Ever been questioned-

[coldwaterconch]

I received an email from a cop a couple of weeks ago asking about a camera in a tin can a "concerned citizen" had turned into the police.

 

Apparently, this "concerned citizen" found a cache, which has my "Picture This" TB in it (which does have a camera). Thank goodness that the cop was nice enough to look through the log book and find my email. I tried to explain to him what geocaching is, but I think he thinks I'm a nut.

 

Unfortunately, the cache owner has had a hard time contacting the officer and getting the cache back.

[+Thrak]

I've been questioned 4 times so far.

 

The first time I was in an alley behind some businesses at 10:30 at night. I'm not at all surprised to have been questioned. I found my self lit up with very bright lights from two cars and approached by 3 officers. I explained what I was doing and showed them the cache. They said they were happy not to have to do the paperwork for a burglar or whatever.

 

The second and third times I was questioned by CHP officers twice within a 10 minute period. Both times I was pulled (legally) off the side of the highway and the officers stopped and asked if I needed assistance. The first one had heard of geocaching and just grinned and said to be careful pulling back onto the highway. The second officer hadn't heard of geocaching but accepted my explanation and also asked me to be careful.

 

The fourth time I was with my wife and the officer stopped because he wondered what anybody would be doing searching around a guardrail on an otherwise uninteresting corner. I explained geocaching and handed him one of the informational folding cards. He asked if we had found the cache yet and we said no. I told him there had been a luncheon meeting of geocachers in the town that day and he might see others looking for things. He thanked me for the info, wished us good luck, and drove away. Later, as we were getting back into the truck, he drove by again. I gave him a thumbs up to indicate success and he grinned and waved.

 

I'm ALWAYS honest with law enforcement personell. I'm careful to not break any laws and have no reason or desire to make them feel that I may be a threat or a problem.

 

My local caching group, N.U.T.S. (Northstate Unusual Treasure Seekers) and our affilliate group RCGDS (River City Geocaching and Dining Society) are co-hosting GW6 next year. You can bet on it that ALL law enforcement and community safety agencies will be well briefed regarding the influx of cachers and caching activity. We are already aware of one police chief who doesn't like cachers much and members have been asked to refrain from salting that area with new caches for the event. Even when you have "right" on your side it's still best not to ruffle official feathers needlessly.

 

I highly recommend printing out some of the folding cards I linked above. I print them on card stock so they come out nice. It's soooooooooo easy to just carry a few of those with me and they are sooooooooooo effective when it comes to curious law enforcement officers.

[+AnotherPirate]

I still don't think the cop believed my story, he said that he was going check out geocaching.com to see if there was such a thing and thought it was the craziest thing he has ever heard of! HAHAHA

 

If you have a a mobile phone that can connect to the internet, you can prove it right there in the open by connecting to http://wap.geocaching.com

[TheTodds]

I'm happy to hear that a good number of officers were forgiving and understanding to the odd-looking hobby of geocaching to the muggles. I used to live next to a needlessly nosy and arrogant cop who was nothing but a rotten, steamy pile of you-know-what and harassing the h*ll out of some cachers (this is the mental image that came to mind when I read the title of this forum). Honesty is the best policy. I gotta get me some of those brochures, thanks for the links!

[+hide_from_the_kids]

kids help We have been eyed a couple of times but not questioned. Caught in the act of opening the container twice (once by fellow geocachers and another time by some people we educated on what geocachign was--there children were enthralled!). The children certainly help.

[+Knight2000]

Just yesterday I was searching for a cache at a local park. There were four of us total looking and we ended up in the bushes off of a walk path. A park ranger pulled up asking me what we were doing. I did not get many words out and he asked if we were geocaching. So he was familiar with geocaching. He said that we were violating the park rules by trouncing through the vegetation. It did not dawn on me because the vegetation was just ivy. Ivy is very robust so I thought we would go in, find the cache and return it rather quickly. No harm done really. But once I thought about it I agreed. He said if you guys can find it pretty quickly then go for it. If not then he asked us to call it a day for this particular cache. He was very understanding. Prior to speaking with the ranger we spent around twenty minutes looking with no luck so we took off.

That kind of situation is why i think all caches should say whether or not permission was obtained or assumed. It could have just been that you were looking in the wrong spot. But still, when people place certain caches without obtaining permission it can affect future finders.

 

We have been stopped twice. For some reason i think both caches did not have explicit permission.

 

It would just be nice to know what kind of permission each cache placement has.

[+Knight2000]

Know your civil rights. Download, print, and hang on to the ACLU Bust Card.

If you act like you are guilty, then you will be treated like you are guilty of something.

[+Danuw]

Happened for the first time the other day. Was asked to put my hands up and come out of the woods. I explained that I was caching and asked if he knew what that was. He said he did. He asked for some identification. I gave him my driver's license and he called it in. After I checked out ok, he explained that someone called in a suspicious person walking around in the woods. I said that is exactly what I was doing. I showed him the GPS and he said he had run into others in other parts of the park last year. We discussed where the other caches were and walked amicably out of the area. He showed me a likely hiding place. we both looked but no cache was there. I thanked him for doing his job and apologized for taking up his time. We shook hands and both went our seperate ways. I don't plan too go back and look for that cache for quite awhile if ever. Tell the truth and cooperate works for a lot of things.

[+pcunningham]

If you act like you are guilty, then you will be treated like you are guilty of something.

 

PRIVATE PROPERTY n. land not owned by the government or dedicated to public use.

It seems some people don't understand this definition. Please play by the rules.

 

IRONY n. (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity

[+Knight2000]

IRONY n. (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity

Please explain.

[+pcunningham]

You wouldn't mind if I came onto your private property and looked around, would you? No? You are acting guilty - do you have something to hide?

 

The courts have held that a simply invoking your right to be free from searches does not constitute reasonable articulable suspicion and cannot be used as a basis for a search.

[+Knight2000]

Not acting guilty has nothing to do with private property. That is quite a jump and i don't see it as related.

 

The private property info is put there for people who place caches without it and it can cause problem for future cachers along with the whole of geocaching.

 

I have read where people have lied while questioned by LEO when geocaching.

 

Just because you have rights, does not mean that you have to work against LEO.

[+pcunningham]

Not quite such a leap. What more private property do you have than your own person?

 

Lying to LE is stupid. Allowing LE to trample over you because you refuse to exercise, or are ignorant of, your civil rights is even more stupid, especially in today's "homeland security" environment.

[jfabes]

Allowing LE to trample over you because you refuse to exercise, or are ignorant of, your civil rights is even more stupid, especially in today's "homeland security" environment.

 

I couldnt agree more with you. Now I dont have anything to hide, yet I still refuse vehicle and personal searches when asked by LEO. I am not willing to waste my valuable time and let you invade my privacy just for your LEO "peace of mind". If you dont like the fact that I wont consent to a search mr. LEO, then I suggest you find another line of work because in your line of work you are required to uphold and enforce the laws not decide which ones you dont want to enforce and which ones you want to enforce. Remember....just because you are an LEO doesnt mean you are ABOVE the law.

[+Night Stalker]

I have been stopped a number of times. I have always found that being completely honest is the only way to go.

 

My favorite meeting with a police officer was in Omaha, Nebraska. I was searching just outside a fence that enclosed some kind of attraction that had just closed for the day when an officer came up to me and asked me what I was doing. I explained that I was looking for a geocache and began to explain what geocaching was when he stopped me. He told me he knew exactly where the geocache was, but he had been sworn by the hider not to give any hints. I resumed my search when a group of teenagers came by and appeared to be curious about what I was doing. The officer approached them and kept them busy until I had found and signed the cache. Now that is cooperation.

[+geocooking]

I parked on the wrong side of the railroad tracks when geocaching. I crossed the tracks, found the cache and returned to the tracks to get back to my car. Once I was on the tracks I decided to place a couple of coins and a travel bug tag on the tracks and collect them after the train passed. While I was looking for my crushed treasures I see a cop approaching from down the tracks. I was with a friend and a couple of our kids. She asked lots of questions, took our drivers license and ran them through her computer. We were honest all along but she really didn't give us a break. She checked everything out before she gave us our license back. Apperantly the train conductor called the cops when he passed. The tracks we were on is private property owned by the railroad. She gave us a stern warning and sent us on our way.

[+Knight2000]

Once I was on the tracks I decided to place a couple of coins and a travel bug tag on the tracks and collect them after the train passed.

 

- Stuff like that is very hard to find afterward.

 

- I hope it was your TB dog tag and did not belong to someone else.

 

- That may be illegal. It is small, but i dont think you are supposed to put stuff on the tracks like that.

[+Night Stalker]

The issue with putting things on railroad tracks is that they can come out sideways like a bullet and can literally kill someone. Railroad frown on that sort of thing.

[+Thrak]

If you get questioned by a tall skinny young-looking CHP officer in the Salinas area tell him Thrak says hello. It's my son.

[+Knight2000]

The issue with putting things on railroad tracks is that they can come out sideways like a bullet and can literally kill someone. Railroad frown on that sort of thing.

The frown on people dying?

 

I hadn't thought of it like that. How true. Excellent point.

[+geocooking]

good point about death on the tracks, thanks