Jump to content

Cops called on on me while hiking with daughter!


Recommended Posts

*Hint: Don't tell a cop what he can or can't do. We love nothing more than some layperson telling us how to do our job or what we can and can't do. It's your permission you are granting or denying.

 

I'll tell a cop he "can't" talk to my daughter. If he wants to get pissed because a layperson told him he can't do something, then he is welcome to make an a** of himself and get a warrant.

Link to comment

*Hint: Don't tell a cop what he can or can't do. We love nothing more than some layperson telling us how to do our job or what we can and can't do. It's your permission you are granting or denying.

 

I'll tell a cop he "can't" talk to my daughter. If he wants to get pissed because a layperson told him he can't do something, then he is welcome to make an a** of himself and get a warrant.

Good for you, I guess. Personally, I don't see the value in pointlessly angering people who have the power to make me miserable. Even if you win, you lose.

Link to comment

*Hint: Don't tell a cop what he can or can't do. We love nothing more than some layperson telling us how to do our job or what we can and can't do. It's your permission you are granting or denying.

 

I'll tell a cop he "can't" talk to my daughter. If he wants to get pissed because a layperson told him he can't do something, then he is welcome to make an a** of himself and get a warrant.

Good for you, I guess. Personally, I don't see the value in pointlessly angering people who have the power to make me miserable. Even if you win, you lose.

 

There is middle ground. Nothing wrong with politely saying "I'm sorry, officer, I will not consent to that."

 

You will never get ANYWHERE being a jerk to a cop. They are well aware of what they can and can not do, and when they need consent and when they don't. You don't need to point that out to them. Whatever attitude you give them, they'll give you back. Being polite goes a long way in this world.

Link to comment

*Hint: Don't tell a cop what he can or can't do. We love nothing more than some layperson telling us how to do our job or what we can and can't do. It's your permission you are granting or denying.

 

I'll tell a cop he "can't" talk to my daughter. If he wants to get pissed because a layperson told him he can't do something, then he is welcome to make an a** of himself and get a warrant.

Good for you, I guess. Personally, I don't see the value in pointlessly angering people who have the power to make me miserable. Even if you win, you lose.

 

Sometimes the reasonable answer to a reasonable question is no.

Link to comment

*Hint: Don't tell a cop what he can or can't do. We love nothing more than some layperson telling us how to do our job or what we can and can't do. It's your permission you are granting or denying.

 

I'll tell a cop he "can't" talk to my daughter. If he wants to get pissed because a layperson told him he can't do something, then he is welcome to make an a** of himself and get a warrant.

Good for you, I guess. Personally, I don't see the value in pointlessly angering people who have the power to make me miserable. Even if you win, you lose.

 

I'm not saying I will say "can't". But I'm also not going to worry about how I get the point across. CoyoteRed made a point of saying that cops get upset if you tell them what they can or can't do. I'm just saying we shouldn't have to worry about how we say it. The Constitution gives us certain rights. If you tell a cop he can't come in your house without a warrant and he get pissed, then that is his probelem. If he doesn't like the Constitution, then find a new line of work but I'm not going to worry about what I say if he comes knocking on my door without a warrant.

Link to comment

 

I'm constantly aware of how children perceive cops. Cops are scarey enough as it is. It doesn't help that so many parents make cops into boogeymen. "Watch out they're coming to get you!" I guess if I really wanted to be a hero I'd be fireman.

 

If you, as a cop, think that kids perceive cops as scary, why don't you do something to shake that image?

 

I hardly feel like I make police out to be the boogey man, but I'll be damned if I'm going to teach my kids to trust them (or anyone else, for that matter) blindly. For the same reason that I listed in my very first post in this thread. The job of the police has changed. It's no longer what it was when I was a kid, and certainly not from when my parents were kids.

 

And remember, the possibility always exists that a police man could be a child molester too. It's not a story that's never been heard.

Link to comment

*Hint: Don't tell a cop what he can or can't do. We love nothing more than some layperson telling us how to do our job or what we can and can't do. It's your permission you are granting or denying.

 

I'll tell a cop he "can't" talk to my daughter. If he wants to get pissed because a layperson told him he can't do something, then he is welcome to make an a** of himself and get a warrant.

Good for you, I guess. Personally, I don't see the value in pointlessly angering people who have the power to make me miserable. Even if you win, you lose.

 

There is middle ground. Nothing wrong with politely saying "I'm sorry, officer, I will not consent to that."

 

You will never get ANYWHERE being a jerk to a cop. They are well aware of what they can and can not do, and when they need consent and when they don't. You don't need to point that out to them. Whatever attitude you give them, they'll give you back. Being polite goes a long way in this world.

 

There is nothing wrong with being polite. But if he's knocking on the door to your house, you don't HAVE to be polite. CoyoteRed seemed to be insinuating that we have to treat cops with kid's gloves. I'm saying that while I will likely be polite, I will do it because I am polite to everyone, not because he has a badge and might be on a power trip.

Link to comment

When I worked with a bunch of police at a riot control training session, I asked one officer what his job was. He told me: "To keep people like me in line. Criminals are gonna' do what they want no matter what. So he was there to make sure, poeple like me didn't break the rules."

 

I kinda' lost a little bit of respect then and there for him. Hoping that, these were his feelings only and not all law enforcement. Of course now whenever I meet a law enforcement officer, I have that little nagging doubt in the back of my mind, until I get to know them.

Link to comment

On a call like this, the cop knows it's `probably nothing' but there's also a slight chance they're going to come up on some child molesting freak

It seems to me that, on a call like this, the cop has no more reason to believe this family has sexual molestation issues than the family next door. It has been confirmed that they are father and daughter. Period. End of story unless there is other evidence than that they were on a walk in the woods together.
Link to comment

On a call like this, the cop knows it's `probably nothing' but there's also a slight chance they're going to come up on some child molesting freak

 

There's also a slight chance that [edited by moderator] when the cop knocks on my door. What's your point?

Edited by Keystone
inappropriate content removed by moderator
Link to comment

On a call like this, the cop knows it's `probably nothing' but there's also a slight chance they're going to come up on some child molesting freak

 

There's also a slight chance that [edited] when the cop knocks on my door. What's your point?

My point would be that your post seems a bit out of bounds for this family friendly forum. dry.gif

Edited by Keystone
Editing quoted post... if it's not family friendly, why quote it?
Link to comment

 

I generally am very pro LEO, unfortunately a lot of people are not. I think that that attitude frequently comes from situations like this. The most unfortunate thing in this is that your daughter was traumatized by the police. I would seriously consider contacting the chief of police and his superior about the officers over the top actions and attitudes and to meet with your family to give your daughter a tour of the police station and a different, more positive, view of the police. I don't think I would just let this go.

At the other end of that spectrum, I think I would make it a point of 'bumping into' that couple in the park again, this time without my daughter, and letting them know they did more harm than good.

Just my .02

 

Use a FOIA request and get a copy of the incident and the couple that phoned it in. Contact them and thank them for being concerned and at the same time the fact your daughter has a fear of the police as a result of having fun with dad. A someone else pointed out there was no screaming, or the girl looking to be in any danger, your face not on a picture in the post office, etc. If those couple doesn't respond well - write a letter to the editor warning them of predators in the park who turn anyone in to the police who appear to be having fun and/or not living in the surrounding neighborhood.

 

I am all about being concerned but there is a line and it's very fine some times.

 

Sorry you had to go through that.

Link to comment
...the fact your daughter has a fear of the police as a result of having fun with dad.

My guess is that any negative emotions the child has toward law enforcement officers came from the way dad acted around said law enforcement officers. In so many occasions, we inherit the brainless phobias of our parents. One only has to watch a child skin their knee at a playground to see this in action. The kid gets a minor injury, is a little freaked out, but maintaining his cool, till Mom screams, runs over, scoops him up and starts fussing over him. It's at that moment that the kid will invariably start balling his eyes out. His cries are less a reaction to the scrape, and more a reaction to mom. Heck, I've got a daughter who is scared of spiders. Why? She's never been hurt, or even threatened with a spider. But she grew up watching her mom scream to high heaven every time a spider crossed the room.

Link to comment

*Hint: Don't tell a cop what he can or can't do. We love nothing more than some layperson telling us how to do our job or what we can and can't do. It's your permission you are granting or denying.

 

I'll tell a cop he "can't" talk to my daughter. If he wants to get pissed because a layperson told him he can't do something, then he is welcome to make an a** of himself and get a warrant.

That's OK. We're used to it. <_<

Link to comment
...the fact your daughter has a fear of the police as a result of having fun with dad.

My guess is that any negative emotions the child has toward law enforcement officers came from the way dad acted around said law enforcement officers. In so many occasions, we inherit the brainless phobias of our parents. One only has to watch a child skin their knee at a playground to see this in action. The kid gets a minor injury, is a little freaked out, but maintaining his cool, till Mom screams, runs over, scoops him up and starts fussing over him. It's at that moment that the kid will invariably start balling his eyes out. His cries are less a reaction to the scrape, and more a reaction to mom. Heck, I've got a daughter who is scared of spiders. Why? She's never been hurt, or even threatened with a spider. But she grew up watching her mom scream to high heaven every time a spider crossed the room.

You really believe that being taken out of the presence of your parents and questioned by a previously unknown authority figure isn't stressful for a child? Honestly, based on your remarks in this thread, I think that you have become blinded to the reasonable emotions and feelings of the average citizen. Edited by sbell111
Link to comment
...the fact your daughter has a fear of the police as a result of having fun with dad.

My guess is that any negative emotions the child has toward law enforcement officers came from the way dad acted around said law enforcement officers. In so many occasions, we inherit the brainless phobias of our parents. One only has to watch a child skin their knee at a playground to see this in action. The kid gets a minor injury, is a little freaked out, but maintaining his cool, till Mom screams, runs over, scoops him up and starts fussing over him. It's at that moment that the kid will invariably start balling his eyes out. His cries are less a reaction to the scrape, and more a reaction to mom. Heck, I've got a daughter who is scared of spiders. Why? She's never been hurt, or even threatened with a spider. But she grew up watching her mom scream to high heaven every time a spider crossed the room.

Sorry but this is completely bogus. Fear of bees (or any bugs for that matter) is something I am trying to deal with my two daughters. I have no fear of bees and regularly kill them with my hands if I feel they shouldn't be there or are doing something that may threaten others. My wife pays them no attention yet my daughters scream bloody murder if they see one. They are only now starting to heed my words of not over reacting and just walking away calmly. We even reward them any time we see them not over-react.

 

Kids are afraid of the unknown and if they see flashing lights and several men in uniforms dressed up with guns on their hips questioning daddy, for no _apparent_ reason, that very easily could be a situation that could cause a child to not trust law enforcement. With that said it was not wrong of the officers to come and try to find out more. It would have been wrong for them to not follow up on a citizens report in some way. Now knowing that this could be a false alarm the police need to proceed with extreme caution not to alarm anyone unnecessarily. It is in their best interest and ours.

Edited by rawkhopper
Link to comment

*Hint: Don't tell a cop what he can or can't do. We love nothing more than some layperson telling us how to do our job or what we can and can't do. It's your permission you are granting or denying.

 

I'll tell a cop he "can't" talk to my daughter. If he wants to get pissed because a layperson told him he can't do something, then he is welcome to make an a** of himself and get a warrant.

That's OK. We're used to it. <_<

 

You sound a bit more reasonable than CoyoteRed. I get the feeling that you don't have to be loved, just respected.

Link to comment
Sorry but this is completely bogus. Fear of bees is something I am trying to deal with my two daughters. I have no fear of bees... My wife pays them no attention...

No, it's not bogus. Just because they did not learn their phobia from you, does not mean they didn't learn it from someone. We are not born with a fear of bugs. Nor, are we born with a fear of policeman.

 

Kids are afraid of the unknown and if they see flashing lights and several men in uniforms dressed up with guns on their hips questioning daddy, for no _apparent_ reason, that very easily could be a situation that could cause a child to not trust law enforcement.

Had either of these occurred, I might agree with you. But since there was no mention of flashing lights, and daddy should have explained away the no_apparent_reason aspect, (as opposed to overreacting), neither are applicable to the scenario.

 

I get the feeling that you don't have to be loved, just respected.

I don't really need either one. My ego simply isn't that fragile. If you wanna call me a mook, I'm OK with that. I've been called a lot worse. Unless it becomes a problem for others, I just chuckle and move on. If I could ask for one wish from the citizenry I serve, it would be for civil discourse. While it's not required, it sure would be pleasant. B)

Link to comment
Sorry but this is completely bogus. Fear of bees is something I am trying to deal with my two daughters. I have no fear of bees... My wife pays them no attention...

No, it's not bogus. Just because they did not learn their phobia from you, does not mean they didn't learn it from someone. We are not born with a fear of bugs. Nor, are we born with a fear of policeman.

 

Kids are afraid of the unknown and if they see flashing lights and several men in uniforms dressed up with guns on their hips questioning daddy, for no _apparent_ reason, that very easily could be a situation that could cause a child to not trust law enforcement.

Had either of these occurred, I might agree with you. But since there was no mention of flashing lights, and daddy should have explained away the no_apparent_reason aspect, (as opposed to overreacting), neither are applicable to the scenario.

 

Well with no disrespect intended kids are indeed afraid of things that they have never seen. And even if the fear was learned from somewhere there is no reason to blame the dad. You said my kids fear may not have been learned from me, and I would agree, but I am the one trying to thwart a continuation of that fear. This dad may be doing the same. As for the flashing lights and guns on the hips, well I have never seen a policeman on duty visit a potential suspect any other way. I thought it was common practice.

Link to comment

Here is another one for you :rolleyes:

 

[GCCODE=GC24NP8][/GCCODE] http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c48138a4-b7f4-4d1e-a90b-8b9a6dc40b83&log=y&decrypt=

 

November 18, 2010 by JamesBoyd (9 found)

 

What a cache. First off, this was an excellent multi cache, clever hides and clever ending. However, we decided to tackle this one at night time (around 12:30am to be exact) which made it even more challenging and even more rewarding after finishing it. However, however, after noticing a police helicopter flying over head for around 10 minutes thinking someone escaped from the nearby mental health clinic, we spotted a van close by our car who eventually turned around and left.

 

Immediately after pulling onto the main road away from the cache, the helicopter lights shone down directly on our vehicle and soon after we were pulled ofter. From nowhere two more cop car surround our vehicle as I begin to roll down the window. The officer approached the car to ask the most difficult question as a geocacher, "What are you guys doing out here?". After a short explanation we tried to show them as much proof as possible (the GPS, pictures of the first two caches et cetera) and even offered to show them the last one. Wouldn't you know it they called our bluff. After a short walk from where we were pulled over we lead them straight to the cache and after they checked my licence and we had some laughs we were good to go. No charges, no warnings just confused faces.

 

Needless to say this is probably not a good cache to do at night. As one of the officers bluntly stated "If you're out in the bush shinning lights everywhere at 12am, the helicopter is most likely looking for you."

 

TFTC and for something me and my friends will never forget.

Link to comment

Needless to say this is probably not a good cache to do at night. As one of the officers bluntly stated "If you're out in the bush shinning lights everywhere at 12am, the helicopter is most likely looking for you."

How very odd. It's takes money and calling in a pilot to get a helicopter up in the air. And they'll do that every time someone with a flashlight is out in the wildnerness in the middle of the night? :huh: Okaaay.

 

I've been out in the bush many many times in the middle of the night with a flashlight, and haven't had a peep from law enforcement.

 

Those sickos, enjoying nature at a time that no decent person should be awake. :rolleyes:

Link to comment

Needless to say this is probably not a good cache to do at night. As one of the officers bluntly stated "If you're out in the bush shinning lights everywhere at 12am, the helicopter is most likely looking for you."

How very odd. It's takes money and calling in a pilot to get a helicopter up in the air. And they'll do that every time someone with a flashlight is out in the wildnerness in the middle of the night? :huh: Okaaay.

 

I've been out in the bush many many times in the middle of the night with a flashlight, and haven't had a peep from law enforcement.

 

Those sickos, enjoying nature at a time that no decent person should be awake. :rolleyes:

I'm not sure you could call that cache "wilderness" - along the shore of town with a Yacht Club nearby...

Link to comment

Needless to say this is probably not a good cache to do at night. As one of the officers bluntly stated "If you're out in the bush shinning lights everywhere at 12am, the helicopter is most likely looking for you."

How very odd. It's takes money and calling in a pilot to get a helicopter up in the air. And they'll do that every time someone with a flashlight is out in the wildnerness in the middle of the night? :huh: Okaaay.

 

I've been out in the bush many many times in the middle of the night with a flashlight, and haven't had a peep from law enforcement.

 

Those sickos, enjoying nature at a time that no decent person should be awake. :rolleyes:

I'm not sure you could call that cache "wilderness" - along the shore of town with a Yacht Club nearby...

Ah, I didn't look at the cache. But still, automatically sending out a helicopter is silly overkill. I have been out in town parks and stuff a lot at night, and have only been stopped by a policeman once or twice. One was behind a Costco, and he knew what caching was and was cool with it.

\

Edited by Ambrosia
Link to comment

...I think that you have become blinded to the reasonable emotions and feelings of the average citizen.

 

Sadly, with the limited basis for my thought process being friends who are cops, and those who have chimed in on this thread and others like it, I tend to think that this is the norm for LEOs. No doubt they have a tough job, one that puts them in the presence of lifes more unsavory characters on a pretty regular basis, and I think they almost have to be blind to the feelings of the average citizen for that reason.

 

This comment is not meant as an insult. Just an observation.

Link to comment
...the fact your daughter has a fear of the police as a result of having fun with dad.

My guess is that any negative emotions the child has toward law enforcement officers came from the way dad acted around said law enforcement officers. In so many occasions, we inherit the brainless phobias of our parents. One only has to watch a child skin their knee at a playground to see this in action. The kid gets a minor injury, is a little freaked out, but maintaining his cool, till Mom screams, runs over, scoops him up and starts fussing over him. It's at that moment that the kid will invariably start balling his eyes out. His cries are less a reaction to the scrape, and more a reaction to mom. Heck, I've got a daughter who is scared of spiders. Why? She's never been hurt, or even threatened with a spider. But she grew up watching her mom scream to high heaven every time a spider crossed the room.

 

I just wanted to say one last thing about this incident and the comments you have made towards me in this thread. I have never said I overreacted in the entire situation, I actually thought I played it really cool the entire time. I also have stated the cops were not in anyway over the line with us at all. It was a call from some overly paranoid citizens that set the entire event in motion and I felt the police were doing their job fine. I never stated I was angry with the police and was overly emotional with them. They asked me a few questions and my daughter a few questions. We never felt threatened the entire time, and I have already been caching with my daughter again. I have told her what happened was some people just wanted to make sure we were safe and the police were making sure of it. You have taken every opportunity to write that "daddy" was probably overreacting, adding hyperbole, embellishing the incident, etc. I was writing about this incident to show what people in this day and age do when they see a guy walking with a young girl in a park. I see that you make assumptions based on what you see written and don't stand in the shoes of the people that it happened to. I am happy with the officers that showed up "for a chat". I see that I am glad it was not you. Based on your observations of me and the incident, you might have been on me like you have in this thread. I am going to go back and be a happy "daddy" caching with my kids, and not sit and watch an officer make assumptions about me and an unfortunate incident on an internet forum.

Link to comment

Had a police helicopter experience a couple weeks ago, I was going for a couple caches in a small park in Tuscaloosa and kept hearing a chopper. Gave up on cache 1, started walking to cache 2 and saw an officer standing on the side of the road downhill. He saw me but didn't say anything. As I walked towar dthe trail, a second officer hailed me from the top of the hill and asked me if I had any troops in the woods (I was in uniform). Told him no, and he said they were looking for someone who had fled a stop earlier. I decided to save the cache for another day.

Link to comment

Needless to say this is probably not a good cache to do at night. As one of the officers bluntly stated "If you're out in the bush shinning lights everywhere at 12am, the helicopter is most likely looking for you."

How very odd. It's takes money and calling in a pilot to get a helicopter up in the air. And they'll do that every time someone with a flashlight is out in the wildnerness in the middle of the night? :huh: Okaaay.

 

I've been out in the bush many many times in the middle of the night with a flashlight, and haven't had a peep from law enforcement.

 

Those sickos, enjoying nature at a time that no decent person should be awake. :rolleyes:

No way to know for sure, but I have a strong feeling the police were already using the chopper to look for someone else when the cacher's light was spotted, making them a target for their spotlight. Maybe someone HAD escaped from that mental health clinic, and the cacher wound up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

I just can't imagine a police department wasting money putting a chopper in the air just because someone is shining a light in the dark.

 

--Larry

Link to comment

Here is another one for you :rolleyes:

 

[GCCODE=GC24NP8][/GCCODE] http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=c48138a4-b7f4-4d1e-a90b-8b9a6dc40b83&log=y&decrypt=

 

November 18, 2010 by JamesBoyd (9 found)

 

What a cache. First off, this was an excellent multi cache, clever hides and clever ending. However, we decided to tackle this one at night time (around 12:30am to be exact) which made it even more challenging and even more rewarding after finishing it. However, however, after noticing a police helicopter flying over head for around 10 minutes thinking someone escaped from the nearby mental health clinic, we spotted a van close by our car who eventually turned around and left.

 

Immediately after pulling onto the main road away from the cache, the helicopter lights shone down directly on our vehicle and soon after we were pulled ofter. From nowhere two more cop car surround our vehicle as I begin to roll down the window. The officer approached the car to ask the most difficult question as a geocacher, "What are you guys doing out here?". After a short explanation we tried to show them as much proof as possible (the GPS, pictures of the first two caches et cetera) and even offered to show them the last one. Wouldn't you know it they called our bluff. After a short walk from where we were pulled over we lead them straight to the cache and after they checked my licence and we had some laughs we were good to go. No charges, no warnings just confused faces.

 

Needless to say this is probably not a good cache to do at night. As one of the officers bluntly stated "If you're out in the bush shinning lights everywhere at 12am, the helicopter is most likely looking for you."

 

TFTC and for something me and my friends will never forget.

With my luck, I probably wouldn't have been able to refind the cache.
Link to comment
This dad may be doing the same.

Overreacting to a couple guys asking questions in a polite, professional manner probably isn't the best way for a dad to ensure their child doesn't grow up fearing law enforcement.

 

As for the flashing lights and guns on the hips, well I have never seen a policeman on duty visit a potential suspect any other way. I thought it was common practice.

Wow. Uh.. No. Not even close. I'm forced to wonder how many such visits you've actually observed, that weren't on TV shows. We have fairly strict regulations regarding when we can utilize our emergency equipment. Every other law enforcement agency I know of has similar regulations. Driving to the house of someone who was (gasp) reportedly walking on a public nature trail with a child who was not in distress would not qualify for either lights or sirens. They call it "Emergency" equipment because it is designed to be used in an emergency. Paying a casual visit to someone who was not observed committing any crime is not exactly an emergency.

Link to comment

We never felt threatened the entire time

Didn't you say your daughter was "scared the cops are going to arrest us for geocaching together"? Are you now suggesting that she didn't say that, or are you suggesting that a fear of being arrested for a completely benign activity is not threatening? :unsure:

 

adding hyperbole, embellishing the incident, etc.

From your original post:

 

"She asked every minute of everyday if we can go!!"

"a real bummer to our geocaching experience."

"It makes me wonder if I can even go geocaching with my kids in areas that are not a muggle packed parking lot!"

"Who would have thought I would become a wanted man"

"they were acting very suspicious"

"Now my daughter has said she is scared the cops are going to arrest us for geocaching together!"

 

So... I'm the one adding hyperbole? :huh:

 

I am going to go back and be a happy "daddy" caching with my kids

Awesome! Glad to hear it. :)

Link to comment

We never felt threatened the entire time

Didn't you say your daughter was "scared the cops are going to arrest us for geocaching together"? Are you now suggesting that she didn't say that, or are you suggesting that a fear of being arrested for a completely benign activity is not threatening? :unsure:

 

adding hyperbole, embellishing the incident, etc.

From your original post:

 

"She asked every minute of everyday if we can go!!"

"a real bummer to our geocaching experience."

"It makes me wonder if I can even go geocaching with my kids in areas that are not a muggle packed parking lot!"

"Who would have thought I would become a wanted man"

"they were acting very suspicious"

"Now my daughter has said she is scared the cops are going to arrest us for geocaching together!"

 

So... I'm the one adding hyperbole? :huh:

 

I am going to go back and be a happy "daddy" caching with my kids

Awesome! Glad to hear it. :)

Good grief. Let it go.
Link to comment

Needless to say this is probably not a good cache to do at night. As one of the officers bluntly stated "If you're out in the bush shinning lights everywhere at 12am, the helicopter is most likely looking for you."

How very odd. It's takes money and calling in a pilot to get a helicopter up in the air. And they'll do that every time someone with a flashlight is out in the wildnerness in the middle of the night? :huh: Okaaay.

 

I've been out in the bush many many times in the middle of the night with a flashlight, and haven't had a peep from law enforcement.

 

Those sickos, enjoying nature at a time that no decent person should be awake. :rolleyes:

No way to know for sure, but I have a strong feeling the police were already using the chopper to look for someone else when the cacher's light was spotted, making them a target for their spotlight. Maybe someone HAD escaped from that mental health clinic, and the cacher wound up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

I just can't imagine a police department wasting money putting a chopper in the air just because someone is shining a light in the dark.

 

--Larry

 

That someone may just be a burglar.

If the weather allows, my city has 2-3 choppers in the air, pretty much 24/7. They are either on patrol, or assisting ground officers. If they noticed someone searching with a flashlight in an area they wouldn't expect, they would probably get a patrol car to check it out.

Link to comment

Welcome to the present-day society.. The problem you're facing, is a hyper-paranoid public, that suspects EVERYTHING. Granted, It's nice to know people are looking out for the better good of all, but some do tend to take it to the extreme. It's tough to tell is this something that needs reporting, or is it just something normal? Unfortunately, people see someone looking around, with a device in hand, looking under park benches, re-hiding a ammunition box, bringing children off to out of the way places, the 1st thing people think now, is, "They're Up To Something! I Must prevent it!".

 

Unfortunately, they will over-react. Fire Department, Bomb squad, police dogs, have CSI's ready for the call. (incidentally, I'm also a fire fighter.. yes, they do call us for bomb scares.)

 

I've had encounters with the police quite a few times when out geocaching. I keep a pamphlet handy (from Here at Geocaching.com,, or Geocacher-U (brochure page) and explain it immediately to the police that it's nothing more than a scavenger hunt like game involving the use of a hand-held GPS receiver to find the location. I even had a DEP enforcement officer, with his hand on his side arm, come to see what I was doing at an old historic cemetery, which was on the outskirts of a water reservoir. (and the stream behind that cemetery, fed that same reservoir.) I continued the hunt, and explained, while I was doing it, exactly what I was doing.

 

#1 rule when encountering the police, Never Lie! Be 100% HONEST! If you're evasive, you're giving them every right to suspect your actions as hostile.

 

If you're in a location deemed Private Property then by all means, VACATE! explain your intention wasn't to trespass, and get out of there! Likewise, let the cache owner know the hazard of the private property.

 

Public Property, still could be deemed Private. I've had two cruisers come flying in, when I was at a public library, checking the email & geocaching updates, after hours. Because someone saw me in my car, looking at my laptop, in the parking lot. If the property says No vehicles after normal hours, then leave.. simple.. Since there was no such sign, I explained why I was there, showed them the web page on my laptop, and explained this was what the public access to the library's internet was allowed for. I've even had them leave me alone at close to 9:30PM, in pitch dark, sitting at the same library's picnic tables.

 

If an officer requests identification, by all means, show it! this is not a dictatorship demanding you show your papers, this is just for their records. cooperate, and they'll usually leave you alone.

 

Hopefully, this encounter with the police was just a one time thing.. That's not to say it won't happen again, to you or anyone else. It just does. But, I can't express it enough.. Cooperate! that's all they're asking. Leave the paranoia to the people who don't understand.. (and they wonder why we call non-Geocacher's Muggles? Same reason non-magic folk are called that in the Harry Potter books. they're afraid of things they cannot understand.)

Edited by gelfling6
Link to comment

We never felt threatened the entire time

Didn't you say your daughter was "scared the cops are going to arrest us for geocaching together"? Are you now suggesting that she didn't say that, or are you suggesting that a fear of being arrested for a completely benign activity is not threatening? :unsure:

 

adding hyperbole, embellishing the incident, etc.

From your original post:

 

"She asked every minute of everyday if we can go!!"

"a real bummer to our geocaching experience."

"It makes me wonder if I can even go geocaching with my kids in areas that are not a muggle packed parking lot!"

"Who would have thought I would become a wanted man"

"they were acting very suspicious"

"Now my daughter has said she is scared the cops are going to arrest us for geocaching together!"

 

So... I'm the one adding hyperbole? :huh:

 

I am going to go back and be a happy "daddy" caching with my kids

Awesome! Glad to hear it. :)

A perfect example of why you should never talk to a policeman. You think you have said nothing yet all of it is used in evidence against you at a later time.

Link to comment

We never felt threatened the entire time

Didn't you say your daughter was "scared the cops are going to arrest us for geocaching together"? Are you now suggesting that she didn't say that, or are you suggesting that a fear of being arrested for a completely benign activity is not threatening? :unsure:

 

adding hyperbole, embellishing the incident, etc.

From your original post:

 

"She asked every minute of everyday if we can go!!"

"a real bummer to our geocaching experience."

"It makes me wonder if I can even go geocaching with my kids in areas that are not a muggle packed parking lot!"

"Who would have thought I would become a wanted man"

"they were acting very suspicious"

"Now my daughter has said she is scared the cops are going to arrest us for geocaching together!"

 

So... I'm the one adding hyperbole? :huh:

 

I am going to go back and be a happy "daddy" caching with my kids

Awesome! Glad to hear it. :)

A perfect example of why you should never talk to a policeman. You think you have said nothing yet all of it is used in evidence against you at a later time.

:laughing:

Link to comment

As someone who has much body art that is exposed in the summer I am often questioned by police. One great time was when I parked my car in a lot by a park and walked to my friends house near by. He lived on a dead road. I wasn't sure what house was his. I went after work so at 10pm and yeah. Officer had abundant questions for me when I got back to my car. I knew I did nothing wrong. I knew I had nothing to hide. I didn't care. Some one in the hood apparently called my car in as suspicious. I could have been mad at them for insinuating to this officer I was one of those drug dealing folks in their neighborhood all the time. I could have been even more mad when it was insinuated I might have been a prostitute (due to my dress I was wearing and my friend's reputation). But I made a choice just like every single other time someone officer stops to ask what I'm doing. I was honest. I was polite and I shook it off. He was doing his jobs. I bothered someone by my presence (even if it was him). I can understand why I may look suspicious and while I can upset at society be so finicky and judgmental I choose to move on with my life and live it well instead of being bitter and having a fit about these incidents (and it's been more than a handful of times).

 

I know I have the right to not talk to them (as well as the other rights I have). But I'm my own best PR machine. I don't think I've been questioned by the same officer twice and have formed professional and personal relationships with many after the fact. I also appreciate that people are vigilant in their neighborhoods. I have lived next door to one too many wife beaters, molesters, drug dealers etc. who no one wanted to say anything about. I'm not that person. If something looks jacked up I do call it in because I can't live with the knowledge that I saw something really wrong and said nothing if it turns out to be bad.

Link to comment

Sorry to hear about this unfortunate encounter with paranoia.

 

One thing that stood out to me was that you were observed returning to the car with your daughter and driving away.

 

Everything seems to have been in line with a father and daughter out for a stroll in the park, followed by driving home. Surely the police were incredibly stupid to assume that there was anything here worth even checking on? Fair enough that they turned up to have a look; but then there was nothing to see. When the car was reported as having left the parking lot with (what a normal person would assume to be) father and daughter inside, from this point on the police have absolutely no reason to continue investigating.

 

Summary of incident; man and girl seen together walking in park, go for walk, return to car together, drive off. How could that possibly warrant police time?

Link to comment

Surely the police were incredibly stupid to assume that there was anything here worth even checking on?

 

How could anyone think that a film cannister hidden in a lamp pole in a Wal Mart parking lot is a bomb?

 

The fact is that once someone is concerned enough to dial 911, the police have to follow up. I agree that someone here was incredibly stupid, but it wasn't the police who were just doing their job.

Link to comment

If an officer requests identification, by all means, show it! this is not a dictatorship demanding you show your papers, this is just for their records. cooperate, and they'll usually leave you alone.

 

Side note: 24 states have passed laws that do actually require one to identify one's self when requested. Requirements are different from state to state.

 

Just to clarify, these laws are premised on a stop during a detention - that is, if there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. If there is a consensual encounter then there is no obligation to talk to an officer or provide identifying information any more than you would have to answer my questions if we met on the street.

Edited by mulvaney
Link to comment
This is the reason I almost never look for caches in playgrounds anymore. As a 61-year-old single male, I just don't feel comfortable looking around and "acting suspicious" in an area like that.

 

If I can tell from the cache page or an aerial photo that a cache is hidden in a playground, the cache immediately goes on my Ignore List. If I approach an area that turns out to be a playground, I walk away from it, with very few exceptions.

 

It's really sad that we live in such a paranoid world; and it's really sad that there are people who inspire that sort of paranoia.

 

--Larry

 

I agree. When we first started geocaching my kids and I actually tried to find playgrounds where we could hide caches. For the simple reason we were a family and thouht other families would enjoy finding them in playgrounds. Never really stopped to think about the single adult cachers. In San Francisco it is even against the law for an adult to be in a playground unless accompanying a child (a law I support). Now we no longer hide any in playgrounds, have designated the ones we did as "family only caches" with plenty of warnings; and we simply archive them instead of replacing if ever muggled. All in all a sad commentary of society where innocence and fun and games are questioned and regulated.

 

But all in all, despite the original poster's experience, I am thankful there are still people that take the initiative to make a call that may, in fact, help a child in need.

 

We have been stopped geocaching by police a couple times. We simply explain what we are doing and we have been fine.

Link to comment

If an officer requests identification, by all means, show it! this is not a dictatorship demanding you show your papers, this is just for their records. cooperate, and they'll usually leave you alone.

 

Side note: 24 states have passed laws that do actually require one to identify one's self when requested. Requirements are different from state to state.

 

Just to clarify, these laws are premised on a stop during a detention - that is, if there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. If there is a consensual encounter then there is no obligation to talk to an officer or provide identifying information any more than you would have to answer my questions if we met on the street.

 

Exactly. Should have said. Thanks for the clarification.

Link to comment
But all in all, despite the original poster's experience, I am thankful there are still people that take the initiative to make a call that may, in fact, help a child in need.
That's all well and good, except for one thing:

 

If the couple really thought the girl was being brought into a secluded spot by a child molester, why did they leave them alone?

 

All they needed to do was approach them, say "Hello, what are you doing?" and it would have saved the child from being molested if their suspicions were right, and if they were wrong, it would save the taxpayers' dollars by not making the cops go on a wild goose chase.

 

But again, most importantly, if they really thought the girl was with a molester, letting them go walking down the trail alone??? Really???? :unsure: Sounds like a great way to:

...help a child in need.
Not.
Link to comment

That's all well and good, except for one thing:

 

If the couple really thought the girl was being brought into a secluded spot by a child molester, why did they leave them alone?

 

All they needed to do was approach them, say "Hello, what are you doing?" and it would have saved the child from being molested if their suspicions were right, and if they were wrong, it would save the taxpayers' dollars by not making the cops go on a wild goose chase.

 

These are probably the type of people that see boogie men around every corner. I'm sure that they were certain that if they would have approached, the "child molester" would shoot them in the face.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...