us at all. wish they would have stopped by our neighbor's camp and asked them to turn down the loud music and generator that ran all night long.

[codewish they would have stopped by our neighbor's camp and asked them to turn down the loud music and generator that ran all night long. ][/code]

That would've been to tough. Let's hassle the families.

Sorry to say but that is the mentality on the big weekends. Hassle people enough and they won't comeback. If you don't comeback that's one less group they have to worry about. Remember it's OT money for them. All that money and the less they do for it the better.

A little off topic but has anything else changed? How were the drags and hills? Did they mess up test anymore than it was last year?

Guess they have nothing left to enforce.
I'd be really bothered if they rolled up to camp like that.

We went last year on halloween, the LEO's were completely out of control. Normal weekend you might see a few, but last halloween there were probably 100. First and LAST time I will ever go on a big weekend.

We were camped in wash 6 and saw lots of law enforcement. They would drive by camps making sure you had you permit displayed but they never got out of their vehicle and approached us. We also saw them at the hill and at the drags. Saw lots of people getting pulled over for violations such as no whip. I don't know what happened Friday night in wash 6 but they had 9 law enforcement vehicles surrounding a camp for about an hour.

ive had my fair share of good times at gordons but most of my run in's with the law has been there sadly. never been ticketed in any part of the desert though (knock on wood). i dont get it.

I go about 3 times a month because I live in Yuma. I have been going out there for 17 years and just brought it up because on holidays in the past I never remember that many checks at the camps. I love the dunes and will continue to go. I will just grin and bear it when they come by. I did send an email to the BLM office about the number of checks. I was respectfully in my email and gave them my contact info. If they email back I will update you all.

Sometimes its just a numbers game.
If they can show that they had a high level of "Contacts" with visitors it can be used to justify more funding, or a need for more officers (jobs).
I would report it as unnecessary, or harassment!

We had probably the largest group at gordons this last weekend. Very large circle and triple rows in areas. The rangers came through our camp multiple times checking registration etc. basically looking for any sort of revenue generation. They would be there for more than an hour at a time. It was overkill for sure.

My pals were at Wash 6 as well. Here's what they told me 'They were at the camp in wash6 because of deomestic dispute. A guy beat up his girlfriend and she called the cops. we talked to the guys in the camp and they confirmed it. '

ABC

Just like the original poster I also noticed the cops creeping around the outside of our camp at night with their lights off. How can that be safe?

Fellow Duners,

This was absolutely and positively over the F'n top. It completely screwed up mine and countless other campers weekend. This was major harassment.

What we experienced this weekend was nothing like a few rangers with attitudes and small (you no ?'s). This was a premeditative and thoroughly planned operation and I want to know why.

The order and pre-planning of over scheduled LEO's this weekend had to have come from the top. Was it because they knew in advance that revenues would be down and they had to take the opportunity to replace the loss?

These guy's where skulking around in the dark out of there vehicles like fricken peeping toms! I almost hit one that jumped out from behind a bush!

I was camped in one of the largest circle at Gordons and everyone was very mellow. Each one of the campers had an axis of a $100,000 rapped up in their riggs. These are not criminals and they are not used to being treated like criminals. Quite a few said that they are done with this and that they will find other places to go!

We can't let this happen to our mother G!

Can we get a comment from someone who orchestrated this "planning"? You know that they are reading these comments. Please chime in... Will ya?

None the less, I think my next big weekend will be at Ogulby.

Ahhh that felt a just a little bit better even though the bruising will take some time to heal.

i was at gordons from thursday till sunday in the same area as you guys (next to the hill right down from the drags) and had no problems and not one stop in from the rangers all weekend. on a side note we have several large dogs next to every trailer that i think helps keep them away.

I forgot the time they came in our camp because one of the dogs was off the leash playing catch...

Maybe they just need some sensitivity and "cultural" training...

Bout time they dropped the hammer on you party animals. Us family types in Glamis are afraid to go down there...

We were at Mother G camped at Gecko last weekend. Didn't get one visit to camp all weekend (that I know of) and we were around awhile every nite.

Last Halloween at Olds there were a good 12 LEOs waiting on the side of the hill with lights on, showing their force. After hanging about 1/2 hour, they turned on their sirens can came down and flushed out the entire hill.

This Halloween I was very suprised at Olds hill Sat nite.... there were TONS and TONS of people out there. Reminded me of old school comp hill. LEOs were at the hill but not showing force or excessive numbers which was nice.

Don't get why they were so bad at Gordon's but seemed cool at Mother G. Drags at G were cool too, no LEO problems I could see.

So what I hear you all saying is that:
1. There was a huge LE/Ranger presence.
2. They covered [the same] crowded areas multiple times in a 24 hour period.
3. People have changed their behavior based on increased presence.
4. Overall, contact has been positive though inconvenient at times.
5. There was huge amounts of revenue created from people not following simple and well advertised rules.
6. We expect that LE/Rangers can, at a glance, tell the difference between a camp with kids and expensive rigs from a camp with kids, expensive rigs and drunks who pose a threat to everyone, and we also want them to know that a sober camp at 6 am is going to be a sober camp at 6 pm.

We asked for this.

We were up at Gecko Loop for 10 days and the only time we saw the Rangers were their daily check for passes. They did shutdown the music at the disco ball trailer at 9:30 pm on Friday night and gave them a warning for amplified music, but that was all of the enforcement I saw around us.

We only stayed at the hill for about an hour this weekend and the drags maybe a total of 1.5 hours on Friday/Saturday.
We didn't see any enforcement during the 450 miles of duning we did in 10 days.

We camped at Glamis wash 6 this last weekend and I could NOT believe the Harrassment!!! it was CRAZY we went to olds Sat afternoon we were there maybe an hour I counted 15 people that got pulled over and SITED ( I saw alot more get pulled over but they were to far away from us to actualy see if they got sited) the only people I saw (visually) that needed to be pulled over were a couple riding doubles on a quad, the rest of the people seemed like who ever the BLM got behind they pulled over! it was insane my husband was waiting at the entrance of wash 6 for me to go in and find a spot to camp and someone did a sobe bomb (I know they are illegal but I have seen MANY in the years before and the guy was dumb for doing it but.......) Anyway they were RIGHT THERE with thier GUNS DRAWN on the guy!!!! we had 5 BLM trucks that were in a line next to our camp Friday night just waiting for campers to come in and they pulled most of them over, and every one of them had at least 2 back up BLM trucks assist them. The last day Sunday, a fireman from our camp drove from our camp to the bathroom 200 ft and got pulled over, they searched his truck, and even opened his cold medicine capsules to make sure they werent illegal drugs, sited him for NO FLAG on his truck (he was in the camp area) checked his engine, lights, muffler noise (it was a diesel) registation, kept him for around 20 mins it was CRAZY!!!!!

The bottom line I guess is........, I was so freaked out to drive my sand rail!!!! BUT I did drive it and I never got pulled over, I only drove for a a while on Sunday, NOT because I would be doing anything wrong but because I saw sooooooo many people get pulled over for NO REASON and ticketed for something stupid!!! They were looking for anything!! and they have alot of power to make something up! (well I just mean they can say whatever right?) my husband got a ticket (fix it ticket) a year or so ago for the tail light on the sand car it wasnt out but it seemed dim to the BLM we could fight it or pay the $175.00 ticket but to fight it we would have to drive down there and show THEM proof that it was fixed which would mean trailering the sandcar to Brawley and proving it was fixed so we just paid it which whatever but come on!!!. We also had a friend drive from our camp to wash road on a stock GOLF CART during Thanksgiving weekend (and we were pretty packed in as far as camping goes ) and he got pulled over for no license plate and reg. on a golf cart!! he did have a few beers and they popped him for a DUI on a stock golf cart in camp he blew a .082 and they took him to the pokie for the weekend and he lost his license for a year

Sure hope this doesn't continue

YOU NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE SIGNS !

"DON'T FEED THE LEO's"

They are over the top. Running around our big circle with their lights off trying to pull off some sort of sting, is pathetic. We are all there with our kids. No loud music, and no flat bills. Purely there to generate revenue. Lame!

This should definitely make my first trip out with my crew interesting......I camp with mostly real law enforcement peeps........People that are sneaking around our camp hiding in bushes are likely to get drawn down on........