Meetings with the LAW

[+Yukatah]

Being in law enforcement (county sheriff) and a cacher I thought it would be interesting to hear the tales of meetings with LEO's while caching ....... When on duty I come across a cacher every once and a while and always give them a bad time about what they are doing (in fun of course) when they find out I cache too we always have a few "Yuks" and stories........ if they are bad encounters keep them nice if in Oregon

[+frinklabs]

I have only logged once an interaction with the cops:

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...ea-651199fc9d98

 

[+Trav'lin Two]

Yep, got caught by a couple of Border Patrol officers a few years ago. The officer came up and ask us if we were Russian spies or something. I thought we were in for it but he was smiling and didn't have the pistola out. Full story and picture HERE

[+Wadcutter]

Did you see this thread already running?

The Police

[+Yukatah]

Did you see this thread already running?

The Police

 

No sure didn't

[+meark]

Only once, and it was because we actually looked suspicious, not for anything terrorism related, but due to the fact that we were rolling up a micro log and looking down which is similar behavior to some other unsavory activities. We explained ourselves which always helps to have the gps out and showed the cop the log. They didn't have a problem and moved along.

[+BAMBOOZLE]

Have had many around the country and they have all been plesant. When we first started none had heard about caching and even now many are not aware of it .....in all cases they have shown interest with some wanting to become involved themselves. I believe profiling helps.......we are a middle age couple and not viewed in a suspicious way........most inquiries are if we need any help.

[+Chrysalides]

Only with the law of gravity so far, thankfully.

[+ras_oscar]

Murphy says if I say No Ill have one the next hunt. If I say yes I'd be lying, so Im not saying anything.

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

I get questioned by police quite a lot!

 

My friends call me a cop magnet because we get questioned so often. Of course there's liable to be three or four of us searching a retainer wall behind a mall at 2 a.m. so we tend to draw attention!

 

Plus I am an aged one-legged fat man driving a fire-engine-red custom dualie Suburban with a ham radio antenna farm on the roof, so I draw attention no matter what I am doing.

 

Most are of the "What are y'all doing?" "Geocaching" "Okay, have fun" variety, some have been more detailed with the running of tags and drivers licenses and such, but none have ever been anything but pleasant... at least in the end!

 

Two were sorta tense for a little bit.

 

One that started tense but ended friendly was when I and a friend were caching in Virginia after an event. It's about 10 p.m. and we're hunting a cache that turned out to be a keyholder in a downspout. Unfortunately the downspout was about 15' from the back door loading dock of a Toys-R-Us. An employee leaving work called the manager still in the store and told him that people were at the loading dock; he called the local police, who told him "Don't worry, we have two cars across the street watching them!"

 

I had just retrieved the cache when the police rolled up. I explained the game while they ran my Alabama tags and license and my friend's Pennsylvania license and it wasn't easy convincing them that we two had come to Virginia to find a magnetic keyholder! Fortunately they had watched me make the find before rolling up on us... had seen that my interest was in the area of the downspout and that we hadn't approached the loading dock. Still, if I had DNFed it and hadn't been able to show them the cache it may have gotten tense for real.

 

My friend happened to be a District Attorney and President of her Bar Association and was terrified that she'd get a trespassing arrest! After we checked out okay and showed them all of the many area caches on my laptop map they were cool with it.

 

In fact I explained that we were part of a group of 50 or so geocachers in town that weekend for a geocaching event and told them that they would very likely run across others poking around in odd places all weekend.

 

Their Watch Commander put out the word and no one else was stopped to my knowledge that weekend.

 

Interestingly the store manager came out and he knew nothing about the cache. I explained the game, showed him the cache and asked permission for it to remain in place, which he gave me and I later emailed his permission and contact info to the cache owner.

 

All's well that ends well!

Edited December 23, 2009 by TheAlabamaRambler

[+Castle Mischief]

Only once in 403 finds.

 

The cache. My log.

 

Decided to stop by and hunt this one down as I was making a few other finds in the area. Found the cache easy enough, everything is nice and dry. Took nothing, left nothing and signed the log.

 

And then it got interesting...

 

I had parked in front of the barriers at the end of the lane. I was putting my pen and GPSr back in their places and cranking the car when something caught my attention and I looked in the rear-view mirror. There was another car parked right behind me! I thought for a half second that I had run into another local that was playing a trick on me. Then I noticed the lights on top. One of Hartselle's finest had me blocked in.

 

[insert expletive here]

 

I had never in almost 400 finds had to deal with law enforcement. That was about to change... Was he going to ticket me for parking at the end of the street? Would invite me to sit in the cruiser while he ran my license? What if he's never heard of geocaching? What if he doesn't believe me?

 

I turned off the engine, pulled out my wallet and waited for him to approach my car. When he stopped just behind my door I asked through the rolled-up window if it was okay to open the door- no need to spook the guy, right? He said sure, open it up.

 

Him: "So... what are you doing?"

 

Me: "Have you ever heard of geocaching...?" (please please please please please please)

 

Him: "What? Oh yeah! Is that what you're doing?"

 

Me: "Yes it is."

 

Him: "Oh okay. No problem."

 

I asked him if he needed to see my license. We waved it off, got back in the cruiser, backed up and left.

 

Man am I so glad he didn't find the bodies in the trunk!

 

Thanks for the cache!

[+Rustynails]

Being in law enforcement (county sheriff) and a cacher I thought it would be interesting to hear the tales of meetings with LEO's while caching ....... When on duty I come across a cacher every once and a while and always give them a bad time about what they are doing (in fun of course) when they find out I cache too we always have a few "Yuks" and stories........ if they are bad encounters keep them nice if in Oregon

 

I was caching in Edina one day when I came out of the woods to find two cop cars with lights flashing surrounding my car. They came up to me and ask if I saw anyone shooting a gun in the woods. I told them I was geocaching and did hear two loud pops, could have been firecrackers.

[+bflentje]

Did you see this thread already running?

The Police

 

There always has to be one in the crowd...

[+secretagentbill]

There were a couple of caches that were in the woods near a series of nature trails that run off a local community college. When I went to hunt them, it happened to be the day after Thanksgiving and the college was closed (gates across the entrance with a sign "Do Not Block Gate". Hmm. So I parked in a little pull-off next to the entrance where another guy had parked to walk his dogs on the field that is on the edge of the campus. I walked up through the field, keeping to the woods line. When I got to the beginning of the nature trails, I looked back and saw that a cop was sitting behind my car with his lights flashing. I almost walked back to the car to clear up the situation, but as I was starting to walk back, I saw that he was about ready to pull away. Oh well, I headed into the woods and found the caches. When I got back to the car, the cop was gone and there was no ticket, note, or anything. So I guess it wasn't a parking violation...must have just been suspicious activity or something.

[+ngrrfan]

My partner and I were on a road trip, snagging caches for the Colorado DeLorme Challange, and had just made a find along a fairly deserted section of Hwy 94 in eastern Colorado. As we were signing the log one of Lincoln County's finest pulled up and asked us if we were having problems. He was more concerned that we might be having cache-van problems than about what we were doing.

[+Danbike_Lizbike]

Lizbike and I had driven to Beloit, Wi (as in just over the Cheezeline) to hunt some caches. We drove up to one near the river separating Beloit and South Beloit. I parked the car and was looking at the GPS as I got to where I suspected that the container was at. All of a sudden two officers climbed up the river bank and asked me what I was up to. I explained and then told them that if this was a "sensitive" area, I'd just leave.

 

One asked me "what the heck is geocaching?" The other told me that they'd wait for me to log the find, but that I needed to understand that this is not the best of areas. The second officer then admonished me that "you better not find a body on my watch, like they did on Law and Order".

[+AbMagFab]

I was wandering around a local forest, and couldn't find the cache. It was near some water utility land, and I guess I wandered onto that land (and I think the cache was actually on the land).

 

So I left, and came out the utility driveway. At the end was a cop. As I got closer, he asked me what I was doing, and explained that they had recently had a lot of vandalism on the utility property. He kept asking me probing questions, and I was getting worried!

 

Finally, when I got close to him, he asked me if I was looking for the cache in the woods. I sighed in relief, and said I was. He was off duty in a couple minutes, and then he walked in and helped me find it - it was his cache!

 

Very cool...

[+sbell111]

Being in law enforcement (county sheriff) and a cacher I thought it would be interesting to hear the tales of meetings with LEO's while caching ...

I've had two 'run ins' with the police since I began caching eight and a half years ago.

 

The first was while attempting to log a locationless cache on the grounds of the Tennessee capitol. There was a tax protest going on and the state police were out in force. As I approached the building, two troopers came over to speak to me. After a very brief conversation, one of teh troopers took the pic of the other trooper and myself completing the LC's requirement.

 

The second time was while caching on foot near LAX. I was crossing a street while looking for a virt. They used the cars PA system to tell me to get out of the road. They did not stop or in any way verify that I did, indeed, return to the sidewalk.

Edited December 23, 2009 by sbell111

[+ThePetersTrio]

I was wandering around a local forest, and couldn't find the cache. It was near some water utility land, and I guess I wandered onto that land (and I think the cache was actually on the land).

 

So I left, and came out the utility driveway. At the end was a cop. As I got closer, he asked me what I was doing, and explained that they had recently had a lot of vandalism on the utility property. He kept asking me probing questions, and I was getting worried!

 

Finally, when I got close to him, he asked me if I was looking for the cache in the woods. I sighed in relief, and said I was. He was off duty in a couple minutes, and then he walked in and helped me find it - it was his cache!

 

Very cool...

 

 

He must have a lot of fun doing this.

[+DragonsWest]

Only one and wouldn't you know it...

 

I was catching a trio of circus themed caches near the airport in Marina, California (a small plane field) and needed to duck into the brush for a slash. Oh, just then a Sheriff's car comes down the road and circles at the end of the road and comes back. Meanwhile I'm panicking because I've finally been caught with me shorts down. After painful interruption and a quick zip up, I see it's a lady deputy and she's not going to read me the riot act for watering the shrubbery, but trying well to hide her mirth enquires what I'm doing and if I know about what's happening on the side road.

 

I know nothing of the side road business, evidently another nefarious local character being chased down. I'm only geocaching, officer. Short explanation and she knows a bit about caching and wishes me a good day and drives off.

 

I return to the irrigation project and then seek the final cache of the trio.

[+Snoogans]

My friends call me a cop magnet because we get questioned so often. Of course there's liable to be three or four of us searching a retainer wall behind a mall at 2 a.m. so we tend to draw attention!

 

Naaaa! That's not it Ed. It's because you look like a terrorist.

[+WeightMan]

I have had two, but will only describe one here.

 

I was visiting my cousin in California and had borrowed her car to do some caching. I parked on the side of the road and somehow hit the emergency button on the key fob. On my car, you silence the alarm by hitting the same button again when the lights and horn are not on. Not on her car. As I was trying to silence the dang alarm a deputy drives by. He has to stop, of course and pulls in behind me. I lower the window and his first words were something like, "you're not trying to steal this are you?" I explained what was going on and he took the keys and hit the Unlock button which silenced the alarm. He noticed my GPSr and mentioned that it looked like his mounted on his dash. It sure did. I explained what I was doing and he shared his maps of the park with me. Unfortunately, I was not able to find the right trail and DNFed the cache.

 

The other encounter can be read about on this cache page. Just scroll down to my log.

[+StarBrand]

This was the first encounter anybody ever had on one of my caches.

March 23, 2002 by Zed (92 found)

I left a squirt fire extinguisher and Rockwell International patch I took from the Nighteye Cache in Westminster Co, and a Hotweels Submarine. I took the yo-yo. Mozzy and I were visited by a Nebraska State trouper. He was very nice and once we explained to him what we were doing he went on to look for some criminals He said that he had gotten some earlier calls about folks poking around under the bridge and such and he had crawled under the bridge himself to see what might be going on. Mozzy and I got to speculating later that perhaps the focus lately on terrorist activity might have made passersby worry more about what might be going on. )

[last edit: 3/24/2002 8:40:31 PM PST]

 

[view this log]

 

March 23, 2002 by Mozz_y (25 found)

Found no trolls, but plenty of swallow condos. Couldn't hide from the Law, and used camera to take a picture of Zed with officer. I don't remember which shot. Once we were alone again, I took the handyman's all purpose tool (duct tape) and left a Micromachines Vette.

 

[view this log]

 

BTW - the cache was a good 75 feet north of the bridge .....

[+CAAGD]

Recently, I was caching near a commercial warehouse district on a Sunday morning. I parked near a cache, got my GPS out and looked down the road. A cop car had just turned and headed right for me.

 

I was asking myself, "Do I tell this guy the truth or BS him?" I thought it was better to tell the truth.

 

He pulls up along side me and asked, "What brings you out here?"

 

"I'm 'geocaching,' ever hear of it?" I said.

 

"Sure have!" The cop said. "Is there one close by?"

 

I show him my GPS, "Yep, about 80 feet away."

 

I pulls his car next to mine, turns on the flashers and gets out of the car. Now, I'm thinking, "Oh, s***! I'm in trouble."

 

He looks at me, and says, "Let's go find it!"

 

Turns out, he has heard of Geocaching, but never actively looked for one. He thought this was his chance and we walked right up to the cache. I signed the log and showed him the contents of the box. Odds are, he was not only curious, but he was also making sure I was telling him the truth. Regardless, he thought it was cool. Asked some more questions about my GPS and finding caches. He wrote down the website, shook my hand and told me to be careful out there. Nice cop.

 

-CAAGD

Edited December 23, 2009 by CAAGD

[+Wadcutter]

Did you see this thread already running?

The Police

 

There always has to be one in the crowd...

OK smart guy. I was just giving a Brother of the Bacon some more information if he was interested in the other thread. Check our profiles bright guy. You might find a similarity.

You're right. There is always someone in the crowd who is too slow to figure it out. You just joined that crowd.

Edited December 23, 2009 by Wadcutter

[+sbell111]

Did you see this thread already running?

The Police

 

There always has to be one in the crowd...

OK smart guy. I was just giving a Brother of the Bacon some more information if he was interested in the other thread. Check our profiles bright guy. You might find a similarity.

You're right. There is always someone in the crowd who is too slow to figure it out. You just joined that crowd.

You're not this rude on the job, are you?

 

It seems like when someone identifies themselves as a LEO and at the same time is rude that it kinda serves to give LEOs a bad rep. Certainly, all LEOs are not jerks, right?

Edited December 23, 2009 by sbell111

[Keystone]

Good news! We are all finished with name calling in this thread.

 

The prior thread has been linked, and it's fine for this new one to exist as well. So, let's continue to share our experiences.

 

For me, every encounter with law enforcement has been positive. I think that always telling the truth has something to do with that. My first favorite memory is when a small town cop joined a large group of cachers to find a micro under a wheelchair ramp -- at 1:00 in the morning. My second favorite memory, for entirely different reasons, is captured in this log.

[+bflentje]

Did you see this thread already running?

The Police

 

There always has to be one in the crowd...

OK smart guy. I was just giving a Brother of the Bacon some more information if he was interested in the other thread. Check our profiles bright guy. You might find a similarity.

You're right. There is always someone in the crowd who is too slow to figure it out. You just joined that crowd.

 

Deep down, I believe most LEOs are just dying to taze someone. You seem to be proof of that. The intent of your original post is highly suspect.

 

In any event, all of my experiences with law enforcement have been mostly positive.. unless you bring up the coffin incident.

Edited December 23, 2009 by bflentje

[+Snoogans]

Good news! We are all finished with name calling in this thread.

 

The prior thread has been linked, and it's fine for this new one to exist as well. So, let's continue to share our experiences.

 

For me, every encounter with law enforcement has been positive. I think that always telling the truth has something to do with that. My first favorite memory is when a small town cop joined a large group of cachers to find a micro under a wheelchair ramp -- at 1:00 in the morning. My second favorite memory, for entirely different reasons, is captured in this log.

 

Keeping the above post in mind here's a blatantly off topic post:

 

This guy is a personal friend and mentor of mine. He's also a legend in the Law Enforcement Family:

 

He wrote this book and it's NOT just for cops:

 

I have no doubt most if not ALL the LEOs on this thread know of him if they haven't been trained on V.J. yet.

 

From what I saw above..... A refresher is in order.

[Andronicus]

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...c2-aa2ecc1c3dd5

 

My father-in-law and I were looking for this one at about 11:00PM. When we left the house we noticed the police helicopter was flying around the aria. Just as we were about to leave the road and head along the green belt, we were stoped by police. They asked us what we were doing, so I told them we were out geocaching. They had never heard of it, so I gave them the quick 10s sumery (game using GPS to find stuff). Apperantly there had been a loud banging sound, and I guess they thought it was gunshots, so they were looking for the perps.

No sooner had we got to GZ, but we were stoped by 2 other officers. Same song and dance, except I noticed these ones undoing the strap on their gun holsters.

 

Anyway after that we decided to call it a night.

[knowschad]

Did you see this thread already running?

The Police

No sure didn't

OK... license and registration please, sir.

[+Gregg 00SS]

Haven't run into any yet. But I'm a Deputy myself and am always keeping an eye out for anyone caching so I can have a little fun with them, lol.

[+Team Cotati]

Did you see this thread already running?

The Police

 

There always has to be one in the crowd...

OK smart guy. I was just giving a Brother of the Bacon some more information if he was interested in the other thread. Check our profiles bright guy. You might find a similarity.

You're right. There is always someone in the crowd who is too slow to figure it out. You just joined that crowd.

You're not this rude on the job, are you?

 

It seems like when someone identifies themselves as a LEO and at the same time is rude that it kinda serves to give LEOs a bad rep. Certainly, all LEOs are not jerks, right?

 

My personal belief is that very few leos are 'jerks'.

 

Of our three encounters with a leo, only one has been 'pleasant'. The other two were not pleasant because we do not enjoy encountering leos unnecessarily. We find these experiences to be unnerving and embarrassing as we are relatively low key law abiding citizens.

 

It is really unfortunate that some cache hiders fail to keep responsible leos informed of the nature of the permission for hiding a cache in a location that responsible leos might think that their responsibilities for the protection of property and persons give them cause for concern and investigation.

 

The easy way to avoid these situations could be to simply not place a cache in such locations in the first place.

[+Moose Mob]

Typical encounter 2002:

Officer: What are you doing?

Cacher: Geocaching, sir.

Officer: What is that?

Cacher: A GPS game where....

Officer: Yeah, that sounds..."interesting" now quit waking up the neighborhood.

 

Typical encounter 2004:

Officer: What are you doing?

Cacher: Geocaching, sir.

Officer: What is that?

Cacher: A GPS game where....

Officer: Yeah, I heard of that. Stay out of trouble, OK.

 

Typical encounter 2006:

Officer: What are you doing?

Cacher: Geocaching, sir.

Officer: I heard of that. My friend/cousin/brother does that stuff

 

Typical encounter 2007:

Officer: What are you doing?

Cacher: Geocaching, sir.

Officer: Is it in that tree?

Cacher: I think so....

Officer: Let me shine my lights up there for you

 

Typical encounter 2008:

Officer: It's under the other lamp skirt.

 

Typical encounter 2009 <==link

 

note: I have family in Grants Pass and Sutherlin - I will be wary next time i come through.

Edited December 24, 2009 by Moose Mob

[+bflentje]

Typical encounter 2009 <==link

 

note: I have family in Grants Pass and Sutherlin - I will be wary next time i come through.

 

What you consider a practical joke I consider very serious. I have the fullest respect for all LEOs, well, almost all, and even as a joke, is was pure and simple an abuse of power.

[+KBI]

Typical encounter 2009 <==link

 

note: I have family in Grants Pass and Sutherlin - I will be wary next time i come through.

What you consider a practical joke I consider very serious. I have the fullest respect for all LEOs, well, almost all, and even as a joke, is was pure and simple an abuse of power.

I have to agree.

 

I don’t have much sense of humor when it comes to pranks involving loaded guns or wastes of public resources.

 

People in stressful situations sometimes react in surprising ways, and having a gun in the mix always ups the stakes.

 

And while that LEO was busy pranking you and your buddies, were there any genuinely suspicious activities he might have detected (or prevented by his mere presence) had he been elsewhere doing his job? We may never know.

 

I love your timeline post, though. That was funny, and true. And I understand you had no say in the prank, MM. I just don’t think this sort of thing should be encouraged, hence this post.

 

I would be interested to hear opinions from actual LEOs on this.

[+Moose Mob]

Even before this thread I have noticed the normal seasonal increase in stress levels amungst the caching (and non-caching) population. Please don't take it out here.

 

Just take a deep breath and think pleasant thoughts. All will be fine. Enjoy your Holiday.

[+mertat]

Typical encounter 2002:

Officer: What are you doing?

Cacher: Geocaching, sir.

Officer: What is that?

Cacher: A GPS game where....

Officer: Yeah, that sounds..."interesting" now quit waking up the neighborhood.

 

Typical encounter 2004:

Officer: What are you doing?

Cacher: Geocaching, sir.

Officer: What is that?

Cacher: A GPS game where....

Officer: Yeah, I heard of that. Stay out of trouble, OK.

 

Typical encounter 2006:

Officer: What are you doing?

Cacher: Geocaching, sir.

Officer: I heard of that. My friend/cousin/brother does that stuff

 

Typical encounter 2007:

Officer: What are you doing?

Cacher: Geocaching, sir.

Officer: Is it in that tree?

Cacher: I think so....

Officer: Let me shine my lights up there for you

 

Typical encounter 2008:

Officer: It's under the other lamp skirt.

 

Typical encounter 2009 <==link

 

note: I have family in Grants Pass and Sutherlin - I will be wary next time i come through.

Well, I thought it was hilarious.

[+ThePetersTrio]

Even before this thread I have noticed the normal seasonal increase in stress levels amungst the caching (and non-caching) population. Please don't take it out here.

 

Just take a deep breath and think pleasant thoughts. All will be fine. Enjoy your Holiday.

 

You noticed it too?

 

My now-deceased grandfather was a county sheriff for a few years and he was known to pull a few practical jokes in his day. Some of these stories are among my favorite memories of him and still get recounted at family events.

 

People who have high stress jobs that deal with extremely unpleasant circumstances that most people wouldn't want to know about or witness, often need to blow off steam and have some fun from time to time. The officer in MM's story knew full well that his little prank could have gotten him some hot water if MM was the type to act a jerk. Obviously MM was a good sport and had a great story to tell afterwards. Sounds like a win/win to me.

[+KBI]

Unless you're the taxpayer paying the bill.

[+ThePetersTrio]

Huh. Most LEOs I've known have spent countless unpaid hours working if the situation called for it. They tend to be selfless in the line of duty and as a taxpayer, I'm thankful to them for putting themselves in situations that I wouldn't want to be in for any amount of money.

 

But if some people see LEOs as a drain on the taxpayer then I guess that is their prerogative.

[+mertat]

Well, my story is pretty boring and I wasn't going to post it but in an attempt to wrench this topic back on track here goes:

 

When I cache by myself I tend to head out very early - it's usually still dark. A few years ago I was heading out to do some mountain caching and stopped on my way at a small town park to grab a cache. It was the day after Thanksgiving, it was cold, it was still pretty dark and there was no one else parked in the parking lot. I snagged the cache quickly and headed back to my car only to find a policeman parked behind my car, checking out my tags, I'm sure. I was all prepared to explain geocaching but he didn't ask so I didn't tell. All he asked was why wasn't I out shopping.

 

See, I told you it was boring.

[+GeoCraig]

Here is the log of my find of GC4C03 Santiago Park Cache on September 18, 2002 by GeoCraig

 

It wasn't a pleasant experience. Thankfully, the cache has been archived.

 

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

Be careful when looking for this cache. Wednesday night after logging the cache I was handcuffed, courtesy of the local Park Ranger. He was going to arrest me for an act of public lewdness until I was able to convince him that looking in the bushes for a cache wasn't an illegal act. Apparently, this park is visited by perverts and it took 30 minutes in handcuffs and finally a visit to the cache with the ranger to talk my way out of jail.

 

Be careful while looking for this cache. I wonder if it should be archived. I would hate to see someone arrested or worse because of geocaching in this park.

[+KBI]

But if some people see LEOs as a drain on the taxpayer then I guess that is their prerogative.

I agree. If anyone ever expresses such a strange opinion, let's support their right to express it.

[+mertat]

But if some people see LEOs as a drain on the taxpayer then I guess that is their prerogative.

I agree. If anyone ever expresses such a strange opinion, let's support their right to express it.

As someone who's interested in the actual topic, I'd like to ask y'all if you would take this either to PMs or start your own topic and not derail this one. Thanks!

[+ThePetersTrio]

But if some people see LEOs as a drain on the taxpayer then I guess that is their prerogative.

I agree. If anyone ever expresses such a strange opinion, let's support their right to express it.

As someone who's interested in the actual topic, I'd like to ask y'all if you would take this either to PMs or start your own topic and not derail this one. Thanks!

 

I think if you'll read a few posts above, you'll see that comments made about particular stories that people have posted of their encounters with LEOs have been occuring since this thread's inception. That is typically how threads go on these boards. Both KBI and I have been commenting on a story that MM posted. I fail to see how that is any more off topic than some of the other posts I've read on this thread.

 

One person even posted a book written by a police officer. You didn't seem concerned about that, I notice.

 

FWIW, I am also interested in the "actual topic" which is why I'm reading the thread. I don't think it is necessary for you to moderate this thread. We have actual moderators for that. Thanks and Merry Christmas!!

[+bittsen]

Here is the log of my find of GC4C03 Santiago Park Cache on September 18, 2002 by GeoCraig

 

It wasn't a pleasant experience. Thankfully, the cache has been archived.

 

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

Be careful when looking for this cache. Wednesday night after logging the cache I was handcuffed, courtesy of the local Park Ranger. He was going to arrest me for an act of public lewdness until I was able to convince him that looking in the bushes for a cache wasn't an illegal act. Apparently, this park is visited by perverts and it took 30 minutes in handcuffs and finally a visit to the cache with the ranger to talk my way out of jail.

 

Be careful while looking for this cache. I wonder if it should be archived. I would hate to see someone arrested or worse because of geocaching in this park.

 

It would be silly to archive a cache for this reason.

 

Personally, I would love to be falsly arrested. Especially if all I was doing is geocaching.

[+ThePetersTrio]

Personally, I would love to be falsly arrested. Especially if all I was doing is geocaching.

 

Please invite me to the arraignment...please...pretty please...with sugar on top...

 

[+bittsen]

Personally, I would love to be falsly arrested. Especially if all I was doing is geocaching.

 

Please invite me to the arraignment...please...pretty please...with sugar on top...

 

 

You will be the first person I tell.

 

[knowschad]

Here is the log of my find of GC4C03 Santiago Park Cache on September 18, 2002 by GeoCraig

 

It wasn't a pleasant experience. Thankfully, the cache has been archived.

 

ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

Be careful when looking for this cache. Wednesday night after logging the cache I was handcuffed, courtesy of the local Park Ranger. He was going to arrest me for an act of public lewdness until I was able to convince him that looking in the bushes for a cache wasn't an illegal act. Apparently, this park is visited by perverts and it took 30 minutes in handcuffs and finally a visit to the cache with the ranger to talk my way out of jail.

 

Be careful while looking for this cache. I wonder if it should be archived. I would hate to see someone arrested or worse because of geocaching in this park.

It would be silly to archive a cache for this reason.

Personally, I would love to be falsly arrested. Especially if all I was doing is geocaching.

It wasn't archived purely for that reason alone:

May 24, 2003 by <A style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline" name=1437526>VickiJS (132 found)

this cache was fun while it lasted.. But do to activities in this area and it being a little far for me to maintain easily I think its best if I archive the cache.. I may find a more suitable area in this park to hide another cache in the future.. thanks to all who found it.. Vickjs

As for false arrest, if it is true that there had been a high level of "lewd activity" in the area, and you were found crawling around in the brush, that it is highly unlikely that any judge is going to buy the claim that the officer did not have a reasonable belief that you had committed a crime, but if we have a lawyer or LEO here, I'd love to hear their take on it.

Edited December 24, 2009 by knowschad