Police/Security

[+nthacker66]

Bringing back an old topic that was one of my favorites to read.

 

This past weekend, I finally had my first secueity experience - and it was a very good one.

 

Was doing a cache very close to Camp McCall in NC (an army post), where the military (from nearby Fort Bragg) uses the gameland all around the camp for various types of training excercises. Unbeknownst to me and my newphew and son, after we did the cache (a great 5/5) we were walking out of the woods towards the road checking out an old structure (we still haver a half mile hike back through the brush to the car). A pickup marked SECURITY drove past us and stopped rather quick;y and backed up. (Mind you, these werent MP's but a private security firm that watched the grounds). The guard asked what we were doing back in this area. I approached (with my hands in plain sight) and was pleasant and respectful and told her "We were out here geocaching and not to far from where we was the cache. She askedmy name and then my ID and I obliged. She proceeded to tell me that the army was in the middle of a 2 week training excercise in this part of the gamelands and we werent supposed to be back here. I apologized and she told me that they sometimes use live rounds. SHe said hunters have to be warned and moved away too. So I played my cards right, looked back at my nephew and son (we were all tired) and said "Geez, that is kind of scary, the last thing I want is to get hit by a stray bullet and my car is about a half mile around the other side of this patch of gamelanb" I then aked if she could give us a ride back and she was more than happy too. We talked about the different training they did, and the dangers. She dropped us off and I had a very pleasant first experience with the security.

 

Being respectful, honest, and friendly tends to go a long way.

[+Mom-n-Andy]

You would think they would put up signs at the entrances to the area when the exercises are going on.

[+nthacker66]

You would think they would put up signs at the entrances to the area when the exercises are going on.

 

Well, while not "classified" by any means, they do not want to broadcast that there are excercises going on in those parts of the gamelands (which is why security goes around patrolling). I asked why they did not do this and she told me that some excercises include ambush teams that someone could inadvertantly or deliberatly give away the ambush teams location and screw up the entire excercise.

 

As well, I put in my logs that it is best to check at the gaurd posts before venturing into the gamelands, if there are any excercises going on.

Edited February 13, 2012 by nthacker66

[+briansnat]

Still waiting for my first encounter with the police directly related to geocaching. The closest I came was on a multi cache hunt where we were walking in a salt marsh a short distance from the Garden State Parkway. A state trooper stopped and called us over and wanted to make sure we weren't planning on walking on the parkway because doing so is illegal. We assured him we had no plans to do so and continued on the hunt.

[+niraD]

I've had only a couple encounters (or near encounters) with security personnel while geocaching. One was a private security guard who asked me if I needed any help. I had solved a puzzle incorrectly, and was standing there looking confused, not far from the building where he worked. (The location was obviously wrong, the hint didn't match at all, and I was rereading the cache info on my Palm PDA to figure out what I had done wrong.)

 

The other happened when I took a cache back to my car to sign the log. While I was there, private security personnel showed up and started dealing with an incident right at GZ. What they were doing was more important than what I was doing, so I didn't want to interrupt them. When I couldn't wait any longer, I left, taking the cache with me. Later, after the meeting I had to attend that evening, I returned and replaced the cache, now that I had GZ to myself again.

[+SnoopyLu]

The first time I came up with geocaching was a few years ago while on duty as a police officer in Germany. Somebody called the office and was wondering about "a hidden small container, where people come and go to take and leave something". He was sure about hidden drugs.

We went there and found the stash-note in it. Though I found it a funny idea, I some way did not join the game until my sister told me about she´s geocaching few month ago.

 

Just 2 weeks ago, we had a similar call. The women was in sorrow about people with suspicious behaviour in a near little park. Unfortunately the trees now are all scraggy this time and no leaves shelter the cachers We could becalm her while explaining, it´s just an internet game

But this time, I logged my visit

[+wimseyguy]

I probably have had LEO conversations 10-15 times. One of the best encounters took place in Jacksonville FL after GW3. A Deputy Sheriff stopped and asked what we were up do. When we told him we were geocaching, he replied 'cool I have heard of that'. He then radioed in letting HQ know he was unavailable and spent 10 minutes with us using gear from his bag of tricks in the trunk of his cruiser to retrieve the sneaky hide.

 

I'm sure a quick use of the search function can pull up several older threads on this topic.

[+slukster]

I had a cache hidden in a local park that has the county sheriff departments horse stables in it. There are always sheriff vehicles parked there. I was retrieving my pink colored ammo can which was hidden down the hill from the stables. As I came up over the hill I see two sheriff's standing near their car. My first thought was to try to hide the container in my jacket but I would have looked more suspicious with the poofed out jacket. So I tried to casually walk by them, pink can in hand, big smile and a "hello". No chance. With a puzzled look on their faces they asked me what I was up to. Opened the can for them, showed them the contents and told them about geocaching. They had heard of it and off I went.

[vagabond]

In 11 years of caching and over 5000 caches I've been questioned twice once by a police officer I was coming out of some bushes behind a business with a pill bottle in my hand,he was more interested in the contents then anything else. 1 security guard in a warehouse complex and was told to leave

[+power69]

be careful lifting that lamp post cover.

I got 12 days jail due to one.

[+skraeling]

be careful lifting that lamp post cover.

I got 12 days jail due to one.

 

Really? How does lifting a lamp post cover (which is essentially just molding) equate to 12 days in jail?

[+briansnat]

There was one where I was certain I was going to have an encounter. My wife and I stopped for a cache at a Route 80 rest area. I was on the ground feeling around inside a storm drain grate and my wife was looking under a nearby picnic table when a state trooper pulled in.

 

He sat in his car about 50 feet from us and watched us for several minutes. Then he simply drove away without saying a word.

[+CanadianRockies]

We've had five or six conversations with LEOs. All were reasonably positive experiences, although the 11 p.m. encounter continued for about 20 minutes as he radioed in our vehicle license number and my drivers license number. He debated whether to wake up my wife, who was asleep in the passenger seat, but decided it wasn't necessary.

[+knitika]

My family was searching for a cache outside of a museum on a university campus. Our son was inside, performing in the band at a function, and we were caching to pass the time while waiting for him. A campus security officer stopped his truck and got out, walking over to us. We were ready to explain that we were just goofing around while waiting for our son, but we didn't need to. He called to us, "Did you find it???" Turns out, he'd looked for the cache several times and never located it. He searched with us for a while, but we never found it. The cache was later disabled.

 

I think it's a pretty cool thing for a security guard to do, cache on the campus! Gets him out and about and seeing the world he's patrolling.

[+HicksFam]

Here in England my house borders a woodland area which is owned by the Ministry of Defence and used almost daily for training.

 

On two occasions, we've been looking for a cache only for a soldier to appear from the ground covered in camo gears, gun in hand, and quietly move off to another site. Thankfully they don't use live bullets in training exercises but it still a bit spookey when they suddenly appear in front of you!

[+power69]

be careful lifting that lamp post cover.

I got 12 days jail due to one.

 

Really? How does lifting a lamp post cover (which is essentially just molding) equate to 12 days in jail?

When the lot the cache was in was sold to the city and the city deemed the area a zero tolerance area due to prostitution and drugs.

there weren't even any no trespassing signs put up yet. the jails were all on lockdown due to SB1070 protests at the florence prison.

a perfect storm really.

[+Sky King 36]

I've had roughly 30 LEO interactions. I think it depends a lot on how you cache--namely, where and when. I tend to cache in places, and at times, that arouse curiosity. So far all of those interactions have been very positive, no troubles yet. My favorite was a Lynn County (Iowa) deputy who noticed my car in a county park after closing a couple of years ago. (OK, I admit, I can be a little irreverent about rules). So, he gets on the radio and tells his wingman "It's OK, I just talked to the guy and he is doing that geocrapping." To this day some of my friends still call me a geocrapper. A sad coincidence--the following night, a Lynn County deputy, Mark Taylor (who may very well have been the guy he was talking to on the radio) died in a traffic accident. I placed the memorial cache "Mark Taylor Tribute" at the exact location the car came to rest.

Edited February 16, 2012 by Sky King 36

[+Turtle_Sask]

be careful lifting that lamp post cover.

I got 12 days jail due to one.

 

You actually spent 12 days in Jail! wow that must have been tough! that's crazy!

[+doug_hollyNKC]

I can think of two right off the top of my head. The first one was at the end of a dead road right next to a closed down movie theater. We watched the police office do about 6 laps around the parking lot of the movie theater before heading over and asking us if we had found it yet. So apparently on this instance the police knew exactly what we were doing and had no issues with it.

 

The second was in the middle of absolute no where Kansas looking for a nano magnet painted the same color as the guardrail out in the middle of bridge down on a very rural county road. Wouldn't you know it 3 people looking and digging all over this bridge and the county sheriff pulls up. We explained what we were doing and told him about Geocaching and he even helped look for it.

[+skraeling]

be careful lifting that lamp post cover.

I got 12 days jail due to one.

 

You actually spent 12 days in Jail! wow that must have been tough! that's crazy!

 

sounds like there is more to the story - 12 days for lifter a lamp post cover? that would be laughed right out of court.

[+gpsblake]

I've had 3 LEO approaches, with 2 of them involving benchmark hunting. Just be honest with the cops or whomever and things will be fine. It's if you lie to someone where the trouble starts.

[+Mitragorz]

I had just found a cache in a city park. I'm almost back to the parking lot, maybe another 1/4 mile to go, and I see a police car driving on the opposite side of the loop (this was a paved trail that started and ended near the parking lot), in the opposite direction (ie, if he kept going, he'd be approaching my back.) Great. It's dark, the park is supposed to be closed, and now the cops have seen my car in the parking lot and are out looking for me. I'm not a local so they're going to give me a hard time. Just what I need.

 

I did a quick check behind me and noticed two people walking a few hundred feet behind me. Good! So the cop will catch up to them first! My plan worked perfectly. Almost.

 

The cop did catch up to them, and I heard them stop and start chatting. And I was just about to reach the parking lot. Then I hear him driving up behind me. Well, I guess I'll have to explain myself. He pulls up with his window down, and I noticed his car didn't say POLICE on it. It was metro-park security, or whatever they're called. He says to me "You've got the potential to make my night." "Oh yeah?" I said. He says "Tell me you're my rental cay guy." 'I AM!" I reply, and hold up my keys with the oversized rental car keychain. "Oh, thank God you're still alive!"

 

I gave him a funny look. He went on to explain: Apparently, quite a few people come to the park to kill themselves. He was checking out the cars in the lot (there were still a few, and the park closes at dark... Well, it was dark and then some), and when he got to mine, he noticed the pink rental agreement on the passenger seat. He thought it was a doctor's note. I guess there's a medical center close by, and when people get the bad news, they like to come here and take care of it their own way.

 

He was a really nice guy. He commented on how great of a night it was to be out for a walk, and that I should stay alive to see the full moon when it comes out. I assured him I was perfectly healthy, both physically and mentally, and we parted ways.

[MisterEFQ]

be careful lifting that lamp post cover.

I got 12 days jail due to one.

 

You actually spent 12 days in Jail! wow that must have been tough! that's crazy!

 

sounds like there is more to the story - 12 days for lifter a lamp post cover? that would be laughed right out of court.

 

He wasnt sentenced to 12 days. He got caught in a lock down.

[+power69]

be careful lifting that lamp post cover.

I got 12 days jail due to one.

 

You actually spent 12 days in Jail! wow that must have been tough! that's crazy!

 

sounds like there is more to the story - 12 days for lifter a lamp post cover? that would be laughed right out of court.

it was for "trespassing in a zero tolerance zone" as the city owned the lot[when the cache was hid permission was obtained from the company that owned the lot but they since had sold the property to the city of Glendale]

under other circumstances i would have just gotten a warning or at the most a ticket.

When i finally got to see the judge i explained everything and the charges were dropped.