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Originally Posted by Kirk
I'd get permission from the parking lot owner (like go to your church and get permission from the pastor) and keep their phone number on hand. A member of my local club was recently practicing some driving in an empty parking lot and got into a TON of trouble - wreckless driving and ended up cuffed in the back of the squad car with their car almost towed to impound. He claims his ticket was $3,000!
"this morning at 12:30 am, i got pulled over by the medford pd. i had been sliding around in the mall parking lot, enjoying the wet ground. the parking lot was COMPLETELY EMPTY! i was pulled over as i was leaving the parking lot. the officer came to my door, opened it, grabbed my wrist, pulled me out, cuffed me, and threw me in the back of the cop car. after ridiculing me, calling my friend and i names like idiot, retard, and stupid, accusing me of not being able to spell my own name, and telling me not to cry (even though i wasn't), he let me go with a ticket. he was going to haul me off to jail and tow my car, but after pleading with him to let me go with a ticket, he gave me the choice of a ticket or jail. i chose the ticket.
he charged me with reckless driving and almost gave me a reckless endangerment ticket, saying i could have killed myself and my friend. in an EMPTY PARKING LOT! he uncuffed me and told me to go straight home. so i did."
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I don't know about where you live, but here, unless the parking lot owner calls and complains, the local PD have NO JURISDICTION in a parking lot. They can not wait outside the lot and then arrest you for something you did in the lot. The new Home Depot center near us, has marked off roadways with real official stop signs, etc., yet an officer friend from the shooting range told me he has zero jurisdictioon in that lot unless one of the store operators calls and asks for someone to be stopped. There is also no blanket jurisdiction that Home Depot or other owners of parking lots can issue to the police. As long as it is a vehicular infringement, not criminal, this is so in Florida. I guess some level of reckless driving or endangerment goes into criminal behavior, but until then, it's just a traffic ticket, which is civil, not criminal.
Sliding around and having a good old time is also a bit different from justifiably learning how to use safety devices in/on your car.
I made the original comment because my father taught me many, many things in the same way, especially in the rain. We were "apprehended" one time and when my dad got done telling the cop what we were doing and why, the officer hung around and gave us some other pointers.
In full disclosure, I am older than dirt, so when I was being instructed by dear old dad, shopping centers were all closed on Sunday and we also were not doing things in a shiny new Porsche.