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Small Town Law Enforcement


jsdad

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Just a heads-up for cache owners in small towns. Make a friend, and report your hide to your town L.E.O. Don't assume that most law enforcement are aware of Geocaching activities. I stopped in today at our local law enforcement to double check, and see if they knew about Geocaching. They didn't have a clue what it was. I explained it, dropped off my downtown cache hide page description, and left him a brochure (available on the geocaching.com site) that explains the sport. He was super nice, and was really appreciative of the fact that I gave him a heads up of what and where caches are located in our community. I explained it brings people/families to an area/town that might not otherwise come to the area. They thought it was a pretty neat/fun hobby, and was very positive about the whole thing. I realize not all L.E.O.'s may be as open minded, but this was a very positive meeting for our town.

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This goes for historical societies as well! We went to a local historical society meeting, since we like to place caches at historical places in our area, and we got permission to hide caches at any place in Junction City maintained by the historical society!

Every summer, over 20K people descend upon my 3000-resident village for a week-long event commemorating a historical event.

 

It astonishes me how little action the various caches in town get during that time.

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Our NZ LARP society also keeps local police aware of events, particularly any in a more modern or urban setting which may be misinterpreted. They welcome the information as it minimises the risk of false alarms. In the current political climate in USA and UK in particular its probably a good thing to let them know about strange hidden boxes in advance, else you might find your new cache being detonated remotely... :blink:

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I've contacted LEO in the areas I plan on being with my kids over the weekend and letting them know we'd be in the area so as to not cause suspision. They seemed to really appreciate the fact that I contacted them first. After reading some of the bad experiences that others have had on this site, that is now my standard operating procedure.

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This goes for historical societies as well! We went to a local historical society meeting, since we like to place caches at historical places in our area, and we got permission to hide caches at any place in Junction City maintained by the historical society!

Every summer, over 20K people descend upon my 3000-resident village for a week-long event commemorating a historical event.

 

It astonishes me how little action the various caches in town get during that time.

 

I was surprised here last year as well. There's an event that literally puts you about 100 feet away from a cache where thousands of people go through for one of the festivals. Hardly logged at all during that time.

 

I saw an officer I know put his business card in the cache. Knowing he likely told the other 6 people on the force what he had done that day whilst on duty I figure that town is covered as far as geocaching is concerned.

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Just a heads-up for cache owners in small towns. Make a friend, and report your hide to your town L.E.O. Don't assume that most law enforcement are aware of Geocaching activities. I stopped in today at our local law enforcement to double check, and see if they knew about Geocaching. They didn't have a clue what it was. I explained it, dropped off my downtown cache hide page description, and left him a brochure (available on the geocaching.com site) that explains the sport. He was super nice, and was really appreciative of the fact that I gave him a heads up of what and where caches are located in our community. I explained it brings people/families to an area/town that might not otherwise come to the area. They thought it was a pretty neat/fun hobby, and was very positive about the whole thing. I realize not all L.E.O.'s may be as open minded, but this was a very positive meeting for our town.

 

We did this in our small town with the CLEO and town manager, as well as the director of Parks & Rec's. We even got permission as required. :blink:

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I introduced geocaching to the other officers on my department. Several times a year, one or another officer will tell me the fun they had watching someone search for a cache and a few times they gave a hint or two. I've met several cachers while working. It is a good idea to promote the sport so as to not look suspicious.

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