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OK I'm a little paranoid here...

WoodlandAlliance

By WoodlandAlliance
in How do I...?

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Arrow42

+Arrow42

Posted
Posted

I try to look casual while I'm caching. But what if somebody thinks I'm up to no good and calls the police? Or what if they start yelling at me or telling me that I shouldn't be doing whatever it is I'm doing?

 

If you think you might get arrested for trespassing then it is best to pass up on that cache. Also, if someone comes yelling at you about being on thier property and your sure the cache is there, it's best to just apologise, leave and leave a note on the cache page about it.

 

Otherwise, if everything is kosher then a cop isn't going to give you grief. Many police departments are aware of geocachers and some cops are even cachers themselves.

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Wintonian

+Wintonian

Posted
Posted (edited)

I try to look casual while I'm caching.

As often as not, that's a big mistake. There are few things more conspicuous than someone trying to act inconspicuously. :lol:

 

Pete the Deliberate

 

Part of the Geocaching aggrement with Metropolitan Police Service for caches placed in sensitive areas in London like Whitehall states:

 

Cachers are requested to try to avoid acting in a suspicious or furtive manner, when searching for a geocache or when placing one.

 

Personaly I would have thought making your self look as obvious as possible wearing a shirt or carrying a sign that says "I'm looking for a Geocache - refere to geocaching.com" would be better. :laughing:

Edited by Hampshire_Hog
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knowschad

knowschad

Posted
Posted
... I carry a Geocacher's ID card...

 

Err... what?

 

You Don't have one :laughing:

geocard.jpg

 

LOL! Reminds me of a fellow that was walking past this weekend. I wasn't actively looking for the cache yet, but he saw my GPS. "Is that a camera?" "Nope" "A cellphone?" "No." "What is it then?" "(mind your own business, nosey!) A GPS receiver."

 

... "Ohhhh... you must belong to that club that... um... finds things"

 

"um... yeah. Something like that."

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knowschad

knowschad

Posted
Posted

I try to look casual while I'm caching. But what if somebody thinks I'm up to no good and calls the police? Or what if they start yelling at me or telling me that I shouldn't be doing whatever it is I'm doing?

 

I've been caching for 5 years and have yet to be stopped and questioned. Not to say that it won't happen next time I'm out, but I just try to be myself. While I will wait if there are adolescents (mostly boys) nearby, I generally just mind my own business and find the cache. I will openly answer questions about what I'm doing and don't act as though I'm doing anything wrong, which is the truth.

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Wintonian

+Wintonian

Posted
Posted

I try to look casual while I'm caching. But what if somebody thinks I'm up to no good and calls the police? Or what if they start yelling at me or telling me that I shouldn't be doing whatever it is I'm doing?

 

I've been caching for 5 years and have yet to be stopped and questioned. Not to say that it won't happen next time I'm out, but I just try to be myself. While I will wait if there are adolescents (mostly boys) nearby, I generally just mind my own business and find the cache. I will openly answer questions about what I'm doing and don't act as though I'm doing anything wrong, which is the truth.

 

The only time I have been stopped by the police, I wasn't looking for a cache, I wasn't hiding one, no I was standing at a sign post with my then Vista HCX averging co-ords for a possible hide I didn't even have a cache on me to hide.

 

Ok so it was 01:00 on a Sunday morning, but still I was just standing there with an oversized mobile at my side.

 

They were polite about it though just curious as I was apparently looking suspecious.

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flask

+flask

Posted
Posted

i have been stopped and detained on suspicion of being a terrorist.

 

i have been stopped and questioned about "severed body parts".

 

i have encountered officers who are suspicious, officious, helpful, or merely curious.

 

it is best to be truthful, and it is best to remember that you are engaged in a legal activity. (you aren't trespassing, are you?)

 

if you are where you shouldn't be, regardless of the presence of a cache, you get what's coming to you and have no right to complain.

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The Ravens

+The Ravens

Posted
Posted

I try to look casual while I'm caching. But what if somebody thinks I'm up to no good and calls the police? Or what if they start yelling at me or telling me that I shouldn't be doing whatever it is I'm doing?

 

I've been caching for 5 years and have yet to be stopped and questioned. Not to say that it won't happen next time I'm out, but I just try to be myself. While I will wait if there are adolescents (mostly boys) nearby, I generally just mind my own business and find the cache. I will openly answer questions about what I'm doing and don't act as though I'm doing anything wrong, which is the truth.

 

 

Your luck! I was questioned 5 times in my first 7 months of caching.

 

I wish I still had the email from a guy that he sent me after finding one of my caches or he would have written it in his log. A little old lady across the street called the LEO on him. She came outside when he police showed up to watch the questioning. After the officers (two cars) left he went and talked to her. He said she had a note in her had with his physical discription, truck tag and color, ect... After talking to her she was glad someone was bringing notice to the location. The story was fun to read.

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knowschad

knowschad

Posted
Posted

I try to look casual while I'm caching. But what if somebody thinks I'm up to no good and calls the police? Or what if they start yelling at me or telling me that I shouldn't be doing whatever it is I'm doing?

 

I've been caching for 5 years and have yet to be stopped and questioned. Not to say that it won't happen next time I'm out, but I just try to be myself. While I will wait if there are adolescents (mostly boys) nearby, I generally just mind my own business and find the cache. I will openly answer questions about what I'm doing and don't act as though I'm doing anything wrong, which is the truth.

 

Your luck! I was questioned 5 times in my first 7 months of caching.

 

 

My luck, or my attitude? Or maybe my just plain good looks. LOL!

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Colonial Cats

+Colonial Cats

Posted
Posted

i have been stopped and questioned about "severed body parts".

 

Oh, my!!! I'd say that I'm "dying to know more", but I'm afraid that saying something like that may get my own call from the LEO's for acting suspiciously on the forums!

Did you ever think that flask being stopped for questioning had nothing to do with geocaching? :laughing: Just wondering.

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9Key

+9Key

Posted
Posted

I try to look casual while I'm caching. But what if somebody thinks I'm up to no good and calls the police? Or what if they start yelling at me or telling me that I shouldn't be doing whatever it is I'm doing?

 

I've been caching for 5 years and have yet to be stopped and questioned. Not to say that it won't happen next time I'm out, but I just try to be myself. While I will wait if there are adolescents (mostly boys) nearby, I generally just mind my own business and find the cache. I will openly answer questions about what I'm doing and don't act as though I'm doing anything wrong, which is the truth.

 

Your luck! I was questioned 5 times in my first 7 months of caching.

 

 

My luck, or my attitude? Or maybe my just plain good looks. LOL!

From what I've heard it's all three buddy! :laughing:
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flask

+flask

Posted
Posted

i have been stopped and questioned about "severed body parts".

 

Oh, my!!! I'd say that I'm "dying to know more", but I'm afraid that saying something like that may get my own call from the LEO's for acting suspiciously on the forums!

Did you ever think that flask being stopped for questioning had nothing to do with geocaching? Just wondering.

 

either geocaching or benchmarking, every time.

 

i am a completely unremarkable looking dumpy little middle-aged person in drab clothes. i no longer have purple hair, nor a shaved head.

 

apparently, though, if you take a picture of a bridge and an abandoned factory, you are likely to be a terrorist and get held for a couple of hours while they decide what to do with you.

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Renegade Knight

+Renegade Knight

Posted
Posted

I try to look casual while I'm caching. But what if somebody thinks I'm up to no good and calls the police? Or what if they start yelling at me or telling me that I shouldn't be doing whatever it is I'm doing?

 

Well, you sure look like you are up to no good. Caching hits on most key points that folks are trained to watch for when it comes to suspicious behavior. That's ok. caching is a fun and harmless family activity.

 

So when someone askes what you are up to, tell them. "I'm caching" and go from there. There is no reason to hide what you are doing.

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Nature Kids

+Nature Kids

Posted
Posted

Just a couple nights ago we were minding our own business, hunting a cache at midnight in a local park, when the deputy pulled in asking what we were doing, because he had a complaint. We explained what we were doing......he left.....we left.

We went back & found it the next morning. We had a great time, what does it matter if a cop noses around, if your not doing anything wrong.

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Curioddity

+Curioddity

Posted
Posted

I've been a member of the geocaching community for 37 days now and I've found 163 caches so far. I suppose I should add that I live in a cache-saturated urban area which makes that time/find ratio pretty unremarkable, but the nature of many of the hides also increases the risk of confrontation rather substantially.

 

That said, I've been questioned by one LEO, and I was glad it happened because I was hunting for caches in the same industrial area that I work in. In fact, I was only a block down the street from the business I work for. It was Sunday afternoon and the area was a ghost town, and I took comfort in knowing that the police actually patrol the area. I explained what I was doing and where I worked and thanked the officer for paying attention. And that was that: He drove off and I kept searching.

 

My experience hasn't been so pleasant with a few wannabe LEOs working as security guards, though. Talk about thug attitudes! :D In all but one case I just bit my tongue and left after offering a polite apology. The one exception stepped way over the line, though, so I took it upon myself to "educate" him on the abuse of both real and imagined authority by arranging a discussion with him, his supervisor, and a "real" LEO.

 

But by-and-large, I just go about my business and the muggles don't pay me much mind. I don't deliberately expose caches to them, but I do my best to act deliberately when the time is right. I notice furtive behavior in others so it only stands to reason that they would notice it if I acted that way too.

 

Pete

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Spot check

+Spot check

Posted
Posted

I try to look casual while I'm caching. But what if somebody thinks I'm up to no good and calls the police? Or what if they start yelling at me or telling me that I shouldn't be doing whatever it is I'm doing?

 

Just openly search and if someone asks say "I'm looking for something I lost ("what?"("none of your business"))" or, if you are feeling chatty, explain geocaching to them.

 

If they are copping an attitude for no reason or yelling at you I would advise you to confidently tell them to stop harassing you, it's a public place, and you'll call the police. (or beat them up, lol)

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Curioddity

+Curioddity

Posted
Posted

Just openly search and if someone asks say "I'm looking for something I lost ~snippo~

Heh....

 

I have this tool I use to poke through the heavy duff that collects in and under bushes: It's a 40" long piece of 3/16" tempered rod with a short 90° bend on one end and a wooden handle on the other. One day I was poking around under a bush at GZ in a local park when a couple of kids walked right up and asked what I was looking for.

 

I said "a snake, want to help?"

 

They couldn't get away fast enough.

 

Evil? Yeah, I guess. :D

 

Pete

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ras_oscar

+ras_oscar

Posted
Posted (edited)

Before I get out of the geomobile I usually have a plausible story to give to casual passersby. Never needed it, mostly because having the story prevents me from looking furtive. Nothing is more conspicuous than trying to look inconspicuous. If a LEO stops you, however, always tell the truth. Alsom, after a while you learn that most people don't really care.

Edited by ras_oscar
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