Stealth Camping or Layovering

westernrvparkowner wrote:

dewey02 wrote:
If it is legal and if it is safe, then why the need to be stealthy?
If it isn't legal or if it isn't safe, then why overnight there at all?
When someone is trying to appear as something that they are not, do they really think that shouldn't raise suspicion?

I've overnighted at Walmart - after going in and asking if it is OK.
Do stealth campers go up to a homeowner or a downtown business or local police and ask if it is OK for them to overnight outside their house/business? If yes, and they get the OK, then no problem. But I doubt that they do, because they are trying to be "stealthy."

If I am being self-righteous or chest thumping in my thinking then so be it.

I agree with you one hundred percent. Most of the 'Stealth Campers" justify the legality by saying that parking on the street is legal, therefore it must be legal to park there and live in the RV. That cannot be further from the truth.
Stealth parking in business districts is going to be scrutinized by the police and unwanted by the those businesses for several reasons. There are security concerns for all those businesses. Why are there people here when we are closed? Are they going to break in? Are they planning some sort of other criminal act? Are they criminals trying to hide?
The police will also be concerned that there are now people in areas where there usually isn't, so that changes the patrol needs. Got to check on that RV in the business district both for their security and the security of those businesses, so there is more time spent there and less in other areas needing to be patrolled.
Stealth in residential areas is even more concerning to the local residents. What do you think is the basis for "neighborhood watch"? It's to report and suspect anything that is out of place, and a strange van parked in from of a home with three middle school girls is definitely "out of place". And getting permission from the local church doesn't suddenly change the fact that a stranger is lurking in the neighborhood. Just because some minister said it was OK for Ted Bundy to park his VW in the church parking lot doesn't suddenly change the fact that Bundy used his VW as one of his props to capture and then kill his victims.
The are multitudes of places where you can overnight for free. Stealth camping, however, just gives a black eye to the entire RV world. Use the free places if you are so inclined, but the true stealth camping is bad for RVers.

WRVPO you are well known for your views on anyone who DARES to stay anywhere but an official RV Park. To you we are the scum of the earth (and you have said so in only slightly more polite terms in previous posts).

But despite your arguments about Law and Order and Community I think your real concern is financial.