Do i look suspicious ?

[+Davon2]

Morning all ,

Just starting in this fantastic game , and have picked up only 4 so far generally quiet remote locations ( fields ,woods etc )

Thing i find awkward and worrying is when i am hanging around busy public places waiting for muggles to dissapear. I must look really suspicious and i think next step will be a hand on the shoulder from security /police .

We must look really strange to alot of people !!!!!!!

 

Dave

[+Jessykins]

I usually pretend to be talking on the phone or looking at my messages, if I have to wait for muggles to move away.

[+Davon2]

Yesterday i was looking for a cache near a sports field and everywhere i looked there were CCTV cameras. I thought i should look in the dark using a torch , but then i would be arrested .

Interesting to know how many people have been questioned by oficials for caching

[+Chief301]

Yesterday i was looking for a cache near a sports field and everywhere i looked there were CCTV cameras. I thought i should look in the dark using a torch , but then i would be arrested .

Interesting to know how many people have been questioned by oficials for caching

 

Why do you think you would be arrested? It's a public park, isn't it? Unless there's a sign posted that the park is closed after hours, in which case I would think that IF the cops just happened to spot you (unlikely) you might be briefly detained and questioned while you explain Geocaching to them. Then MAYBE you'd be issued some kind of citation at worst but probably would just be told to beat it and stay out of the park after hours. Being in a public park after posted hours is hardly the kind of thing that'll get you arrested.

 

Unless, of course, you're wanted by the police already, in which case, yeah, then you'd probably be arrested

 

I don't understand why people seem to have this fear of the police....they're not the boogeyman, they're just out there doing a very difficult job and if someone reports suspicious activity then they have no choice but to go investigate it. Answer them truthfully and respectfully and avoid the "It's none of your business what I'm doing, why don't you go do your job" attitude and you should have no problems.

[+Lieblweb]

Are you doing anything illegal?

 

If NO - then don't worry about it. If you get approached by the police, simply tell them exactly what you're doing. Simple as that... As Chief301 already said, if you're WANTED or have done something illegal....then, you'd better find somewhere else to hang out.

 

As far as security cameras & such.... Don't worry about those either. You probably aren't the first person to the cache location. The cameras have seen others come & go - WAVE and smile!!

 

Wait out the muggles.... act like you're on the phone, playing a game, waiting for a phone call or whatever. If there is TOO much muggle activity, then perhaps you just leave the area and get that one another day. My husband and I won't even bother looking for a cache if there's too much muggle activity.

Edited February 11, 2012 by Lieblweb

[+Steve0512]

I just avoid urban caches.

[+TeamPennyFinder]

If muggles abound I will act like I am talking and texting or waiting for someone. I have never seen a security camera in the areas I have been to. But I know that they would not make me nervous, who knows, I may break out into a song and dance to entertain the camera watchers.

[+Bloodheart]

Thankfully I'm used to looking strange as I have Asperger's so look awkward in public anyway and I'm a [women's health] activist who leaflets in women's toilets...lol...my point is that you could look a whole lot stranger, really I find people care less than you think they do. Granted certain groups of people on their own may get a few more funny looks.

 

I've yet to find a cache but I've looked vaguely in a few areas (one a government building, with CCTV, in a city centre) generally speaking I doubt the police would have a problem with it...given what the kids and drunks get up to round here they'd probably consider someone geocaching a wonderful novelty! Two other places were near shops so one I pretended to tie my shoes and the other I looked in shop windows or pretended to people watch. Mobile phones [texting, playing a game, checking email, etc.] are the best possible way to avoid looking strange socially, and these days it's the norm to play about in your phone so no one bats an eyelid.

[TheNorseStar]

I think part of the fun is staying undercover. I like to go on jogs and pretend to stretch when I find GZ. Gives me about 5 minutes to find the cache without raising suspicion. That being said, my find rate is lower than most on any given day, but it gives me a reason to run that way again and avoids explanations. Those few people that have seen through my guise have been friendly and even helped!

[+Sol seaker]

The more awkward you act, the more you will look suspicious.

 

The more nervous you are, the more you will look suspicious.

 

Just act like you belong there.

 

Yes sometimes we do look funny.

There's a cache under a boardwalk near me. I was crawling in and out from under it the other day trying to find a cache. I got some weird looks. One of them asked me something and I told them I'm looking for something and that I'm playing a game. He went away. I mean, really, who cares?

Before I crawled under the boardwalk I counted how many people looked strange ON the boardwalk. Most of them did, from pink hair to strange clothes to odd dogs. The human race is a strange one.

 

If I ever see police I take it as my opportunity to make sure they know about this game. They all should. I am assertive (not aggressive) and tell them they need to know about this. Do they have their free premium membership for the police? They should have that in case they find something suspicious so they can look it up before calling the bomb squad. Teach them if you see them.

[+Tempo 0]

I happen to own a white ute so I bought a fluro jacket like council workers wear. I just turn up with the gear on, park the ute like I own the place and go get the cache. No one takes a second look at me because I look like I should be there. I suggest you make yourself look like you should be there to. Thinks about it...White hat and clipboard? Grey jacket and sample gear?

[+TiggyD]

I heard an ex-con man say that if you carry a clip board and look pissed off you can go anywhere. The fluorescent jacket would be perfect too.

 

I tend to go out with a ruck sack and outdoorsy clothes. I look like the sort of person to be fiddling about with Tupperware boxes, so when I'm at a cache I just put my bag down nearby and pretend I've just taken the cache out my bag.

 

I've not done many town caches, but for the ones I did I favoured the pretend texting or the just picking something I've dropped method.

[+Ginirover]

I heard an ex-con man say that if you carry a clip board and look pissed off you can go anywhere.

 

We do that though don't act pissed, just look normal.

But the fact that you carry a clipboard gives you a meaning, that you're out there with a goal - any goal.

Usually people will leave you alone but a couple of weeks ago we were reading the papers before really starting to look and a guy approached us.

He didn't know what we were doing there, didn't ask for it but just kept us busy. When a bit later we walked off and turned a corner we saw some people running away in the distance.

Looks like the guys though we were really officials, kept us busy for a while and gave the chance to others (probably illegals) to run away

 

Something similar happened a couple of moths ago when we went to a bar with our clipboard for relaxing between caches. The owner met us outside 'by coincidence', talked for a minute friendly to us and found out we were geocachers and not officials. When we entered, all ashtrays had vanished but the smell of cigaretes was still there so the moment we were kept busy was used to clean the pub of illegal ashtrays (it's forbidden to smoke in pubs in Belgium but it still happens in the local bars...).

[+M4ISU]

I've just started caching and this subject has occurred to me as well, but only because I frequently see people refer to secrecy in their logs. I haven't seen anywhere in the descriptions of caching that your activity should remain secret. I also prefer the country/park caches, but this weekend was going after a few urban ones. I didn't feel that comfortable in areas with high traffic, but I did not attempt to hide the fact I was looking for something. I think what is more suspicious is trying to hide what your doing.

 

As Chief301 mentions above, these are placed ( or should be ) in public places - as long as your not trespassing, who cares ? I usually have at least one of my 3 kids, it's hard to be stealthy with 3 kids climbing everything in sight !

 

As far as being questioned, I haven't been stopped by any "officals" but when you park on a country road in the middle of nowhere people are going to stop and ask questions or ask if you need help, at least where I live. Happened to me this weekend and I just told them what I was doing , they smiled and said that explained why they've seen people in that area.

 

I encourage everyone to enjoy caching as you see fit ! It's a great hobby .

[+ysabet]

I'm a newbie myself (1 hide, 5 finds as of today-- registered way back in April last year but didn't start til a couple weeks ago) and I've been wondering about the same thing. I live in a city environment surrounded and interspersed with raw desert; caches may be in the middle of mesquite scrub or a prickly-pear hell, but 100 feet away there'll be a 7-11. So I've been kind of skulking; I've resorted to taking pics of shrubs and cacti with my phone when I feel really conspicuous. Seems to work so far; I've only had to explain what I was doing once to a bystander, and he was kind of interested in the idea. Any urban cachers out there ever have trouble with city cops?

[+Chief301]

I've just started caching and this subject has occurred to me as well, but only because I frequently see people refer to secrecy in their logs. I haven't seen anywhere in the descriptions of caching that your activity should remain secret.

 

Well, it's not so much a case of keeping the activity secret, it's about protecting the cache. Not too many people have a knowledge of Geocaching..most won't pay you any mind at all, some will be curious and enquire what you're up to...or they may wait til you're gone, go retrieve the cache you just rehid, (hopefully) read the stash note, and put it back where they found it..if they do, they may be genuinely interested and want to know more, or regard you with an eye-rolling "Whatever". Then there are a small percentage of paranoid folks who will call the cops.

 

Finally you have the malicious type who will go retrieve the cache and steal it or vandalize it just to be mean. It happens, unfortunately. It's mainly this last type who threaten the security of the cache.

 

Since you never know which of the above categories a bystander may fall into, it pays to use stealth most of the time to keep the cache secure.

[perdidochas]

I usually pretend to be talking on the phone or looking at my messages, if I have to wait for muggles to move away.

 

That is an advantage of using a smartphone for caching in urban areas. Nobody looks a second time at someone glancing down at their phone.