Law enforcement....

[Liamwli]

Do cachers get picked up by law enforcement often?

 

Has there any been any bad cases :/

 

Just wondering...

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Do cachers get picked up by law enforcement often?

Often? - No. Occasionally? - Yes. For geocaching? - Never!*** It's not against the law (certain countries/locations excepted).

My guess is possibly for trespassing (in areas where it is considered criminal); confrontations with "extended landowners"*; or sometimes for "Bad-Mouth Syndrome"**

 

Has there any been any bad cases :/

If I knew of any that pertained to geocaching itself, I may consider discussion here (I don't). Other than for that reason, no.

 

* Extended landowner -- those individuals that feel you are too "close" to their property, that you are trespassing. Push comes to shove, and somebody occasionally goes to jail for the latter.

 

** Bad Mouth Syndrome -- those incidents where some feel that is better to lie to the LEO instead of telling the truth (I mean, you aren't breaking any law. Why lie?) One lie leads to another, which leads to another, which arouses suspicion -- suddenly it's a one-way ticket to Hungry Joe's Crossbar Hotel.

 

EDIT: ***There have been cases where geocachers had unwittingly entered into circumstances that prompted their 'pick-up' until their actions were not deemed evil. This edit was prompted because of the words "picked up", rather than "arrested" (technical differences).

 

Being stopped is an "arrest". Our use of the term however, usually means being legally (or even illegally) charged with a crime, whether convicted or not.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Gitchee-Gummee

[+stijnhommes]

The latest news bit I heard of was a cacher picked up by police because he was caching in the grassy middle section of a freeway. It happens, but most cachers look out for their safety and respect laws, so it's a rare occurence.

[+T.D.M.22]

Never heard of anyone arrested for Geocaching. Lots of stories about police stopping people where there usually isn't anyone or where it's not a good place, for example under a bridge, the middle of the highway. Or people doing night caches. there's something that attracts police to people with flashlights at 1AM, trying not to be seen while they look for something. Always be honest with the police.

[+hukilaulau]

Yes, I got picked up by law enforcement once. After an event a few of us went to find a nearby cache. We had a disagreement with a local resident (another story). The resident flagged down a town constable and said we hit his car with an umbrella , The constable happened to be a geocacher! He "picked us up" and drove us back to the event.

[+Duifjes]

I know of a pair of FTF hunters out at night waving their flashlights when the police came around and asked what they were doing. After some explanations and something like half an hour of searching the police had the FTF being helped by far better flashlights.

[Liamwli]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

That has reasurred me

[+Lexmarks567]

always tell the truth to law enforcement,security etc. they can tell if you're lying. If they ask you to leave due to complaints then leave and come back after the heat has died down.

[+Ma & Pa]

True story

Ma and Pa look

Pa finds

Ma returns to car

PA takes out pen and pencil and signs log on trunk of car

PA notices car pull up behind

Pa quickly puts cache back together

Pa heads back to cache location with cache in hand.

Police car window opens

Officer says: Car problems?

Pa says: No , We are geocaching.

Officer: Geowhat?

Pa gives his 10 second geocaching summary and shows the nano cache in his hand.

Officer says: I guess there are all kinds of hobbies.

Pa explains about caches being all over the US , Canada and the rest of the world and that are many in this area.

As he closes his window and starts to drive off, the Police Officer says: Well if I see one, I will give you a call

PA replaces cache and returns quickly to car and takes off.

At the next cache, Pa notices he has no pen or pencil and realizes he had left them on the trunk of the car at the last cache.

Pa drives back to first cache and goes further down the road and locates the pen in the middle of the road.

Pencil has yet to be found.

[Mr.Yuck]

Thanks for all the replies.

 

That has reasurred me

 

Why, what happened to you?

 

Three times, Once this summer. One time the next town over sent a police officer from my own town over to my house. I wasn't home, but he talked to my wife, and she told him I had to be Geocaching. Which I was. My call the the first Town's PD to say I wanted to file a stalking report on the guy who "called me in", was never returned.

 

Then once I was detained for about 15 minutes by at least 5 squad cars while I came out of the woods at a "woods at the end of a dead-end street" cache. I had out of State Plates (New Jersey, and I'm from New York), and there was a robbery suspect loose in the neighborhood.

[+blackhorse221]

I'm in law enforcement, and I can tell you that all of the above stories are actually pretty reasonable from the typical police officer's standpoint. Think about it, we just had a robbery. Suspects don't usually stay at the scene waiting for us, they run or go hide somewhere. Now I have a guy coming out of the woods with some crazy story about searching for tupperware with a GPS. I'm probably going to detain him while I figure out what's going on. (There is a huge difference between being detained and being arrested.)

 

Our job in law enforcement is to figure out the suspicious stuff. Geocaching by nature seems a little suspicious to the uninitiated.

[+Team Dennis]

I've been questioned by LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) roughly a dozen times in my 3+ years of caching. I've always been up front and honest and never had a problem. The main thing to remember is NEVER lie about what you are doing. LEOs are trained to detect when they are being lied to.

 

Also, I am pretty sure it is against the law to lie to a LEO as it would fall under the "obstruction of justice" category. So don't do it!

[+Gitchee-Gummee]

Also, I am pretty sure it is against the law to lie to a LEO as it would fall under the "obstruction of justice" category. So don't do it!

Welllllllll...... as a blanket rule, that is not true.

 

(speaking of the U.S., here) Lying to protect oneself, is not a crime -- true, you are better off going along with the 5th Amendment and say nothing at all, though. Lying to hide a crime, could be a crime, in and of itself. Lying to some Federal Agents is a crime (assuming that they are speaking with you in regards to a crime).

 

Caveat: Some local jurisdictions MAY have such a law on the books regarding telling a lie (for no reason).

 

Now, keep in mind that if you lie to an LEO, (s)he just may take offense to that and perform an end run (ya know, some just plain don't like liars or thieves). Before you know it, you ARE facing charges of some sort.

As always, check local laws before lying to an LEO.

[+Night Stalker]

I had an officer in the Houston area stop me. I was caching in an area where someone had thrown a lot of trash along the side of the road. I explained what I was doing, and showed the officer the cache. This cache happened to have one of the jeep travel bugs in it, so I explained that they were giving away a jeep that year that this travel bug would give the finder an opportunity to win one. I think the officer started caching after that and this cache was his first find.

[+Goose84]

Police? Nah, but our bomb squad get involved over here!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-14039229