Police Officers

[+Sol seaker]

I've had minor run-ins a few times.

 

My attitude is that if they don't know what geocaching is, they should know. I'm always all ready to tell them about it.

 

I tell them that they can get a free geocaching membership, and that they should do that (they get a free PM so they can make sure things called in as bombs aren't geocaches).

 

I tell them about the game and tell them I am willing to go to their police department and teach a bunch of police about the game if they don't know about it, because it is something they all need to know about.

 

 

I've never had any problems.

[+jellis]

First thing I would say to a new cacher is never lie to one.

 

I have many stories, but here a couple of quickies, one about a bomb scare in a local park that was real pipe bombs and I let the police know where all the caches were,including a cache right behind the police car when they were curious on where the nearest one was.

 

And trying to find a cache when I put my hand in a drainage hole and come out with a large bag of POT. Called the local police who I met them in a nearby parking lot for a hand over.

[knowschad]

I am very conscious of making my body language open and of interacting with a positive and respectful attitude. Works great.

 

Yeah, I can just imagine!

 

[+oldsoldier]

I have had a couple run ins with police, and with local park rangers, but they have all been amicable. One officer, when I used to carry flyers, was excited to go home and take his kids out, because he hated that they played video games all the time. I thought that was pretty cool.

I am a police dispatcher now, and a police dept employee, so, if I get questioned (which I havent) I simply would show my department issued ID, to defuse it a little . That being said though, its never once been a negative experience for me.

[+NanCycle]

Most recent was last weekend when I was stopped next to a guardrail cache on a side road off of a main road and a County Sheriff Deputy stopped to see if I was okay, if my car had broken down, whatever. Turned out he had heard of geocaching but had no real knowledge about it, so we chatted for a bit and I showed him the MKH cache and where it was on the guardrail. He said "That wasn't really very well hidden," but we ended up agreeing that it was pretty well hidden from anyone who wasn't actually looking for it.

[+niraD]

I've had a few park rangers and security guards ask if everything was okay.

 

Apparently I look like someone who needs help, rather than like someone who is up to no good.

[+Sol seaker]

I had a security guard question me tonight.

 

I had been standing staring at a sign in a high muggle area that is supposed to have a cache on it.

 

We chatted a while, real friendly like. Then I asked him if he'd heard of geocaching. I wanted a hint and wanted to know if he knew where it was. We chatted a while about caching and his experiences with being a security guard in other places with geocaches.

 

But, no, he didn't know where it was. He did say he had been wondering why so many people stood staring at that sign.

 

 

 

Another time I was finding a cache that was on the other side of a very small street from a child care facility.

A police car drove up and parked between me and the facility, but he wasn't looking at me. I stopped, knew I wasn't doing anything wrong, so went ahead and continued to sign the cache and then put it back under the lamp skirt. I looked up and he was doing paperwork and pretending to not be watching me at all. I gave a friendly wave and sauntered slowly back to my car, playing with my GPS along the way.

 

I don't look terribly threatening (unless I want to). In general I look like the nice person I generally am. They don't bother me much. If they do, I strike up a conversation and make friends.

[+doc73]

This is probably terrible to say but... From the other side of fence, I'll mess with a cacher at first . I know, obviously, where the caches are at and when I see a suspected fellow cacher out doing the drunken bee dance I zip up to them fast with the lights going and start telling them about the crime that has been going on in this area and wanting to know if they are the cause or involved... If they try to explain I keep stopping them and telling them to let me finish.

 

Just as they think this may not go well for them I just ask them, "I have one more very important question for you... (adding along uncomfortable pause) Did you get a smiley yet?" I mostly get a big sign of relief and then we all get a laugh over it. Even have made a few cameos in log pictures "assisting" in the search.

Edited March 21, 2015 by doc73

[knowschad]

This is probably terrible to say but... From the other side of fence, I'll mess with a cacher at first . I know, obviously, where the caches are at and when I see a suspected fellow cacher out doing the drunken bee dance I zip up to them fast with the lights going and start telling them about the crime that has been going on in this area and wanting to know if they are the cause or involved... If they try to explain I keep stopping them and telling them to let me finish.

 

Just as they think this may not go well for them I just ask them, "I have one more very important question for you... (adding along uncomfortable pause) Did you get a smiley yet?" I mostly get a big sign of relief and then we all get a laugh over it. Even have made a few cameos in log pictures "assisting" in the search.

 

Please tell me you are kidding. You are, right?

[+doc73]

No, depends on other circumstances but come on need to have a little fun once in a while.

[knowschad]

No, depends on other circumstances but come on need to have a little fun once in a while.

In your official capacity as a law enforcement officer?

 

OK, that's going off-topic too far. But unless you know the cachers, and know them very well, I would say that is a very bad practice at best.

[+doc73]

Ok I will note your dislike.?

But, so far the opposite has been true. In this day of "hating the man" people are happy to realize we are not the stazi. Most are even happy for the help in the search. Guess my humor is different than yours which is ok.

[+oldsoldier]

Ok I will note your dislike.?

But, so far the opposite has been true. In this day of "hating the man" people are happy to realize we are not the stazi. Most are even happy for the help in the search. Guess my humor is different than yours which is ok.

I think this is rather fun, actually. Not saying that there isnt a criminal element in the geocaching community but, as a rule, people are generally upstanding folks. A little light fun isnt bad. I, personally, would find it amusing, myself. Particularly as, in the end, we're both cachers.

That being said, officers can gauge attitude pretty fast (most people can, but dont realize that), and, I'm pretty sure that, if the situation started going south, you'd reveal the joke soon enough.

In the grand scheme of things, this is nothing more than having a laugh with a fellow cacher. No harm, no foul. It may not be everyones cup of tea, but I think its pretty amusing.

[knowschad]

Ok I will note your dislike.?

But, so far the opposite has been true. In this day of "hating the man" people are happy to realize we are not the stazi. Most are even happy for the help in the search. Guess my humor is different than yours which is ok.

 

Yes... a squad car driving up to me with lights flashing is not exactly my idea of humor. For all I know, you are coming to tell me that my spouse (or whoever) just got in a car accident. Aren't there some rules against that sort of behavior?

[+doc73]

Now I think your getting a bit obsurd. I could also be speeding there because a nuclear fallout cloud is ready to fall on your exact spot, a large anvil dropped by wiley coyote or a swarm of killer bees.

 

If you want I could harass the catchers as three of the local favorites are on private property even though they are incorrectly listed as public... But like oldsoldier said cachers are NOT the criminal element so we look the other way.

 

Edit. Did not realize your "rules" were a click on my phone.. Like I said rules and regs are very wide open for interpretation. We could be tight wads and pull all the illegal caches but we opt to be public servants not butt heads or I can try and meet a fellow cache and maybe make a friend.

Edited March 21, 2015 by doc73

[knowschad]

Now I think your getting a bit obsurd. I could also be speeding there because a nuclear fallout cloud is ready to fall on your exact spot, a large anvil dropped by wiley coyote or a swarm of killer bees.

 

If you want I could harass the catchers as three of the local favorites are on private property even though they are incorrectly listed as public... But like oldsoldier said cachers are NOT the criminal element so we look the other way.

 

Edit. Did not realize your "rules" were a click on my phone.. Like I said rules and regs are very wide open for interpretation. We could be tight wads and pull all the illegal caches but we opt to be public servants not butt heads or I can try and meet a fellow cache and maybe make a friend.

 

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, but that sounds like abuse of power to me, at least the way you tell it. Maybe in real life it doesn't seem that way... I dunno.

 

But anyway, that isn't what this thread is all about. I guess we'd better get back to the subject at hand. After all, there are rules...

[chephy]

I've had police officers question me twice when I was geocaching: in Toronto and in Florida. Once it was actually in connection with geocaching: the officer found it odd that I was crawling under a bench. He didn't seem to know about geocaching, and I gave him a mini-lesson on the game.

 

The other time the police were looking for someone else, and questioned me because I happened to be in the area. They did ask me what I was doing, and they did know what GC was, and their questions were not focussed on me, but on whether I saw anyone around. This happened a few years after the first encounter, which is probably significant, since geocaching has become more popular in those few years.

[+doc73]

Now I think your getting a bit obsurd. I could also be speeding there because a nuclear fallout cloud is ready to fall on your exact spot, a large anvil dropped by wiley coyote or a swarm of killer bees.

 

If you want I could harass the catchers as three of the local favorites are on private property even though they are incorrectly listed as public... But like oldsoldier said cachers are NOT the criminal element so we look the other way.

 

Edit. Did not realize your "rules" were a click on my phone.. Like I said rules and regs are very wide open for interpretation. We could be tight wads and pull all the illegal caches but we opt to be public servants not butt heads or I can try and meet a fellow cache and maybe make a friend.

 

I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, but that sounds like abuse of power to me, at least the way you tell it. Maybe in real life it doesn't seem that way... I dunno.

 

But anyway, that isn't what this thread is all about. I guess we'd better get back to the subject at hand. After all, there are rules...

 

And neither of us want to be the next one on a vacation.. LOL

[+steelerdrew79]

I was on a night cache in Huntington beach one night and was having a hard time finding some of the markers(they had been taken down by muggles) I had my head lamp on and a small flash light I heard a noise behind me when I turned around there were two more flash lights coming at me. My first thought was more cachers. Cool help! But why are they telling me to drop the light and put my hands on top of my head? After playing there fun game of Simon says hands on head on my knees cross my legs etc... I had explained what I was doing there at 10pm. I showed them the first few markers. They looked at me for a moment. Handed me my things and asked me what way did the trail headed. Then there were 3 of us looking for this cache lol. Unfortunately we didn't find it the cache was muggled then archived the next day. I wonder if they started there own account.

[+WarNinjas]

Our best one was at night. I was taking my daughter home and we stopped at Park N ride parking lot. The cache was up a little hill in the corner of the fence. We found it and returned to the car to sign. I left my daughter in the car to go replace it with a flashlight. Just as I am at the top with the flashlight a cop rolls in and lights me up. I came running down the hill and the cop was kind of freaked out. He had his hand on his gun and told me to stop, put my hands on my head and slowly walk to his car. Then he told me to place my hands on the car so he could search me. About that time my daughter started to open the car door and he told her to stay in the car. I was like what is going on? I guess he thought I was drunk and up peeing in the corner. I explained we were caching and he was like OK but you have to understand I have never heard of such a thing and it seems weird that you are up there at night with a flashlight. I showed him the Kauai sticker on my car and that we had just taken a vacation there just to cache. He then relaxed and went over and talked with my daughter and asked if this was really a thing. Then he was very interested and wanted to know if he could play as well. He said well go ahead and replace it but I had already done so. He was cool in the end but it felt a little crazy there for a min.

Then about 2 weeks later we went for one in a police station parking lot. There was no one around and I parked at what I thought was the right lamp post. My daughter realized the mistake and ran over to the right one. A cop drove up at about the same time. She got into the car as the cop parked behind us and lit us up. Came over to the car and asked what we were doing. We just had a confused look on our faces and he just laughed and said that satellite game. We said yes and he said have a good time and took off.

[TahoeJoe]

Our best one was at night. I was taking my daughter home and we stopped at Park N ride parking lot. The cache was up a little hill in the corner of the fence. We found it and returned to the car to sign. I left my daughter in the car to go replace it with a flashlight. Just as I am at the top with the flashlight a cop rolls in and lights me up. I came running down the hill and the cop was kind of freaked out. He had his hand on his gun and told me to stop, put my hands on my head and slowly walk to his car. Then he told me to place my hands on the car so he could search me. About that time my daughter started to open the car door and he told her to stay in the car. I was like what is going on? I guess he thought I was drunk and up peeing in the corner. I explained we were caching and he was like OK but you have to understand I have never heard of such a thing and it seems weird that you are up there at night with a flashlight. I showed him the Kauai sticker on my car and that we had just taken a vacation there just to cache. He then relaxed and went over and talked with my daughter and asked if this was really a thing. Then he was very interested and wanted to know if he could play as well. He said well go ahead and replace it but I had already done so. He was cool in the end but it felt a little crazy there for a min.

Then about 2 weeks later we went for one in a police station parking lot. There was no one around and I parked at what I thought was the right lamp post. My daughter realized the mistake and ran over to the right one. A cop drove up at about the same time. She got into the car as the cop parked behind us and lit us up. Came over to the car and asked what we were doing. We just had a confused look on our faces and he just laughed and said that satellite game. We said yes and he said have a good time and took off.

I'm surprised a cache is allowed in a police parking lot. I've yet to have any police encounters but l mostly avoid any caches in public places and stick to caching in daylight. Great story though.

[+on4bam]

I'm surprised a cache is allowed in a police parking lot. I've yet to have any police encounters but l mostly avoid any caches in public places and stick to caching in daylight. Great story though.

 

We have (had?) a cache hidden IN the waiting room of a policestation. It was close to the door and right in view of the security camera. The container was an accesspoint and hard to spot between all the other gizmo's on the wall except there were no wires connected to it.

No police in sight when we found it though.

[TahoeJoe]

I'm surprised a cache is allowed in a police parking lot. I've yet to have any police encounters but l mostly avoid any caches in public places and stick to caching in daylight. Great story though.

 

We have (had?) a cache hidden IN the waiting room of a policestation. It was close to the door and right in view of the security camera. The container was an accesspoint and hard to spot between all the other gizmo's on the wall except there were no wires connected to it.

No police in sight when we found it though.

When I first started geocaching, I logged a geocache hidden inside a lampost that was missing a electrical plate on the grounds of the Nevada State Capitol. Looking back a magnet cache nestled inside electrical wires and next to the capitol building was probably not a wise location.

[+koselig]

Last month at around 10pm our doorbell rang. I went to the door and was met by two police officers who had come in the riot can. I invited them in and they asked if we had been parked in a certain area exactly a month before. Blank looks between my husband and I before I realised we had stopped to look for a cache.

Explained to officers- one knew what we meant but the other had not heard of caching. Apparently a local had taken the number plates of all cars going to this area and handed them into the police as suspicious activity. As it was a cache and dash she was seeing cars come, people take around for a few minutes then leave again.

Police were fine about it but I posted a note on the cache to warn others.