Forums > Social Chat > its the police!

Posted: 17th Sep 2001
Yeah I have had a police audience as well..as long as you don't drop it, and put on a good show for them, they are usually fine with it.

~whoosh whoosh whoosh~

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 17th Sep 2001
Cool didnt a similar thing happen when Katinca and I were staying there?I seem to remember a cop car cruising past real slow a couple of times...Josh

Posted: 17th Sep 2001
YEAH! you had just lit up your doubles and the cop car stopped. i wasnt sure what he was going to say or do so i went up to talk to him and he just said "i really like that, you guys are pretty good, have fun" i was so stoked after that, cause before i wasn't really sure what they would say about it. we had a couple of cops just kind of drive by and not stop, but that time he did. very cool.

anyone got a light?

Posted: 17th Sep 2001
Cops can be a great audience for busking as well as making others feel safe in the crowd if it's late at night.I always approach them if I see them and invite them to sit down and watch. I also ask them for money as they can't tell me they're UNEMPLOYED!It didn't take long after I started busking for most of the central-city cops to know me by sight, and since then they've always been great to deal with and tend to keep an eye on me and tell me about what's been happening on their shift so far.Cops Rule!...------------------Charles (INFERNO)newdolbel@hotmail.comhttps://juggling.co.nz

HoP Posting Guidelines
* Is it the Truth?
* Is it Fair to all concerned?
* Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
* Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

Posted: 17th Sep 2001
Same here I was performing in downtown during Mardi Gras last year. A fiew cops on horse back started watching. I got very nervous but continued on. When the fire was out they approached me. I thought they were going to arrest me. But instaid started talking to me. First about poi and then they went off about a fiew drunks causing trouble. Finally one of them asked me to light up again. Of course I did not argue an lit up. I finished up a set and he asked me to teach him. Imagine that!

Posted: 18th Sep 2001
Here in London there are beaches that appear along the banks of the Thames at low tide. A couple of us were spinning fire on one one night when the river police pulled up parallel to us. I thought 'Oh no!', although I've never had trouble here before.However after a few minutes we stopped spinning, and they drove off down the river!Dom

We're nothing but the nerds they think we are

Posted: 18th Sep 2001
Oh i see (sniff sniff) dont call me or nuffin Love you too Pozzee lol j/k whats up for the weekend? call me dammit! --erica ____________________________-The poison got me in the music got me hooked"Come with me to a land of fantasy, take my hand down into techno wonderland"

Its not easy being green....

Posted: 18th Sep 2001
Here in London where I live I like to twirl in a huge park called Hampstead Heath, patrolled by the mean and menacing 'Heath Police' who will prosecute you for cycling, shaking out carpets, and speaking or passing notes after sunset...amongst other things that infringe the weird by-laws. You can imagine my horror, then, as they hurtled towards me across a field in their van the other night while I was spinning my doubles... I started to put the fire poi out and they told me not to - they had just come up for a closer look! They then started to ask me how I learnt etc, etc, before breaking into applause! (*blushes*) I guess they're not so bad after all...

Posted: 18th Sep 2001
they were probably scared of you guys...A couple of pshyco pyromaniacs at 2:00 in the morning...they wanted no part of it. hee hee [image]https://www.homeofpoi.com/ubb/images/icons/grin.gif">------------------[/image]He Murders Some Part of the World These Are the PaleDeaths Which Men Miscall Their Lives All this I Cannot Bear to Witness Any Longer Cannot the Kingdom of Salvation Take Me Home"

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear--not absence of fear.


- Mark Twain

Posted: 18th Sep 2001
I have recently performed at Notting Hill carnival in front of about twenty policemen and women, they didn't seem that bothered.I quite often do fire poi in the center of Bath as well and have had no trouble. I think as long as you look responsible (say have a damp towel and don't look to amatuer about it all) they are ok.Does anyone know of any UK laws or bylaws against fire performing?------------------be nice, life's to short for shit.

------------------
errrm I intend to live forever, or at least die trying.
Voltaire

Posted: 18th Sep 2001
Damn. When I lived in London for a few months I don't think I was too far from Hampstead Heath. Would have been cool to see. I'm still sad I never made any lasting aquaintances over there. Oh well. It was before I started spinning...

Posted: 19th Sep 2001
me and some friends regularly twirl down on manly beach in sydney aust, about 400 meters from the police station, once they came down to check if we were drinking (we wernt) and another time they came to check if we were taking money from the crowd (illegal here without a busking licence) both times they stayed for a while told us we looked great and went on there way.------------------The Sand...The Surf... The Flame.

The Sand...The Surf... The Flame.

Posted: 19th Sep 2001
tjippendejl.I rather avoid cops.

Posted: 19th Sep 2001
Pozee, that's so cool. Such a good police experience compared to mine two weeks ago. For those of you who missed it....https://www.homeofpoi.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/001315.htmlNomad

Posted: 20th Sep 2001
My home forum is a truck message board. It's filled with little kids that do illegal things to their trucks then complain that they get tickets for it. It's nice to see a group that gets along with the police.I wanted to mention that if you can stomach planning events you could probably contact the local authorities and get their OK for doing fire in public. This way there would be no cause for concern when the boys in blue come around. I know Pele did that when she planned to practice in her backyard. She visited the fire chief and he was fine with it. We haven't checked on practicing in a park or anything, but maybe we should.------------------"Except for that Mrs. Lincoln, How did you like the play?"Pyromorph - Let the fire change you

FYI: I am not Pele. If you wish to reply to me and use a short version of my name, use: PWB.

English? Who needs that? I'm never going to England. - Homer Jay Simpson

Posted: 20th Sep 2001
i was walking home one night(read 3am) after a night out clubbing, practicing my spinning with my glowsticks when a police car drove past, I noticed that the numberplate was PIG, which is why i recognised it 2 minuits later when it drove past again, and a third time, and then a fourth, on the fourth passing the window was wound down and the copper *politely* asked me "Wot the hell do u think ur doing with those?""spinning them" (the answer wasnt meant to be sarcastic, it was just the answer.)the cop pulled over and shouted "Oi, Come `ere." I walked over and he promptly drew his batton. I stopped walking, as you do when a cop gets his batton out. "Whats up?" i say. "Im sure that aint safe" he says"Oh. Why not?""Looks like a weapon to me""oh........S`not" I hand him my poi"Wots that?" he said"Glowstick""Where did u get it?""Blink" (thats a shop in Leicester)"Where u bin""J21""Hmmmmmm." He gets in the car with one of my poi and radios in to see if its legal to spin glowsticks on string in public, gets out the car and says to me "Make sure do dont hit no-one with that freaky shit or your gonna be in trouble mate" Pointing at my face from about one foot away! How many people am i likely to hit with poi on a road outside the city centre at 3 o`clock in the morning? Over reacting or what? and an attitude rottweiler would be ashamed of. He didnt belong in the force. Arsehole.But generally I get on fine with cops, they see us spinning, nod, and walk on.------------------Respect the flames, for from them emerges heat, and light, let this Light guide you, and this heat warm your heart, from fire comes Life.

Respect the flames, for from them emerges heat, and light, let this Light guide you, and this heat warm your heart, from fire comes Life.

Posted: 20th Sep 2001
I think the above post is just confirming that people act like people, no matter what their job is.There are a lot of nice cops, which we hardly ever hear about, and a few stupid cops and very small number of w***er cops.Just coz they wear a uniform doesn't mean they are an example of every other person in the same uniform.Ra ra ra (warm fuzzies and philosophy for everyone...) ------------------Charles (INFERNO)newdolbel@hotmail.comhttps://juggling.co.nz

HoP Posting Guidelines
* Is it the Truth?
* Is it Fair to all concerned?
* Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
* Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

Posted: 20th Sep 2001
The second time I ever spun fire I had quit a crowd. They kept asking for more. Then the cops showed up in the middle of one of my burns and I could hear peole from the crowd saying let her be! I could hear the cops say "she's preety good!" When I was finnished the crowd was asking for more! One of the cops stepped in and said "I'm this girls agent. Someone get her some water she needs a break!" It was really funny! And I was never told anything other than it looked amazing by the cops!Fevagirl

Peace, Beats, Love and Light!

Posted: 20th Sep 2001
and this one time at band camp.... j/k lolz

Its not easy being green....

Posted: 21st Sep 2001
Hey,the cops here in portland are pretty sweet as far as twirlin goes, despite having a few run-ins and "incidents" with the cops in my past they think fire twirling is beautiful so they are pretty good to me. And there is also the fact that the shire council where i live has given me permission to twirl anywhere that i deem safe on there land so i can twirl pretty much anywhere!:Chotys:

AnonymousPLATINUM Member

Posted: 21st Sep 2001
In San Francisco, some friends and I meet for a weekly drum/poi session. There are some great pedestrian tunnels in Golden Gate park that provide great sound from the drums and glowsticks show up very well because of the very dark environment.In the past, the police have come and told us to leave. Last week, a police car came right into the tunnel that we were in and we instantly started packing our gear up to leave (we wanted no trouble). The officer rolled down her window and basically apologized for her need to pass through the tunnel on her rounds in the park. She went on her way and we were able to continue well into the evening.I was so happy to see that at least one police officer was ok with us gathering in a peaceful manner, when so many others have asked us to disperse.Peace,Augustguavo@pacbell.net

Posted: 21st Sep 2001
Most of the time Houston cops act like they don't even see us, sometimes they watch for a bit, but I think they want people to think they are busy. They haven't actually hassled us yet.Once down in the Rio Grande valley near Brownsville TX, I had a cop (member of the local SWAT team) come up to me at a party I was spinning fire at (friend's bachelor party) and make a deal with me: for giving him a few minutes of instruction, he gave me a big bag full of glow sticks and let me shoot two clips of ammo from his fully auto AR-15 machine gun! Texas can be kinda fun sometimes.Cops are occasionaly people too. -v-

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 21st Sep 2001
Wow, i wanna live in Texas.

I hope you realize how pissed I am.

Posted: 24th Sep 2001
I was at a spin meet when the cops turned up. She was Quite shirty with me till i showed her what i could do & then she was well impressed. She had a guy in the car with her who owned a local nightclub and he was so impressed he gave me a gig!!Onelove, Thistlefirepixie

Are we nearly there yet?

Posted: 25th Sep 2001
Yeah, I've never had a problem with cops here in Hali. The other night, in fact, while two of us were busking, our fuel can caught on fire (bad fuel mix: about 80-20 camp fuel/kero. Lights great. Too low a flashpoint. my own mistake... anyhow...) Consequently, some of the ground around the can where we'd been spinning out lit up, too. Cops had been patrolling all night and were slowing down as they went by us as usual. Not a minute after the fuel lit up, there were two cop cars and a FIRE TRUCK on the street adjacent to us. I teach everyone who spins with me fire safety and make sure they can smother a fire. In no time (actually, about a minute, which is still long) we had the can, the equipment, and the ground extinguished. Always keep smothering blankets with you, kiddies! By the time I'd turned to the crowd, bowed, and said "Ta-DA!", the fire truck and cops cars were gone. They never said a word to us. We really appreciated that they accepted us as professionals who were able to deal with accidents efficiently.They probably have a lot more to worry about with all the nutty drunks on the streets on a Thursday night than people out trying to make a couple of bucks spinning fire.[This message has been edited by Rick (edited 26 September 2001).]

-Rick aka Loki
oh, man, a signature?... uuh... this is like coming across wet cement... uuh, shoot, I had something clever I was saving... I hope I don't run out of sp