Hi Jason
Whereabouts are you? I can no longer say I am new but I can say I still
don't know a lot lol.
I have been out and had similar problems. My wife, who is a local councillor
has been working with the police. She tells me some areas are bringing in
drinking on the street bans to try to curb anti social behaviour. This has
caused youths to congregate at dark areas. The best advice she can give is
the same as Pete said: go to local police station and take some id with you
preferably photo id if possible, then ask for a contact so if you are
stopped you can ask the officers to radio a check through.
Hope this helps
Tony
"JasonG" wrote in message
...
Hi there,

The suspicion doesn't seem to be terrorism-related, more the sort of
thing that's been going on in dark, secluded places for years. Don't get
me wrong, I'm no homophobe or anything like that. Whatever they want to
do is fine with me really, as long as it's consenting adults and all
that. The problem seems to be that the police are taking quite an
interest in these activities and patrolling sites regularly now but they
seem to be unconvinced with stargazing explanations and respond in a
"yes, yes, that's a very interesting excuse for being here in the dark".

I guess I'll have to visit the police station to see if I can speak to
them about your suggestion.

ttfn

JasonG
Lawrence wrote:

Hello Jason

Until recently, this was never a problem. I once had some experience
with the
police while at an observatory. The chap had been patrolling the grounds
and
heard us. I showed him the view through the telescope and he was
'hooked'.
Since the events of September 11, the world has changed. The police are
understandably looking out for anything 'suspicious', and let's be
honest,
doesn't this look suspicious? My advice is firstly, visit your local
police
station and ask to explain what you do and where, to an officer. Try to
do
observing with a partner if it is outside somewhere.

Good luck.

Lawrence Harris