Posted by Cfourexplore What got me about this was originally one cop said I could theoretically be charged with B&E...although all I did was climb through an already open window.

Yep. Depending on the state "breaking" refers to the theoretical "seal" of the building. So any non traditional entry method to a building breaks that "seal". Opening a window, Reaching through one to open an adjacent door or even just climbing through a window could definitely count.

The last and only time I was caught I was a minor, and it did NOT look good bahaha. Allow me to tell the story because it's so wacky.
TLDR: I was really dumb nerdy kid so I don't wanna be further reminded how stupid it was (I think we were all about 17), we straight up had a machete and a barbed wire bat, we met a FAMILY with KIDS that were also exploring there, and we did NOT get in any trouble.

My 2 friends and I had impulsively decided within the same day to drive several hours up to Cleveland Ohio after hearing about a whole abandoned town up there that supposedly held 'spooky cultist meetings. Us dweebs brought a machete and a homemade barbed wire bat for self defense bahaha.
We got to a no trespassing gate, and started on a small hike to this supposed town. Just a few minutes in, we saw a flashlight coming towards us. Oh no, cultists! They got closer and it ended up being a couple with 2 kids! They said they explore this place like every other year together (GOALS!) and we explained our dumb story why we had the weapons and ended up exploring as a group! We took a trail in the woods that led to one of the most famous sights there, an old barn with a noose in it. We saw it then started heading further down the path, and that's when we heard a police horn. It turned out the place was rigged with all kinds of motion sensor cameras, we could actually see some kind of infrared light flash on one of our cameras that was positioned just above the entrance of an abandoned house. We started to head back, friends insisted that we dispose of our weapons. They threw theirs in a bush. I kept mine in hand to just be as honest as possible because the likelihood was they already saw we had weapons on the camera. When we got to the police car waiting for us next to our car, they inquired about our weapons, and said trying to throw away the other weapon was 'disposing of evidence' and would get us further in trouble. He gave us a chance to go back and find it. I by some miracle found it in the tall grass when I felt it with my foot.
After waiting there for what felt like forever, we were let off with warnings, most likely because we were minors. They kept the weapons and said we could return to the police station the following day to retrieve them. Obviously we didn't care about them that much and we weren't spending the night so now the Cleveland police have a machete and spiked bat in their arsenal. the end.

Different places have different rules.
For example, trespassing on a construction site in Florida is a state felony.

Be white, be polite, or don't be seen. These each help.

Once I was stopped by 5 police forces at once. I was on a new parking garage on new year's eve taking fireworks pictures. Someone saw "a guy holding a gun" on a rooftop at night. Tip: black metal tripods look intimidating. "Special capitol," county, city, state, and some other group each had a squad car, and they zipped up the parking garage ramps.

I heard them and saw the lights and stood still. They did the "half circle of cars shining spotlights at a suspect" and I stood really still. They did the usual check for weapons, tagging tools, and vandalism. They took my wallet for me out to check my ID (papiers, bitte).

My 2 friends and I had impulsively decided within the same day to drive several hours up to Cleveland Ohio after hearing about a whole abandoned town up there that supposedly held 'spooky cultist meetings

This led me down a Googlebitch rabbit hole that turned up a whole bunch of Ohio ghost towns I was unaware of, and are now pins on my map. I love this stuff - even if only foundations remain. While big city factories, warehouses, and churches are much more desirable, my balls are no longer big enough for confrontation with who knows what/who lurks within and my now gimpy giddy-up makes for a less than hasty retreat. Thanks for sharing your tale and inadvertently pinning my map with small balled gimpy old man explores!

I've only ever been let off with a warning. The cop was livid, though. Gave us a really long and loud speech before he told us to go home, then followed our car to make sure we headed in the direction we said we'd go. He also got the license plate number. All in all, he sent us home, but made it clear he would remember us and threatened arrest if we returned.

Posted by plight So... Get busted doing something cool then chill for 6 months? Doesn't seem too bad. If you get the nickel ride a second or third time can they bring up your previous incidents?

You don't have to do something cool to get busted. You don't want to be doing anything that will get you a second look from a cop in the hour before shift-change. The NYPD is notoriously underpaid given the cost of living in NYC and they're always looking for OT.

Anyway yes, but it doesn't matter. You get cut loose immediately. There are stories of people getting busted several times a day for the same petty crap.

Wait until after this year's mayoral election to see if this continues. On the off-chance that Curtis Sliwa wins, it's going to be back to the Rudy/Bloomberg iron fist shtick.

Just posted this on another thread, so here's my shitty story -

"The reason I quit Urbex for 5 years was I got a citation. I was fairly new to Urbex and made some dumb mistakes being 17 and all, but I digress. I parked down the road from an abandoned farm house with some buds. By chance, an ex-girlfriend of a bud I was with (in retrospect, probably how he knew the place existed) called the cops on us when we went in. Cops showed up and it was none other than the two cops who came to my school to give a lesson on drug use etc. They said there had been problems in the past with this property and called the owner to decide our fate. Walked away with a fat 350 dollar ticket. Ended up doing 20 hours community service. Haven't been Urbexing since, despite the ticket now being off my record.

Moral is, don't be an idiot I guess. When I end up going out again I'll be careful to park far away and make sure there's no vindictive ex-girlfriends across the street "

Posted by Boffo I can confirm in Canada trespassing is no big deal, as someone who has personally completed multiple criminal record checks and security clearance authorizations to work with the federal government.

Canada’s pretty lax, which is great. But while your ‘official’ record may not be marred, every interaction you have with the police is still recorded. So if it’s the fifth time you’ve been let off with a warning, best not to lie and tell them it’s only the first time you’ve ever been stopped. Shit like that can definitely come into play if they decide to look into you a little more.