Jump to content

'Envioronmental' Cache Vandals


Recommended Posts

I had a coin stolen by someone who calls himself blairdonny. Stole & destroyed a cache in the South of England which had,amongst other things, a coin of mine in it. He left the GROPE message on the cache & coin pages. I left a short reply on both & am now getting abusive emails from him threatening to come up to NE Scotland and destroy all MY caches! What a sad, petty individual. Reported to geocaching.com of course but what can you do?! :)

Link to comment
but what can you do?! :angry:

Not give them any public attention. Like all bullies, they thrive on it. This thread needs to die...

 

I used to agree, but I'm tired of pussyfooting around this idiot. It's about time we found out where they are, go around and open a sixpack of whoopass on 'em! ;)

 

J

Link to comment

I had a coin stolen by someone who calls himself blairdonny. Stole & destroyed a cache in the South of England which had,amongst other things, a coin of mine in it. He left the GROPE message on the cache & coin pages. I left a short reply on both & am now getting abusive emails from him threatening to come up to NE Scotland and destroy all MY caches! What a sad, petty individual. Reported to geocaching.com of course but what can you do?! :angry:

 

GC do have his/their IP address and through this he can be traced by the police.... and who knows arrested for theft.

Link to comment

If the person has openly admitted to taking (stealing) the coin then he (or she) has admitted to comitting a crime and should therefore be charged for it.

 

In theory yes they could, if the police can be bothered to deal with it. I imagine they will find plenty of other cases more pressing than someone complaining that a £5 game token they left in a box in a hedge somewhere was taken by someone who isn't playing the game the way we want them to.

Link to comment

If the person has openly admitted to taking (stealing) the coin then he (or she) has admitted to comitting a crime and should therefore be charged for it.

 

In theory yes they could, if the police can be bothered to deal with it. I imagine they will find plenty of other cases more pressing than someone complaining that a £5 game token they left in a box in a hedge somewhere was taken by someone who isn't playing the game the way we want them to.

 

There was a case where someone was charged over theft of geocoins and travelbugs. And someone was visited by police in the North West last year over their "vandalism" of geocaches after it was found out who they were :ph34r:

Link to comment

I've had several of my caches taken, they now go straight back! That's my side of the game!

 

When they log their actions they always state that WE are committing a criminal offense. Therefore, out of curiosity, I spoke to Northamptonshire police about it.

As I suspected, they view our actions just like that of a car or advertising A-frame sign. The item is left somewhere on purpose and still clearly has an owner. Therefore the chance of any littering charge standing is very very slim.

However, by removing the cache with the full knowledge of it having an owner (and in most cases telling the owner they have taken it), THEY are committing a clear crime or theft.

However, without some clear evidence of who is stealing the caches, they are unlikely to commit resources to the problem. If however anyone had such evidence they would certainly take a look.

Link to comment

There have recently been successful prosecutions of people who stole caches.

No-one believes that these people are interested in any sort of "environmental protection". It's just a little game, and comes more under the category of "envy-mental" behaviour.

 

It's kind of nice that there are some people who have nothing more significant to worry about in their lives, that they can't cope with harmless games that other people play. Sort of reassuring that there's still that innocence around, even though it actually manifests itself in criminal behaviour. Most of us have more pressing concerns to take up our spare time!

Link to comment

I think just replacing them as Bambography (post 111) suggests is best.

 

I was disappointed to find that caches in Hyde Park (some other parks) had been removed or banned. 20,000 people at a pop concert is OK, but a few cachers is littering.

 

Hope it sorts itself out. I don't really like the idea we now have first and second class cachers. But then I like the idea of just being prompted to go for a walk by switching on my phone GPS and seeing the nearby caches. But then Trimble's app was free. It's certainly quite a commercial organisation now (Geocaching com) anyway, sorry rambling off topic.

Link to comment

I would suggest a "war of attrition" type approach - replace every single "GROPEd" cache as soon as possible, and keep doing so every time it gets removed. :anibad:

 

I suspect this will pass soon enough. I doubt there's any high-minded principles involved, and I suspect it's one or two people with a grudge who will soon get bored and give up.

 

Once again, I'd be wary of discussing this too much in the open, as it gives them what most of these people crave - publicity.

 

Lee

 

Hi Lee,

Thanks for that. That is exactly what I will keep doing.

Link to comment

I would suggest a "war of attrition" type approach - replace every single "GROPEd" cache as soon as possible, and keep doing so every time it gets removed. :)

 

I suspect this will pass soon enough. I doubt there's any high-minded principles involved, and I suspect it's one or two people with a grudge who will soon get bored and give up.

 

Once again, I'd be wary of discussing this too much in the open, as it gives them what most of these people crave - publicity.

 

Lee

 

Hi Lee,

Thanks for that. That is exactly what I will keep doing.

OR, just report them as replaced but leave them for a month or two. Then the Gropers might go back and find nothing themselves? Will keep them occupied for a bit at least.
Link to comment

I'll pop out now and check my '138' cache.

Back soon

Found this today in an email of a TB I'd found,

 

' Location: Northwest England, United KingdomBillRoach retrieved English Counties Explorer 300 (Travel Bug Dog Tag) from C&N2 Dairy Crest at 8/9/2010 Log Date: 8/9/2010...and the quest comes to an end. ***This has been "groped" (GROup for Environmental Protection). The container and it's contents have been removed and destroyed. Your environmental vandalism will NOT be tolerated. Before any of you morons bleat on about us removing this "geolitter" (your phrase not ours!), remember that dropping LITTER (ie these pathetic containers) is a CRIMINAL offence punishable by a fine up to £1,000. So please, feel free, go into the police and make a complaint. ***

***

 

View Log

 

GC1T2ZG is the cache code, logged today

Link to comment

The latest Podcacher Podcast (Show 281) details how cachers in Germany all got together and caught a cache/TB thief by creating a very clever camera to grab a shot of the thief in action. The full story is here, but in summary they then went around the neighborhood with the pic asking if anyone knew them and eventually got an identity, took it to the police, and they dealt with it pretty well. At least some of them get caught. I guess sadly not this group yet though... :P

Link to comment

Everyone seems to be accepting tthat the motives of the cache trasher are environmental. In my experience, people don't always tell the truth about their motives. The trasher might be doing it for the same reasons that people vandalise other things.

 

As I mentioned previously, people who genuinely have causes to promote want to talk about them. They want everyone to understand their view. If this trasher was genuinely interested in environmental issues they would be on here trying to convince us of their viewpoint and following up on their claims that Geocaching is littering and damaging. The fact they they have made no attempt to actually promote the cause they claim to have clearly shows it is simply a ruse.

 

If anything, they have chosen such an easily dismissed claim in an attempt to increase the level of annoyance their actions cause.

Link to comment

Has anyone thought of creating a 100-200 series of 35mm micros dedicated to GROPE?

 

Ask cachers to replace any that are missing as they do the series, keep them busy I say - they wouldn't have time for any other caches. :(

 

And replace any missing cache with 2 caches :lol:

Link to comment
One thing is certain: whatever emotionally retarded dipstick is out there trashing caches is also on here reading this with delight.

 

Look at me! Look at me! Look at me! Mummy wouldn't give me any attention but these guys do!

 

It's all about publicity. Please let this thread die.

 

This is something which is correct, there has been conformation that the person(s) are reading the forums. Discussing them is giving them gratification.

 

On a separate note! The UK Reviewers are currently working on a Advisory Official Course of Action, for all affected Cache Owners. Once this has been finalised, it will be posted here as a new topic.

 

Until then, please do not provide more gratification for these person(s) by talking in public about them.

 

Deceangi Volunteer UK Reviewer Geocaching.com

Link to comment
Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...