I had the cops called on me today...

So I thought I'd share an interesting story with you today about how I had the cops called on me for human trafficking. Yes, human trafficking!

Now for the record, I have pure disdain for anyone who trafficks anyone in this world. It's an awful subject and not funny whatsoever, but this tale is so absurd that I had to share it.

Last year I got into flying drones for fun. Because they're so expensive, as well as the fact that I needed a business expense for my small business, I looked to see how I could make money off of them. This led to me finding out about how to get a license in the USA under Part 107 rules. Once I got that, I was able to fly commercially (if you're interested in doing something like that, there's hours upon hours of studying, but it's worth it!). This has led to me flying jobs occasionally, which has, in turn, led to some good side money.

One of my rules when I do a job is that I do things by the book, and I act as professionally as I can. I was hired by my municipal government to map a creek that flooded terribly last year to help them find debris that needs to be removed. This job had some issues, as it was within 1,000 feet of an airport, covered more than 100 acres, and was over some houses. In order to comply with the regulations, I had my 13 year old daughter help me out as a spotter. This was necessary to maintain visual line of sight (VLOS) of the drone. It's something a lot of pilots don't do, but they're obligated to do it.

In order to make sure there were no issues, I went to the airport and let them know I was flying in the area. I had no obligation to do this, but once again, I wanted to show some professional courtesy. I decided the best area to put my daughter was on a sidewalk, as it was on the other side of this map area and would give me the VLOS I needed. The sidewalk was in front of a church, which is where the problems begin.

Once again, I decided to see if anyone was in the church to just let them know my daughter would be on the public sidewalk, just in case for some reason someone had a question as to why she was there. Entering the church, I found nobody, and nobody answered my call. With that, I put my daughter on the sidewalk and gave her a business card and a walkie-talkie to let her know when the drone was coming her way.

I then went to my launch site on the other side of this lot and ran my mission. At about 85% done, my battery was starting to get low, so I called it back. My daughter then called and said she was cold, so I decided to go pick her up. I picked her up and decided to let my drone re-calibrate in the parking lot of the church by setting it out for a minute to get everything set. At this time a man came out of the church. Looking to be professional, I walked up to him with my vest and hard hat to introduce myself.

I explained the situation, and he was very friendly. Then came this bombshell, "Oh, I wanted to let you know that I called the police."

Perplexed, I asked: "For the drone stuff? Sir, I'm licensed and the drone never came over your property. As for right now, I'm just letting everything calibrate, and I'm not flying. If that's a problem, I can pack up and just leave."

"Oh, no, no," said the man. "I called the police because I thought you were human trafficking that girl over there."

Apparently, the man's children were in the church, and when I left after getting no response, told their dad that a man was in the church and then dropped a girl on the sidewalk and took off. This someone computed to him that I was putting this girl "out to work".

Now, let me tell you, where I live is a small town. We are surrounded by fields, rivers, and lakes. We are not a place where anything like that goes on. But apparently the man had been to a human trafficking conference a day prior and his imagination was running wild. It was nuts.

I proceeded to get my daughter out of the car and introduce herself to the man. At this time the police showed up. He was also very nice, and asked a bunch of questions. To his credit, the pastor apologized profusely and admitted that he went a little overboard. I suggested that he could have always asked my daughter what was up, as she was given a business card and credentials. She also was on public property. I also explained that I knew his heart was in the right place and I appreciated that.

In the end, we all shook hands and went about our day. I was a bit frustrated and really dumbfounded by the whole situation. I still am. My lesson in this is that even when you try to do things the right way, you can still end up having the police called on you. 😜