911 Happy Neighbors And A Cache

[+The Source]

So would it be mean to hide a cache in a neighborhood who has 911 happy people living it in ???

 

I was thinking about hiding a micro where it could be visible from my house so I can watch how cachers go about trying to get to the cache and not get a 911 call.

 

J

[+welch]

If you know people are going to be questioned I'd probably say its not in a good location. If its in such a place that its visable and attracts attention the cache will likely get trashed by helpful muggles anyway

[+geognerd]

So would it be mean to hide a cache in a neighborhood who has 911 happy people living it in ???

It would only be mean to the cachers who search for it. Would YOU want to be questioned by the police and cause a scene in the neighborhood?

[+wimseyguy]

Several things can happen, none of them good.

1. Your fellow cachers will have to stop having fun and explain their behavior to LEO's who probably will have more important calls to answer. Some of them may be very uncomfortable doing this.

2. Your antagonism of your neighbor will continue to erode the 'relationship' you already have with them.

3. The police department will label your neighborhood as 911 happy (if they haven't already) and may someday be slow in responding to a call that is a true emergency.

 

I don't think 'mean' is the appropriate adjective in this case.

[Hugh Jazz]

This can only lead to the violation of someone's Constitutional rights.

 

 

 

 

I'd say there must be a better place to put a cache.

[+The Source]

Its probably best to stay away from this idea I guess since I already had 7 policeman at my door earlier this year because our 6 month old puppy was labeled as a vicious dog who was chasing a child to the 911 operator.

 

J

[+The Leprechauns]

Its probably best to stay away from this idea I guess

I would like to say "thank you" for listening to the feedback you received. One of my friends was detained over the weekend and questioned for quite some time, with no fewer than three squad cars present, all over an Altoids tin in a parking lot. Permission would have prevented that episode.

 

When hiding a cache at your home in a residential area, it's good courtesy to give a hint to finders so they know they're searching in the correct yard, and also to let your neighbors know what's going on so that they don't get alarmed. There are many successful examples where the whole block knows about the cache, and enjoys watching people stumble around in their cache search. I once had a helpful neighbor stroll across the street to let me know that I needed to stop feeling around the fence and look a bit lower. The cache was magneted underneat a storm drain grate. That was fun! But it doesn't sound like that would work well in your neighborhood. Find a nice park near your house to show me, and hide your cache there.

[bogleman]

Don't take this the wrong way, but it sounds like you have a beef with your neighbors and want to use your fellow geocachers as bait. I have done some rather risky things through the years but I would really be mad if I was set up while going after a cache. I really dislike going up to someones house looking for a cache, I have done it through timing and because it was on my list of goals. If I do not know you or feel comfortable in the area I would not go after the cache if you are using me for bait. Not a good idea

[+The Source]

No i dont have a beaf with my neighbors and id never use other people to get even. If I want to get even ill just let my dog out of the house again LOL

 

My neighbors are mostly older, retired people who dont talk to the rest of the people in the neighborhood too much and just want a nice quit street.

 

J

[+wandererrob]

Yeah, the 911 part is not so fun.

 

I DO like the idea of being able to watch the cachers seek it out though.

[+DocDiTTo]

One of my caches is in my yard, but all my neighbors know about it (and enjoy watching people hunt). I also made sure the cache container is easily visible too, so it can be seen from the street. (Finding the box isn't the trick, but getting it open is) As long as the cache is on your property and people can hunt it without looking suspicious, there shouldn't be any problems. However, as others have said, attempting to incite a police incident is never a good idea. Upset old people lead to police incidents which lead to more legislation which leads to more regulations on our fine hobby. We don't need that.

[+sbell111]

I say go for it. If you think it would be a cache that you would like to find, hide it. I am, of course, assuming that the location is not private property (that you do not own) or that you have permission for the hide.

 

That being said, you might want to put a note on the cache page that it is in a high visibility location so people can skip it if they want. Also, you may want to warn people of nearby areas that they would not want to wander into (such as your neighbor's yards.

 

If somebody calls the police, so what? The seekers of the cache would not be doing anything wrong. I don't get why so many people participating in these forums are petrified of talking to a police officer. Tell the nice officer what you are doing. Show him the cache page. Move on with your life.

[+wimseyguy]

Overly aware neighbors have both good and bad consequences. I messed up on the math on a cache yesterday that had us inspecting the storm drains on a residential street. We were drawing more attention than I felt comfortable with, so we pulled away, and double checked my calculations-sure nuff-we were in the wrong place. If the neighbors hadn't been paying attention to us I might have kept up the search, and concluded the container was missing and logged a DNF.

Some of my friends on the squad are aware of the locations of some of my urban hides, but I've yet to hear of anyone being 'hasseled' for fun or for real (yet). I do have other hides that have caused cachers to explain themselves to LEO's but that was not the motivation for hiding a cache at that location.

 

edit to add this:

If somebody calls the police, so what? The seekers of the cache would not be doing anything wrong. I don't get why so many people participating in these forums are petrified of talking to a police officer. Tell the nice officer what you are doing. Show him the cache page. Move on with your life.

I'll go out on a limb on behalf of the other respondees and clarify that talking to LEO's is not the issue, but placing the cache in a location that would encourage the neighbors to call 911 was not a good idea. Edited December 5, 2005 by wimseyguy

[+sbell111]

I'll go out on a limb on behalf of the other respondees and clarify that talking to LEO's is not the issue, but placing the cache in a location that would encourage the neighbors to call 911 was not a good idea.

I suppose it would depend on your definition of 'encourage'. Some would say that any urban micro would encourage such a call. In fact, such calls have been made when cachers have been spotted logging fairly remote caches.

 

I'll stick with the rule that has served me well. If I'm not doing anything illegal, why would I care if someone calls 911?

[bogleman]

I am glad you don't have a problem with your neighbors - now here is a humours cache idea - get a really big fake pile of ______ and hide it in your front yard. That would give the neighbors something to talk about - look at all those nice people picking up the dog mess for you.

[+wiseye]

Placing a cache that you believe will likely cause an unnessesary 911 call is not the thing to do. 911 is for emergency use. I know of several people that have died responding to unnessesary emergency calls. You can't tell what someone would report if they saw cachers on your street, a bomb, a burglary in progrese, ect,ect.

1- yes, no cacher should be concerned about talking to LEOs, but some are.

2- some cachers are old, retired people who want to live on a quite street.

3- you might not think so now, but someday #2 might include you.

4- It is often wise to not place a cache just because you can.

5- what's so worth looking at in front of your house that cachers must see?

 

Now, I know from your last post that causing anyone harm is not your intention, just think about some of the replys to your post and you can see that everyone wants to protect our sportgameactivitywhateveritis, from inadvertant harm. I'm glad you went on the forum and asked for input, it was the right thing to do. Good Luck hiding and finding!

[+Harry Dolphin]

I DO like the idea of being able to watch the cachers seek it out though.

There was one of those locally. A magnetic Altoids can on a stop sign. Voyeurism at best. Some of the lady cachers thought it approached stalking, when they got e-mail.

I think it was the only time I saw a cache before I stopped the car...