Long story:
My son is 16 years of age. We currently reside on the former Algiers Navy Base. It is now known as Federal City. Having gotten his license last month, I've been letting him make short trips to the store, to a friends house, or like today, fishing. There is a pier about a mile away from our house which leads out onto the Mississippi. So he packs his fishing gear up and heads up there. Ever since the Navy left, a new company (HRI) has now owned the majority of Federal City (to my knowledge). There is a rather small, gated and guarded military area about a quarter of a mile away from where my son parked the car to go fishing. HRI, owning all the property that was previously owned by the Navy on the old Algiers navy base, placed heavy-duty key & combo locks on the their fences. There are two gates in the fence-line which are basically right alongside the levy (maybe a foot away, if that). The gates aren't locked in the most secure fashion, and the excess chain allows for kids/smaller adults to squeeze through. I told my son, hell, if you can fit, go ahead; reason being because a mile down the levy, the gate is WIDE OPEN with no sign restricting access. He hears someone from far away yell to him "You're not allowed up there!!" after he's already squeezed through the gate and is walking along the levy the short distance to the pier. I'm pretty sure they saw him squeeze through the gate. I'm also presuming they were military personnel with some MP (Military Police) buddies.
After fishing for 15-20 minutes, he sees people at the gate. He couldn't tell they were MPs at first because they were about 100-125 yards away. Then he hears them screaming "HEY!!!". He calls me up and asks if I can come up to the pier real quick while he's walking back towards the fence. There were two African-American officers. One dressed in his Marine Corps uniform, the other dressed in his MP uniform. They were on the other side of the fence. The officer walks up close to the fence and asks him to walk to the gate. My son complies. The officer then proceeds to tell him to come to come through the gate. Now, my son is very intelligent. He is an Honors student at a pretty good school (Ben Franklin). He asks if he's done something wrong in a very tranquil voice. The officer repeats himself and says "Come through the fence, please." My son then repeats himself too. After being rather forcefully prompted, he complies. He told me that as soon as he got on the other side, the officer in the MP uniform put him in a kind of "wrist-lock" hold behind his back even though he was being fully compliant! He told me that he showed no signs of aggression or loss of composure.
Finally I get there and I see my son, hands on the back of the car, with the two officers surrounding him. I immediately jump out of the car and ask what the hell they're doing (along with a few other select words thrown in there). The one, more veteran officer dressed up in his pretty MP uniform of course tells me to calm down after he pulls out his pepper spray (which wouldn't of done much good to an infuriated, 210 pound Marine), but I do eventually calm down. We have a small heated exchange of words. He believed he had the authority to come off of the military base. In all my years of service, I have never heard of any MPs having jurisdiction over any other property besides federal government property. I still don't believe he could call my son off of property not located in his jurisdiction. Anyway, long story made a little shorter, he calls his higher-up and I talk to him. He was much more relaxed and understanding about the situation. He even tells me that my son was allowed to slip through the gates, the only reason they checked him out was because they got "suspicious activity" report.
After all the talk, they take my son's information and let him go. He went right back through that gate and went fishing lol. Caught a 58lb catfish too!
Just to clear one thing up:
1. The fence-line is still on HRI property I believe. The levee is literally a foot away though.
What do you guys think about this?
My son is 16 years of age. We currently reside on the former Algiers Navy Base. It is now known as Federal City. Having gotten his license last month, I've been letting him make short trips to the store, to a friends house, or like today, fishing. There is a pier about a mile away from our house which leads out onto the Mississippi. So he packs his fishing gear up and heads up there. Ever since the Navy left, a new company (HRI) has now owned the majority of Federal City (to my knowledge). There is a rather small, gated and guarded military area about a quarter of a mile away from where my son parked the car to go fishing. HRI, owning all the property that was previously owned by the Navy on the old Algiers navy base, placed heavy-duty key & combo locks on the their fences. There are two gates in the fence-line which are basically right alongside the levy (maybe a foot away, if that). The gates aren't locked in the most secure fashion, and the excess chain allows for kids/smaller adults to squeeze through. I told my son, hell, if you can fit, go ahead; reason being because a mile down the levy, the gate is WIDE OPEN with no sign restricting access. He hears someone from far away yell to him "You're not allowed up there!!" after he's already squeezed through the gate and is walking along the levy the short distance to the pier. I'm pretty sure they saw him squeeze through the gate. I'm also presuming they were military personnel with some MP (Military Police) buddies.
After fishing for 15-20 minutes, he sees people at the gate. He couldn't tell they were MPs at first because they were about 100-125 yards away. Then he hears them screaming "HEY!!!". He calls me up and asks if I can come up to the pier real quick while he's walking back towards the fence. There were two African-American officers. One dressed in his Marine Corps uniform, the other dressed in his MP uniform. They were on the other side of the fence. The officer walks up close to the fence and asks him to walk to the gate. My son complies. The officer then proceeds to tell him to come to come through the gate. Now, my son is very intelligent. He is an Honors student at a pretty good school (Ben Franklin). He asks if he's done something wrong in a very tranquil voice. The officer repeats himself and says "Come through the fence, please." My son then repeats himself too. After being rather forcefully prompted, he complies. He told me that as soon as he got on the other side, the officer in the MP uniform put him in a kind of "wrist-lock" hold behind his back even though he was being fully compliant! He told me that he showed no signs of aggression or loss of composure.
Finally I get there and I see my son, hands on the back of the car, with the two officers surrounding him. I immediately jump out of the car and ask what the hell they're doing (along with a few other select words thrown in there). The one, more veteran officer dressed up in his pretty MP uniform of course tells me to calm down after he pulls out his pepper spray (which wouldn't of done much good to an infuriated, 210 pound Marine), but I do eventually calm down. We have a small heated exchange of words. He believed he had the authority to come off of the military base. In all my years of service, I have never heard of any MPs having jurisdiction over any other property besides federal government property. I still don't believe he could call my son off of property not located in his jurisdiction. Anyway, long story made a little shorter, he calls his higher-up and I talk to him. He was much more relaxed and understanding about the situation. He even tells me that my son was allowed to slip through the gates, the only reason they checked him out was because they got "suspicious activity" report.
After all the talk, they take my son's information and let him go. He went right back through that gate and went fishing lol. Caught a 58lb catfish too!
Just to clear one thing up:
1. The fence-line is still on HRI property I believe. The levee is literally a foot away though.
What do you guys think about this?
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