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GeoCache scare in Colorado

MSMcCune

By MSMcCune
in General geocaching topics

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MSMcCune

MSMcCune

Posted
Posted

Not sure if this is the right forum. Watching the news tonight and they had a suspicious looking package at a local community college here in Colorado Springs. Bomb Squad came out and destroyed the package and found out it was a geocache. Didn't specify if it was part of an assignment or any other details.

Myke

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zoltig

+zoltig

Posted
Posted

From Channel 13 news:

PPCC Bomb Scare: Online Gamers to Blame

 

Posted: Sep 29, 2009 06:49 PM MDT

 

Updated: Sep 29, 2009 10:27 PM MDT

 

 

 

COLORADO SPRINGS - A suspicious package at Pikes Peak Community College has been destroyed by Colorado Springs bomb technicians. It would now appear that this is the latest example of an online game causing a bomb scare.

 

Emergency crews from Colorado Springs Police, El Paso County, and the Wescott Fire Protection district were called to the Rampart campus of Pikes Peak Community College on Highway 83 just after Six O'Clock Tuesday evening.

 

The school was not evacuated, but students were kept in their classrooms for a short time.

 

Inside the exploded package, police found a GPS unit and several children's toys, indicating that this was part of an online game known as geocaching.

 

The object is to send other gamers on a real-life treasure hunt, using coordinates and clues posted online. Once found, gamers add a new trinket to the "geocache", and hide the device for the next group.

 

Because the device can look just like a bomb, the popular game has been a real headache for police in the Pikes Peak region, leading to several false alarms per year.

 

In February of this year, a suspicious package caused the evacuation of a medical clinic on Mt. Everett Drive in the springs.

 

During one week in 2006, Bomb Squad resources were sent to two seperate events just days apart, one of which closed down the entire intersection Chapel Hills Drive at Briargate.

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jellis

+jellis

Posted
Posted

From Channel 13 news:

PPCC Bomb Scare: Online Gamers to Blame

 

Posted: Sep 29, 2009 06:49 PM MDT

 

Updated: Sep 29, 2009 10:27 PM MDT

 

 

 

COLORADO SPRINGS - A suspicious package at Pikes Peak Community College has been destroyed by Colorado Springs bomb technicians. It would now appear that this is the latest example of an online game causing a bomb scare.

 

Emergency crews from Colorado Springs Police, El Paso County, and the Wescott Fire Protection district were called to the Rampart campus of Pikes Peak Community College on Highway 83 just after Six O'Clock Tuesday evening.

 

The school was not evacuated, but students were kept in their classrooms for a short time.

 

Inside the exploded package, police found a GPS unit and several children's toys, indicating that this was part of an online game known as geocaching.

 

The object is to send other gamers on a real-life treasure hunt, using coordinates and clues posted online. Once found, gamers add a new trinket to the "geocache", and hide the device for the next group.

 

Because the device can look just like a bomb, the popular game has been a real headache for police in the Pikes Peak region, leading to several false alarms per year.

 

In February of this year, a suspicious package caused the evacuation of a medical clinic on Mt. Everett Drive in the springs.

 

During one week in 2006, Bomb Squad resources were sent to two seperate events just days apart, one of which closed down the entire intersection Chapel Hills Drive at Briargate.

Strange it mentions a gps unit inside the ammo can. That is one expensive treasure. Noticed on the map there is no caches on campus. Was someone ready to put one there and hadn't submitted it.

Our campuses as far as I know haven't had much problems yet. I think because most of the campus police know about them.

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zoltig

+zoltig

Posted
Posted

From Channel 13 news:

PPCC Bomb Scare: Online Gamers to Blame

 

Posted: Sep 29, 2009 06:49 PM MDT

 

Updated: Sep 29, 2009 10:27 PM MDT

 

 

 

COLORADO SPRINGS - A suspicious package at Pikes Peak Community College has been destroyed by Colorado Springs bomb technicians. It would now appear that this is the latest example of an online game causing a bomb scare.

 

Emergency crews from Colorado Springs Police, El Paso County, and the Wescott Fire Protection district were called to the Rampart campus of Pikes Peak Community College on Highway 83 just after Six O'Clock Tuesday evening.

 

The school was not evacuated, but students were kept in their classrooms for a short time.

 

Inside the exploded package, police found a GPS unit and several children's toys, indicating that this was part of an online game known as geocaching.

 

The object is to send other gamers on a real-life treasure hunt, using coordinates and clues posted online. Once found, gamers add a new trinket to the "geocache", and hide the device for the next group.

 

Because the device can look just like a bomb, the popular game has been a real headache for police in the Pikes Peak region, leading to several false alarms per year.

 

In February of this year, a suspicious package caused the evacuation of a medical clinic on Mt. Everett Drive in the springs.

 

During one week in 2006, Bomb Squad resources were sent to two seperate events just days apart, one of which closed down the entire intersection Chapel Hills Drive at Briargate.

Strange it mentions a gps unit inside the ammo can. That is one expensive treasure. Noticed on the map there is no caches on campus. Was someone ready to put one there and hadn't submitted it.

Our campuses as far as I know haven't had much problems yet. I think because most of the campus police know about them.

Yeah I looked at GE and there is was indeed a cache located at the intersection of HI 83 at the Rampart campus of PPCC. To me, the area where the cache was located was a way from the campus buildings but probably on the property itself.

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ecanderson

+ecanderson

Posted
Posted

Because the device can look just like a bomb...

Good grief. What doesn't look like a bomb anymore? Just about anything bigger than a 35mm film can is big enough to hold both the nasty stuff and the required hardware to remotely make it go boom. Would be curious to know the container type that was being used this time.
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Lil Devil

+Lil Devil

Posted
Posted
Because the device can look just like a bomb...

Good grief. What doesn't look like a bomb anymore?
No kidding. We just had a discussion 6 weeks ago about a child's lunchbox being blown up by the bomb squad. :)

 

It would now appear that this is the latest example of an online game causing a bomb scare.
No, the "online game" didn't cause the bomb scare. Public paranoia caused the bomb scare.
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ecanderson

+ecanderson

Posted
Posted
I'm keeping my eye on this news story here in Minnesota: http://www.startribune.com/local/62863182.html

 

There's more detail in the report from WCCO.

 

"The package found at the high school by a staff member was reported to the school superintendent, and was described as having wires sticking out of it."

 

Doesn't sound much like a cache unless the "wires" were lanyards...

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knowschad

knowschad

Posted
Posted
I'm keeping my eye on this news story here in Minnesota: http://www.startribune.com/local/62863182.html

There's more detail in the report from WCCO.

"The package found at the high school by a staff member was reported to the school superintendent, and was described as having wires sticking out of it."

Doesn't sound much like a cache unless the "wires" were lanyards...

 

There was a cache blown up in St. Cloud a while back that was described that way, as well. I believe I was the last to find it. It was hung from a tree by a length of wire. But I tend to agree with you that there may well be more to this one than just geocaches.

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Parknet

+Parknet

Posted
Posted

Since the police know that these sometimes turn out to be geocaches, then they might think to check geocaching.com to see if the ammo box or whatever it was is a published cache. I know, I know, a bomber could plant a bomb and publish it as a cache.. But just sayin, if it has been there a while and has the usual log entries, it probably is a valid cache.

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dakboy

+dakboy

Posted
Posted

Maybe the bomb squad should start checking the site before blowing up random stuff?

What purpose would that serve? What if it's a cache listed at another site? Or not listed on any site (there's one in my area that isn't listed anywhere, it's known only to the locals)? What if the cache has been removed and a real bomb put in its place? How do you verify that the ammo can is really a geocache, and not an ammo can with a trigger set to detonate upon opening? The listings on geocaching.com are certainly not "authoritative" and shouldn't be relied upon for anything like this.

 

Checking geocaching.com would be a waste of time & add an extra element of risk to an already-risky situation.

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ArcherDragoon

+ArcherDragoon

Posted
Posted
I'm keeping my eye on this news story here in Minnesota: http://www.startribune.com/local/62863182.html

There's more detail in the report from WCCO.

"The package found at the high school by a staff member was reported to the school superintendent, and was described as having wires sticking out of it."

Doesn't sound much like a cache unless the "wires" were lanyards...

 

There was a cache blown up in St. Cloud a while back that was described that way, as well. I believe I was the last to find it. It was hung from a tree by a length of wire. But I tend to agree with you that there may well be more to this one than just geocaches.

PRINCETON, Minn. -- The entire school district in Princeton, Minn. is closing due to the discovery of three suspicious packages around town, according to Angel Oswald, assistant to the superintendent.

 

The packages were discovered at the Post Office, high school and the Public Utilities Commission in Princeton Wednesday morning.

 

The first package was discovered at the back step of the Post Office around 6:30 a.m.

 

http://community.comcast.net/comcastportal...read.id=1098224

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StarBrand

+StarBrand

Posted
Posted

There is a geocaching on/near school grounds...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6a-e8aa1cbec3b8

 

Seems to have been setup by a teacher and class a bit back...hope it has nothing to do with this...

I hope that it has everything to do with it. That would be nearly a best case scenario.

Doesn't sound like Geocaches at all: "Hallin said authorities told her that the packages, left at the buildings' doorways, had no identifying marks and weren't addressed to any person in particular."

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sbell111

+sbell111

Posted
Posted (edited)

There is a geocaching on/near school grounds...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6a-e8aa1cbec3b8

 

Seems to have been setup by a teacher and class a bit back...hope it has nothing to do with this...

I hope that it has everything to do with it. That would be nearly a best case scenario.

Doesn't sound like Geocaches at all: "Hallin said authorities told her that the packages, left at the buildings' doorways, had no identifying marks and weren't addressed to any person in particular."

Agreed. These were actual 'packages'. They sound like the very things that we have bomb squads to deal with.

Edited by sbell111
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ZeroHecksGiven

+ZeroHecksGiven

Posted
Posted

Not sure if this is the right forum. Watching the news tonight and they had a suspicious looking package at a local community college here in Colorado Springs. Bomb Squad came out and destroyed the package and found out it was a geocache. Didn't specify if it was part of an assignment or any other details.

Myke

 

I couldn't find any caches near the college, these two are close: GC17B8Q or GC1TYQ8

 

who knows, guess those geocache stickers are kind of important when things like this happens.

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Guitar_Cacher

+Guitar_Cacher

Posted
Posted

I certainly understand the bomb squad reacting the way they did. As previously posted, they have to err on the side of caution. I thought there were guidelines in place to avoid things like this. Like simply putting a label on the cache stating it is a geocache, used for the game. If this was done in this case, it is POSSIBLE (note emphasizing possible) that the person that stumbled upon it may not have reacted the way they did. Let us not forget that Colorado was the home state for Columbine, which makes it understandable that people are more cautious. They also just had another yahoo in Colorado that was planning a Columbine type attack.

 

I agree that the press labeling it a device is ridiculous, especially since it was clearly NOT a device. I understand that any one can stash a REAL device and label it as a geocache to try to eliminate suspicion. I just hope that Geocaching doesn't eventually have to take a hit because of a minority of psychopaths.

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_Wolverine

+_Wolverine

Posted
Posted

This thread is discussing way too many different situations.

 

While I understand the safety aspect, and I live near this recently bombed cache, Colorado Springs is not exactly a liberal, cache-loving town. My only concern is the City Council of Colorado Springs, with this being the 2nd "bombing" of a geocache will ban all geocaches. sigh. Will see what happens.. We're already on a lot of restrictions on putting caches in this town, so this "negative" article might restrict us even more.

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ArcherDragoon

+ArcherDragoon

Posted
Posted

There is a geocaching on/near school grounds...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6a-e8aa1cbec3b8

 

Seems to have been setup by a teacher and class a bit back...hope it has nothing to do with this...

I hope that it has everything to do with it. That would be nearly a best case scenario.

Yeah...I thought of that as well...really didn't know which way to go with the comment...

 

After reading more about the things from the news...seems there were placed on steps...

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ArcherDragoon

+ArcherDragoon

Posted
Posted

Not sure if this is the right forum. Watching the news tonight and they had a suspicious looking package at a local community college here in Colorado Springs. Bomb Squad came out and destroyed the package and found out it was a geocache. Didn't specify if it was part of an assignment or any other details.

Myke

Some colleges have very nice facilities where a geocaching could be of great interest...but it is especially important to make sure the correct connections have been made so the correct people are aware...

 

Though many locations may be public-or more appropriately easily assessable (not just talking about colleges) does not mean the general public should be there...

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GOF and Bacall

GOF and Bacall

Posted
Posted

There is a geocaching on/near school grounds...

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...6a-e8aa1cbec3b8

 

Seems to have been setup by a teacher and class a bit back...hope it has nothing to do with this...

I hope that it has everything to do with it. That would be nearly a best case scenario.

Doesn't sound like Geocaches at all: "Hallin said authorities told her that the packages, left at the buildings' doorways, had no identifying marks and weren't addressed to any person in particular."

Agreed. These were actual 'packages'. They sound like the very things that we have bomb squads to deal with.

 

And a good thing they have all that practice on harmless geocaches. Now they can handle this situation with confidence.

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Sol seaker

+Sol seaker

Posted
Posted

Actually one cache was recently blown up, and the police said it was new people who did it, that they generally DO check geocaching.com first before they blow something up.

 

i called the local police and asked them if they would like me to come talk to them about geocaching, and they said they'd get back to me and never did.

 

If we had more liasons with the police department then we wouldn't have as much trouble with this.

 

If they have any ideas that it might really be a bomb and it might have been listed on the site to throw them off, they could always contact the cache owner and ask them to remove it.

 

It would be smart if Groundspeak made it easy for the police to get the phone numbers of cache owners.

 

As it is, the smart ones are checking the website for caches.

 

Heck, one might even be reading this right now.

 

(how many police do you think geocache?)

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