Ever Stopped by Police

[+Knight2000]

Where were all you people when i said being stopped by police was the nature of the sport? Chances are it is going to happen, especially if you live in a populated area.

 

I practically was stoned by people saying that i must be caching wrong if the police stopped me.

[+JennM]

I haven't been stopped (yet)... but our very first day caching, the very first find we made, the *next* cachers got busted.

 

The cache was in front of a local courthouse/city hall, under the skirt of the flagpole. It had been there for about 3 years. Figured it was a good easy first attempt, so we found it, logged it and moved on.

 

Shortly after I posted my log, the next pair of cachers logged that they were detained by the local constabulary (I think it was Labour Day - the building was closed), police thought they were doing something with drugs. They showed the officers the cache, and were let go - but they had to keep the cache - which was archived the next day.

 

That was close... whew!

 

I do carry brochures, just in case.

 

Last night my son and I were looking (unsuccessfully) for a micro behind a strip mall and one of the employees saw us. As he pulled away, he asked us what we were doing, "I'm curious..." so I explained what we were doing - he was fine with it. I told him if he saw others, "like us" that was likely what they would be doing. He told us to have a nice evening

 

Jenn

[metalmaster229]

kind of mad i haven't i was looking for one on a main road and i was tromping through an already dead planterbox looking into an evergreen tree. he didn't even take a second look. made me laught though i was on my bike and he probablly thought i was looking for something i dropped.

[+brodiebunch]

In Colorado, after finding one, I stood up and turned around to find a patrol care driving along the park sidewalk and they were looking at me. Fortunately I had shaved off my beard so I am sure terrorist did not creep into their heads (hopefully).

 

Anyway, I just walked up to them, told them what I was doing, showed them my GPS and printout (no paperless here but we do recycle!). Their response was "oh, thats nice" and they moved on.

 

I had wondered when this was going to happen.

[+Milbank]

Not only was I stopped by police, but I was detained by officers with assault weapons drawn and pointed right at me. It all happened on Friday, the 15th of June. I went into work early that day, so I was able to leave around 4:00. So instead of going home, I decided to go geocaching for an hour or so. There were a couple of caches near my home in Taylorsville, Utah that I hadn't been able to find. So I went over to the park near my home and found the first one. I then found the second one a few minutes later.

 

I looked at my pocket query and noticed that there was one more close by. So I decided to go and find it as well. I drove over to the location and determined that the cache must be on a walkway that went over the road near an elementary school. So I walked up the walkway and started to look around. I had my GPS in my hand and was pacing back and forth on the walkway for about 15-20 minutes. The time was now a little after 5:00 pm and traffic was getting heavy from all the people driving home from work, so I decided to go home and try this one another day. So I walked back down the walkway and as I got to the bottom, I heard very loudly, "Get down on the ground!!!" I looked up and saw two police officers with guns drawn pointed right at me. So I immediately dropped to the ground, let go of my GPS, and spread my arms and legs out. The officers slowly approached me and proceeded to handcuff me. They then proceeded to search me and asked if I had any weapons on me. I told them of course not.

 

When they sat me up, they asked what I was doing up on the walkway. I then proceeded to explain that I was geocaching. They obviously did not know what that was by the look on their faces, so I had to explain what my GPS was, what geocaching was, and that there was a geocache up on the walkway above the road. I asked why I was being detained and they said that someone driving by called the police to report that I was up on the walkway with a gun and that I may be planning on commiting suicide. They explained to me that when they arrived on the scene, they saw me up on the walkway pacing back and forth with something in my hand. One officer watched me with binoculars for about 5 minutes, but couldn't tell what was in my hand. So they made the decision to not take any chances and to use every precaution available.

 

So after they realized that I was not a threat either to myself or others, they took the handcuffs off me. I continued to sit on the ground. One officer told me that I could stand up not, but I told him that I still needed a minute to collect my thoughts. When I was finally comfortable standing up, I started talking with the officers and they said that with the world we live in with shooting like Virginia Tech, they simply couldn't take and chances, especially since I was on a walkway near an elementary school. After our discussion, I was free to go.

 

So that is my first encounter with a police officer while geocaching. I'm hoping it will be my last! I guess one result of this story is if you are in a high-profile area, it might be best to cache with someone else instead of going alone.

 

Wow!

 

Never been stopped. I talked to a local cop about geocaching because I not only thought he would be interested, but thought the local cops should at least hear of the word "geocaching" if nothing else.

[+"fish"]

only 14 encounters in 10 months i spend alot of time caching after dark

[+sunrise searcher]

I have one cache that seems to be a cop magnet for me. Every time I try to hunt the darn thing, cops show up! The first time, I've got my trusty GPS and I am looking for this micro -- it's a camouflaged film canister in a ditch alongside a busy road in town -- and my GPSr keeps putting me in the weeds. I'm thinking, "for heaven's sake, it isn't just chucked into the weeds, is it?" while I am down on my hands and knees in the grass, looking for the silly thing. I look up, and there is a trooper parked a little ways down the road from where I parked the pickup. He is facing the pickup from the other side of the road, and he is watching me very intently. I decided I wasn't having much luck anyway -- perhaps it would be prudent to return to my truck and vamoose. So, I calmly walk back to my truck, get in, signal properly of course, and pull onto the highway. I keep it at the speed limit and drive past him. As I go by, he pulls out and follows me, of course. He continues to follow me for a while, and I am trying to figure out how to legally shake him, when some jerk (my saviour) runs a stop sign in front of me. I just keep going and the trooper turns to go after the other driver. Whew!

 

Same cache, I pull over, get 20 feet into the ditch, and here comes a cop. The other times I have attempted that cache, I don't even get pulled over before a cop shows up. I may NEVER get that cache!

 

[+Stumpy75]

I've been stopped quite a few time, but more by Game Wardens. Most of the time, it's just how you doing, and what up, and after talking a bit, we both move on.

 

However, one small town officer was waiting next to my truck when I came out of a wooded area after finding a cache on an early Sunday morning. After asking me what I was doing, and me explaining geocaching, he asked me for a hint. He'd DNFed it twice!

 

And then there was the time in a park that I came out of a thick area to find 2 rangers, a county sherriff and a dog catcher on the trail. I think they were as shocked to see me as I was them. They were hunting for a pack of wild dogs, and after talking about dogs and caching, we both went on our way.

Edited June 24, 2007 by Stumpy75

[+GeoSmurfz]

I have been caching since Nov 06 and I have not been stopped by the police yet. I was asked by someone on a trail once. He was a good bit away from me and when I walked up to explain it to him found out he was a guy I worked with about 5 years ago. I explained the sport to him and we talked a bit longer and both went on our ways.

 

Edit to say: After reading this and thinking about it. I think my time will come. Knowing how my luck is.

Edited June 24, 2007 by GeoSmurfz

[+scott9282]

If I may, allow me to give you a look at the situation from the other side of the equation.

 

I was a police officer for 20 years (NYPD, 18 of them in highway patrol). From the officer's perspective, they don't know what you are doing. To be sure, you know you are just an innocent cacher, trying to find that elusive cache. To the officer, you are a suspicious person. They may have received a call on you, they may have just observed you. But they don't know who you are.

 

Here's the best way to handle these encounters.

 

First, comply with anything the officer tells you to do. Remember, to him you are a suspicious person, and every officer assumes that anyone is armed. To do otherwise is a good way to be the guest of honor at an inspector's funeral.

 

Second, keep your hands in plain sight at all times. Don't reach for ANYTHING! Wait for instructions from the officer. He will tell you what to do, and in what order to do it in.

 

Third, don't BS the officer. Cops can smell a BS story a mile away. It comes with the job. The people here who say they told the officer exactly what they were doing are right on target. Better to be thought a dork, than to be thought a criminal.

 

Fourth, have your ID with you, and something that tells what you are doing. Some of the stories on this thread relate as to how the person didn't have their license with them. Nothing, and I mean nothing, raises a cop's threat assessment more than a missing ID.

 

Fifth, out in the street is NOT the time or place to argue with an officer. If you feel you were treated harshly, report it later. Arguing is a sure way to end up in a jail cell. Most times, acting politely and complying will go a long way towards defusing any situation.

 

I've been there. On both ends. I know that the cop has no idea who I am. I had no idea who I was dealing with. It can be a scary experience, but if you handle it right, it's nothing more than a story you'll tell at CITO events.

 

Cache on.

[Stephen2]

I have one cache that seems to be a cop magnet for me. Every time I try to hunt the darn thing, cops show up! The first time, I've got my trusty GPS and I am looking for this micro -- it's a camouflaged film canister in a ditch alongside a busy road in town -- and my GPSr keeps putting me in the weeds. I'm thinking, "for heaven's sake, it isn't just chucked into the weeds, is it?" while I am down on my hands and knees in the grass, looking for the silly thing. I look up, and there is a trooper parked a little ways down the road from where I parked the pickup. He is facing the pickup from the other side of the road, and he is watching me very intently. I decided I wasn't having much luck anyway -- perhaps it would be prudent to return to my truck and vamoose. So, I calmly walk back to my truck, get in, signal properly of course, and pull onto the highway. I keep it at the speed limit and drive past him. As I go by, he pulls out and follows me, of course. He continues to follow me for a while, and I am trying to figure out how to legally shake him, when some jerk (my saviour) runs a stop sign in front of me. I just keep going and the trooper turns to go after the other driver. Whew!

 

Same cache, I pull over, get 20 feet into the ditch, and here comes a cop. The other times I have attempted that cache, I don't even get pulled over before a cop shows up. I may NEVER get that cache!

 

Why not just tell the LEO what you are doing? Leaving when you see them seems would suspicious/odd to me if i was LEO.

[+MutherAndSun]

1. Twice on one run to Aurora IL, the first cache we came to (about 5am) , my caching partner drops the cache into the sewer. While we are trying to retrieve and replace it some local calls the fuzz, which shows up just as we are returning to the Jeep to head out. That officer was familiar with the game, no problem.

 

2. About 10 the same night, we are at a dead end in an industrial area, no one around, and we get the spotlight from a cruiser. She wasn't familiar with the game, we DNFd and couldn't show her what we were looking for, but she was cool and let us go.

 

3. Same caching partner in St. Louis, at a park, a park cop asks us what we are doing at the shelter (I was climbing on the table, looking for the dreaded shelter nano). This guy is also a cacher, but wasn't familiar with this particular one so couldn't help us out.

 

4. Solo caching in Nashville, a security guard asked me to move my vehicle from a designated parking spot, but when I explained what I was doing and would only take 2 minutes he let me stay, nice guy.

 

5. The one that didn't get away. After a long day of cemetery run caching with Super_cacher Sun and his buddy Ultra cacher, Mum was doing a few over the limit on the way home and a cute trooper pulled me over to have a few words, take my license as bond, and give me a couple of tickets.

 

Stopped by police, naahhh, not me.

[+gh patriot]

Stopped 5 times so far. A friend has been stopped 13 I think. Never any problems or great stories. We explain geocaching, they give us a blank look and then leave.

[+vortexecho]

only security , parked at a mall 12am or so to look for one of those parking lot caches ..was looking,poking around , and lifting things up for a look(you know) i looked up and saw a security car with his parking lights on just sitting there watching me , i thought after i saw him he would come over and ask me what i was doing to act cool i looked a bit more waiting for him to come over he never did . DNF that night

[+naroyapa]

I am a state police officer and have yet to be stopped by another officer. Can't wait for the opportunity to say "I am the police" to any questions asked. I have actually found a couple of caches while on patrol at zero dark thirty. Funny, no one questions someone with a badge searching around an area in the dark. Guess that gives me a little bit of an advantage when it comes to caching.

[+ventura_kids]

We were stopped out in the desert by Las Vegas.... and I mean OUT IN the desert in the jeep. As we 4 wheeled our way up out of the sand wash, 2 Officers waved at us. I know the correct behavior is to comply, so we drove out thru the cactus and showed them our geo-supplies in the ammo cans. They wanted to know if we were dropping dead bodies into the sand wash....like last week. Yikes !

 

The funniest part was how they had their police car blocking the dirt road.... We weren't even on the dirt road

[+ventura_kids]

Oh... totals?... I have been stopped Dozens of times.... sometimes at gunpoint, sometimes with a smile.

I always keep my hands on the steering wheel, and remain respectful.

I've never had a bad outcome yet ! (knock on wood)