Dissuaded by the cops

[russotto]

I had just located a numbered power pole referenced the description and was about to bring my camera out for the final hunt, when I notice a police officer had pulled up about 22.86m (75.0 ft) behind me. I didn't care to explain our game to him, and I certainly didn't want to get out and wait for him to think of an excuse to arrest me, so I drove off with the disk unfound.

 

*sigh*... oh well, another day.

[+raouljan]

I am going to assume that you were on public property...

 

Why did you do that? Do you have outstanding warrants?

 

Having worked in/with law-enforcement, let me pass on this bit of advice... If you want to get an officer's attention, leave as soon as they pull up. I am really suprised that your actions did not result in a stop.

[ArtMan]

I would think that the authorities would accept that periodically the existence of these important survey stations needs to be verified, sometimes it's done by official agencies but other times by volunteers, that its a hobby, that you're on public property or the public right-of-way, etc. would be persuasive. I always carry the official NGS datasheet, rather than a printout from the geocaching.com site, since it looks all the more official. Having some pictures in your digital camera of recent sightings can be helpful, too. However, in the current climate, I would be especially careful around sensitive infrastructure, such as bridges, dams, electrical facilities, pipelines, and the like. Not saying don't do benchmarking there, because I certainly have, just be aware that your activities could arouse suspicion.

[Rubbertoe]

Yeah, I'd never try to "flee" from any law enforcement officer that might wonder what I was doing... in fact, I usually print out the datasheets for whatever benchmarks I'm searching - for just such reason. A few of the benchmarks I've hunted have been roadside, and I always assumed the eventually someone might stop and ask me wtf I was doing.

 

I'd bet most law enforcement would be intrigued or confused enough by the technology and the theory behind benchmarks/gps that they wouldn't have any harsh words and let you go on your way. Especially considered what you would be doing probably isn't breaking any laws anyway.

 

- Toe.

 

--==< http://home.columbus.rr.com/rubbertoe >==--

[Rubbertoe]

Yeah, I'd never try to "flee" from any law enforcement officer that might wonder what I was doing... in fact, I usually print out the datasheets for whatever benchmarks I'm searching - for just such reason. A few of the benchmarks I've hunted have been roadside, and I always assumed the eventually someone might stop and ask me wtf I was doing.

 

I'd bet most law enforcement would be intrigued or confused enough by the technology and the theory behind benchmarks/gps that they wouldn't have any harsh words and let you go on your way. Especially considered what you would be doing probably isn't breaking any laws anyway.

 

- Toe.

 

--==< http://home.columbus.rr.com/rubbertoe >==--

[survey tech]

I've never had any bad encounters with officers in 20 years. When they see a person wandering around in an unusual manner, they suspect the individual is drunk, stoned or lost, and its part of their job to verify this and try to assist them, as public servants. Some understand the pursuit, if they have encountered someone doing it before, others do not. Remember you will be questioned and may be picked up, regardless of what you are up to, if you are found walking in an area deemed as limited access or off-limits to pedestrians, such as freeways and expressways, even if you are in the woods a long way from the paved roadway. In recent years, many points have been established in the medians of such thoroughfares, but only those authorized to use them may legally visit them. Its typically fairly easy to recognize limited or controlled access roadways, since they have no driveways directly connected to them.

[+brdad]

If there's 2 things I've learned about cops...

 

Don't act like your avoiding them.

Don't chase an unmarked car at 100 MPH.

 

Me Fail English? That's Unpossible!

[ArtMan]

I was visiting this one this morning and a young woman came over to me. I expected she was giong to ask me what I was doing, crawling around on the ground in the rain. (This was in front of a school, and these days the presence of a middle aged guy at a school is about as suspicious as a guy named Ahmed wearing a keffiyah is at airport security. But no, actually she wanted to know if I was the guy in charge of the farm stand a few meters away, which was full of fruits and veggies, but was otherwise unattended.

[+rogbarn]

For all the benchmark hunting that I've done in the past couple of months, today someone finally talked to me. A homeowner came out to pick up her newspapers just as I was finishing taking some pictures of the disk. After exchanging pleasantries, I asked her if she knew there was a survey disk (sounds better than "benchmark") next to her driveway. It was monumented in 1991 and she didn't know it. I explained a bit about it and she seemed pretty interested. Seems she has lived there 49 years, so things have changed a lot over the years. It was pretty neat.

[+beatnik]

if you are dissuaded by the cops. As you can see the mark might get the cops attention pretty quick! This is a great topic though.

 

I travel the state for the course of my work. To break up the stress of the day, I find benchmarks or caches from time to time. Mainly benchmarks unless I want to take a whole lunch. I have really enjoyed visiting the old historic city halls and public buildings in the state. Most of them in small towns had benchmarks placed between 1933-1935.

 

To paraphrase Markwell, I had a "geomuggle" with me the other day. He is new to my company and hadn't been introduced to my GPS obsession yet. When we visited the site above he seemed pretty nervous. He asked if anyone ever asked me what I was doing. I told him no. In fact the whole time we were there pointing and taking photos, no one even seemed to notice or care.

 

Still waiting for someone to question what I'm doing. But I carry a copy of the printout just in case. In fact I've found that the only way to find them half the time is to use the GPS to get me close. Then I turn off the GPS and get busy with the printout.

 

beatnik

[+beatnik]

if you are dissuaded by the cops. As you can see the mark might get the cops attention pretty quick! This is a great topic though.

 

I travel the state for the course of my work. To break up the stress of the day, I find benchmarks or caches from time to time. Mainly benchmarks unless I want to take a whole lunch. I have really enjoyed visiting the old historic city halls and public buildings in the state. Most of them in small towns had benchmarks placed between 1933-1935.

 

To paraphrase Markwell, I had a "geomuggle" with me the other day. He is new to my company and hadn't been introduced to my GPS obsession yet. When we visited the site above he seemed pretty nervous. He asked if anyone ever asked me what I was doing. I told him no. In fact the whole time we were there pointing and taking photos, no one even seemed to notice or care.

 

Still waiting for someone to question what I'm doing. But I carry a copy of the printout just in case. In fact I've found that the only way to find them half the time is to use the GPS to get me close. Then I turn off the GPS and get busy with the printout.

 

beatnik

[+nscaler]

Here is a link to one of my benchmark finds and dealing with authorities. Do not try to hide what you are doing. Tell them. Are you that embarrassed to be looking for them?

 

The link is: http://www.geocaching.com/mark/details.asp?PID=DC2129