Funny Story...with a lesson attached

[mmdals1]

An amusing (but educational) event happened yesterday and I thought I’d share it with you. As a piece of background information, I am a police officer in Dubuque, Iowa and have been caching for a couple of years. Yesterday afternoon I was in my office when I heard a dispatcher sending cars to check out a suspicious person call. An employee of a downtown business called in and said a man was seen in the parking lot on University Avenue just west of Bluff St. taking a rock out of the wall, remove something and mess with it and then return the item and cover it up (sound familiar to anyone?). The man then got in his car and was last seen southbound on Bluff. They gave out the plate, car description and subject’s description and there happened to be several cars in the area that probably would have found and stopped him. I was on the phone dictating a report so I quickly paused it and scrambled for my cell phone. I called dispatch and told them to call off the cars and quickly explained it. One car went to the area and the complainant showed him the spot. The officer recovered a small Tupperware dish with a log book and the usual small trinkets and took it to the station. The Lieutenant working the desk knew exactly what it was because he and I had discussed it before and he dabbled in caching a few years ago. Everyone got a good chuckle about it when it was over. The funniest part was that when they were pulling the cache, the complainant said, “Look like meth to me,” even though a Happy Meal toy was plainly visible. The officer then took it back and replaced it.

 

Even though it was funny it taught a couple of lessons. These tips are from www.geocacher-u.com:

 

Important things to consider when placing or maintaining your geocache:

1.Make sure that your geocache can easily be identified as a geocache.

2.Use a clear container, if possible, so that the contents are easily identified.

3.Identify your container as a geocache by marking the outside of the container or attaching an Official Geocache sticker.

4.Make sure that you have permission from the landowner to place your cache on their property.

 

Also, avoid “questionable areas” such as under bridges, “suspicious packages” by public facilities, or anywhere else where it could cause a panic in these modern days. Also remember that if you happen to get stopped by a police officer/deputy/trooper/park ranger, remember to be courteous, explain what you were doing, and always…smile!! Remember, law enforcement officers are people too. They deal with the unknown and an increasingly bizarre and dangerous world. Many cops, especially here in the midwest, are fans of the outdoors and many would appreciate the idea of caching. I have developed many new caching friends by babling about it at work. When I go caching out of my work area, I carry a copy of the brochure from geocacher-u.com that explains caching further in case it’s needed. It can be printed up here: http://www.geocacher-u.com/resources/brochure.html. This was a story with a happy ending, but that might not always be the case if you "bend" the rules.

 

Good luck, and Good Caching!!

 

Mark D

Edited February 24, 2007 by mmdals1

[+StarBrand]

My sister Debbie was a dispatcher in your town a few years ago. Good story with good ending. Thanks for the reminders.....

[Greyt Dog]

An amusing (but educational) event happened yesterday and I thought I’d share it with you. As a piece of background information, I am a police officer in Dubuque, Iowa and have been caching for a couple of years. Yesterday afternoon I was in my office when I heard a dispatcher sending cars to check out a suspicious person call. An employee of a downtown business called in and said a man was seen in the parking lot on University Avenue just west of Bluff St. taking a rock out of the wall, remove something and mess with it and then return the item and cover it up (sound familiar to anyone?). The man then got in his car and was last seen southbound on Bluff. They gave out the plate, car description and subject’s description and there happened to be several cars in the area that probably would have found and stopped him. I was on the phone dictating a report so I quickly paused it and scrambled for my cell phone. I called dispatch and told them to call off the cars and quickly explained it. One car went to the area and the complainant showed him the spot. The officer recovered a small Tupperware dish with a log book and the usual small trinkets and took it to the station. The Lieutenant working the desk knew exactly what it was because he and I had discussed it before and he dabbled in caching a few years ago. Everyone got a good chuckle about it when it was over. The funniest part was that when they were pulling the cache, the complainant said, “Look like meth to me,” even though a Happy Meal toy was plainly visible. The officer then took it back and replaced it.

 

Even though it was funny it taught a couple of lessons. These tips are from www.geocacher-u.com:

 

Important things to consider when placing or maintaining your geocache:

1.Make sure that your geocache can easily be identified as a geocache.

2.Use a clear container, if possible, so that the contents are easily identified.

3.Identify your container as a geocache by marking the outside of the container or attaching an Official Geocache sticker.

4.Make sure that you have permission from the landowner to place your cache on their property.

 

Also, avoid “questionable areas” such as under bridges, “suspicious packages” by public facilities, or anywhere else where it could cause a panic in these modern days. Also remember that if you happen to get stopped by a police officer/deputy/trooper/park ranger, remember to be courteous, explain what you were doing, and always…smile!! Remember, law enforcement officers are people too. They deal with the unknown and an increasingly bizarre and dangerous world. Many cops, especially here in the midwest, are fans of the outdoors and many would appreciate the idea of caching. I have developed many new caching friends by babling about it at work. When I go caching out of my work area, I carry a copy of the brochure from geocacher-u.com that explains caching further in case it’s needed. It can be printed up here: http://www.geocacher-u.com/resources/brochure.html. This was a story with a happy ending, but that might not always be the case if you "bend" the rules.

 

Good luck, and Good Caching!!

 

Mark D

[Greyt Dog]

Recently we were caching in Veterans park and heard a loud voice-"what are you doing there?" and looked out of the brush to find a police officer. He asked if we were feeding ferrel cats to which we replied no and then he asked if we were having a homosexual encounter. I turned to my wife and she agreed that we were not. I indicated we were geocaching and he knew nothing about it. The next day I went to the station to volunteer to give a program to the officers on the sport so they would know how to handle phone calls of suspious behaviour etc. but they declined. They said they knew all they needed to know about it-obvously not. So the next time we are asked we are going to say we are feeding homosexual cats and see what happens. Greyt dog.

[fivedime]

During my most recent police encounter, I was poking around some sign posts (coincidentally nt far from our town's emergency response center) when I was approached by an officer in a car, who asked what I was doing. When I told her I was geocaching, she simply said, "Oh, you're one of THOSE people..." and drove off.

 

As an aside....it boggles my mind how many people seem to ignore the whole "permission when placing on private property" thing, especially the now-ubiquitous parking-lot lightpost skirt hide...and how vehemently they will defend the parctice in these forums. "Make sure that you have permission from the landowner to place your cache on their property" is so clear-cut and straightforward, and so often inored...sigh...

[+Bill & Tammy]

Good again to hear an LEO's take on caching, my experiences with Law Enforcement and caching have been nothing but positive. I mostly feel bad that I may have taken them from their duties or caused unjust worry when such a situation occurs.

[+Team GeoBlast]

During my most recent police encounter, I was poking around some sign posts (coincidentally nt far from our town's emergency response center) when I was approached by an officer in a car, who asked what I was doing. When I told her I was geocaching, she simply said, "Oh, you're one of THOSE people..." and drove off.

 

As an aside....it boggles my mind how many people seem to ignore the whole "permission when placing on private property" thing, especially the now-ubiquitous parking-lot lightpost skirt hide...and how vehemently they will defend the parctice in these forums. "Make sure that you have permission from the landowner to place your cache on their property" is so clear-cut and straightforward, and so often inored...sigh...

 

I couldn't agree more... it's like the little white lie that many are willing to just live with. I've been discussing this very thing with a few that don't the white lie is hurting anyone, therefore it's okay. They say live and let be. I say, yeah, until Walmart sending it's lawyers over to GC.com and asks them to do some splanin.

[+Team GeoBlast]

An amusing (but educational) event happened yesterday and I thought I’d share it with you. As a piece of background information, I am a police officer in Dubuque, Iowa and have been caching for a couple of years. Yesterday afternoon I was in my office when I heard a dispatcher sending cars to check out a suspicious person call. An employee of a downtown business called in and said a man was seen in the parking lot on University Avenue just west of Bluff St. taking a rock out of the wall, remove something and mess with it and then return the item and cover it up (sound familiar to anyone?). The man then got in his car and was last seen southbound on Bluff. They gave out the plate, car description and subject’s description and there happened to be several cars in the area that probably would have found and stopped him. I was on the phone dictating a report so I quickly paused it and scrambled for my cell phone. I called dispatch and told them to call off the cars and quickly explained it. One car went to the area and the complainant showed him the spot. The officer recovered a small Tupperware dish with a log book and the usual small trinkets and took it to the station. The Lieutenant working the desk knew exactly what it was because he and I had discussed it before and he dabbled in caching a few years ago. Everyone got a good chuckle about it when it was over. The funniest part was that when they were pulling the cache, the complainant said, “Look like meth to me,” even though a Happy Meal toy was plainly visible. The officer then took it back and replaced it.

 

Even though it was funny it taught a couple of lessons. These tips are from www.geocacher-u.com:

 

Important things to consider when placing or maintaining your geocache:

1.Make sure that your geocache can easily be identified as a geocache.

2.Use a clear container, if possible, so that the contents are easily identified.

3.Identify your container as a geocache by marking the outside of the container or attaching an Official Geocache sticker.

4.Make sure that you have permission from the landowner to place your cache on their property.

 

Also, avoid “questionable areas” such as under bridges, “suspicious packages” by public facilities, or anywhere else where it could cause a panic in these modern days. Also remember that if you happen to get stopped by a police officer/deputy/trooper/park ranger, remember to be courteous, explain what you were doing, and always…smile!! Remember, law enforcement officers are people too. They deal with the unknown and an increasingly bizarre and dangerous world. Many cops, especially here in the midwest, are fans of the outdoors and many would appreciate the idea of caching. I have developed many new caching friends by babling about it at work. When I go caching out of my work area, I carry a copy of the brochure from geocacher-u.com that explains caching further in case it’s needed. It can be printed up here: http://www.geocacher-u.com/resources/brochure.html. This was a story with a happy ending, but that might not always be the case if you "bend" the rules.

 

Good luck, and Good Caching!!

 

Mark D

 

Mark.. great post! Curious, had you found the cache in question?

[+horsegeeks]

My last encounter with a police officer was kind of funny. I spotted the hidey hole with the micro about 20 feet up in a tree. It was a very dense tree (magnolia) so up I struggled from limb to limb. I thought I was completely out of sight of anyone but apparently not. I heard the screeching of brakes and then saw the blue lights come on. He got out, came to the tree and asked "what are you doing up there". I asked if he had ever heard of geocaching and he went silent and looked up at me for a second or two and said "Not another one" and got into his patrol car and left. I don't know if he meant not another cache, another cacher or just another fat guy up in a tree.

[+TexasGringo]

When I was placing my Cache (Jenni_&_Kyle_Preserve - GCXYNZ)...I was caught placing it by a muggle. I explained to him what it was...had him sign the log book and help place it...no problems.

 

I have seen him several times since and he reports what he sees...he feels part of the cache.

 

See the "Muggle Report" on this sites writeup.

[+genegene]

just read some of these found letters, GCX40B talk about annoing

[+gh patriot]

My last encounter with a police officer was kind of funny. I spotted the hidey hole with the micro about 20 feet up in a tree. It was a very dense tree (magnolia) so up I struggled from limb to limb. I thought I was completely out of sight of anyone but apparently not. I heard the screeching of brakes and then saw the blue lights come on. He got out, came to the tree and asked "what are you doing up there". I asked if he had ever heard of geocaching and he went silent and looked up at me for a second or two and said "Not another one" and got into his patrol car and left. I don't know if he meant not another cache, another cacher or just another fat guy up in a tree.

 

Now thats just funny!!!

[+fairyhoney]

Speeding Element and I were geocaching at a popular travel bug hotel P &R in Tacoma when we saw at policeman drive up and park behind our vehicle as to block us in. He looked on our lap and stated "Oh, you're geocahing" we replied, "Yes" then he proceeded in telling us "that an off duty transportation worker saw a couple carrying what he thought could be a big container of drugs" Wow, what excitement.

Edited March 11, 2007 by fairyhoney

[+fairyhoney]

Even though we all need these kind of real stories and this forum is supposed to be about coins, it just may be moved

Oops, I'm sorry I'm in the wrong forum not "us"

Edited March 11, 2007 by fairyhoney