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Illegal things in a cache


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Not sure about contacting the police about it unless it's illegal stuff.

I once found a 5 gallon container buried in the woods, next to a tree with a big X painted in red. All along the outside of the container there were taped, unlit matches, Inside was a lighter and a container with liquid labeled "Napalm".  Oh, and a large jar full of swag stolen from other caches.   Those two goons who placed the cache "thought it was funny", and never cached again after they were reported to the Reviewer.

My case is different in yours in that I knew who put that stuff there.

Edited by Max and 99
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37 minutes ago, Gabeman26 said:

Today I found some questionable things in a cache, log book missing as well. Should I contact someone here or alert the police on it?

 

Let me be more blunt definitely an illegal glass object.

I get illegal. I don't get glass object. I'm too naive to figure that out. :huh:  I'll trust you on that one.

My first instinct would be to just dispose of it. But maybe that's not appropriate depending on the item?

Edited by Max and 99
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1 hour ago, Gabeman26 said:

Today I found some questionable things in a cache, log book missing as well. Should I contact someone here or alert the police on it?

 

Let me be more blunt definitely an illegal glass object.

Do a needs maintenance log (NM) then, if the owner fails to respond in say 30 days, log a Needs Archive. Looking at their other caches it is highly unlikely anything will be done.

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7 hours ago, Gabeman26 said:

Today I found some questionable things in a cache, log book missing as well. Should I contact someone here or alert the police on it?

Let me be more blunt definitely an illegal glass object.

Similar to colleda, I'd leave an NM for no log , or even an NA since no maintenance was done when issues were  mentioned in '16.  Only one "found" it in '17.  The  Reviewer will eventually take care of it as others by that CO.

If me, I'd either take that "illegal glass object" and pitch it when I can, or just mention that you found drug paraphernalia in the cache with your log.  I wouldn't notify police unless there's something dangerous at GZ, as some may get the false association with drugs and this hobby.   Drug stashes and caches happens sometimes when caches are close to homes and found (safer for the kid to leave it there than in his sneakers at home).  Probably why the log isn't there too.

A side note, "off by ten feet" isn't really an issue.   :)

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9 hours ago, Gabeman26 said:

Today I found some questionable things in a cache, log book missing as well. Should I contact someone here or alert the police on it?

 

Let me be more blunt definitely an illegal glass object.

I'm guessing you mean a bong or some sort of crack/meth/hash/whatever pipe.  Not the first time that someone has used a geocache to hide their stash, sadly.

You did not touch it, I hope.

Let the CO know.

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8 hours ago, Gabeman26 said:

Let me be more blunt definitely an illegal glass object.

Judging from the responses, it sounds like you're not blunt enough :D

Cache owner hasn't logged on in a couple of years so it sounds like they left it up to the community to clean up their mess.  If you report it to the Police, make sure to come back and tell us how that went.

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I've found things like that a couple times. Drugs and paraphernalia with no log. Then I found the cache nearby. It turns out there are people other than cachers looking for good places to hide things.

A friend of mine once went to look for one of my caches and posted a note saying he thought he found it, but it was a very odd container and there was no log, so he wasn't sure. I went to check it out and had to explain in my OM log that I'd found a bong hidden nearby and threw it out so no one else would mistake it for my nearby hide.

Whether it was the cache or not, if you find something you don't think should be there, just throw it out. The police have more important things to do. It's not as if they're going to send a crime scene team to track down the high school kid that stashed his weed there. On the other hand, what they might do it track down the cache owner who almost certainly has nothing to do with it.

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Just throw it in the trash.  Take action because so many other people wont.

One cache near me had a steak knife "stabbed" into the ground nearby.  Three or four people wrote about it on their logs and mentioned that it shouldn't be there.  There was a dumpster about 10 feet away.  Not that difficult to take care of.

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9 hours ago, Touchstone said:

Judging from the responses, it sounds like you're not blunt enough :D

Cache owner hasn't logged on in a couple of years so it sounds like they left it up to the community to clean up their mess.  If you report it to the Police, make sure to come back and tell us how that went.

A glass pipe? Good grief, if you're triggered then just throw it away and don't bother the cops. What do you think they're going to do? Finger print it?

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2 hours ago, Manville Possum said:

 

So do I, but I won't pick up drug items like a crack or meth pipe. Not even in a turd bag for my dogs. I would alert the owner in my log.:D

And if the owner of the cache doesn't respond?   You can alert the owner (and future seekers) of the cache about the drug item, but many don't read those logs and the next seeker may be a family with small children.  

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54 minutes ago, K13 said:

Treat the glass like it was an empty beer bottle. Apply the CITO principle to items like that.

Yep.   And with all the water bottles we see on many trails these days, we'll fill a grocery bag a lot of times.  Nobody would care about that pipe when you're doing something respectful...   :)

I've put bullets and knives found in my pocket in my state, where in two states surrounding you pretty-much don't dare.  Some states there's few issues with "glassware" anymore, while here you'd probably be busted for paraphernalia without a buncha trash in with it. 

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On 4/30/2018 at 9:34 PM, Gabeman26 said:

Let me be more blunt definitely an illegal glass object.

 

I take it you mean a pipe for smoking some sort of drug. If that’s the case, just throw it away. It was likely not a cacher who put it inside the cache. There’s really no need to bother the police over something like that. They won’t do anything except take it and throw it away themselves anyway. 

 

Regardless, I would definitely let the cache owner know what you found considering it was likely found by a muggle.

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14 hours ago, Rapaladude said:

I take it you mean a pipe for smoking some sort of drug. If that’s the case, just throw it away. It was likely not a cacher who put it inside the cache. There’s really no need to bother the police over something like that. They won’t do anything except take it and throw it away themselves anyway. 

I think the concern is that they'll get arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia on the way to the trashcan. I have to admit, I'd never consider such a possibility, but I can't complain about someone that does worry about it since I have no idea whether it could actually happen.

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I would just remove it and throw it away.  If you are worried about such things you could contact the CO to do it.  Calling the cops would be over the top! I guess you could but I am sure they have other things they should be worried about.

  Good excuse if you do drugs and get caught...you could say "Its not mine.  I just found it in a cache and was taking it to throw away!"

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1 hour ago, Daanish1113 said:

Found a knife in cache muggle saw me with it what do I do 

 

RUN

 

OK, kidding. Knives are not illegal, even in geocaches, but they are frowned upon in case a child finds the container first and is not up to speed on knife safety.

 

So, best to take it out. If you want it, keep it. If you don't, give or throw it away.

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5 hours ago, Daanish1113 said:

Found a knife in cache muggle saw me with it what do I do 

 

This is where it takes some common sense...   If your state/country frowns on "knives" of any sort, remove it to keep/pitch it, or leave it there.

Curious how a muggle spotted you "with a knife" though.

Your log simply says "easy find" so it apparently didn't bother you at the time...

When we had caches on the AT, we'd stock small, cheap pocket knives, p38 or 51 can openers, matches, and other supplies for thru- hikers in ammo cans.

We'd get grateful thank-you mail for TP and partly used gas cylinders too (we'd leave the cylinders at shelters...).

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4 hours ago, MartyBartfast said:

That depends on the knife and which country you're in.

 

Yep, here in NSw Australia it's illegal to be in possession of a knife in a public place or school, with a maximim penalty of two years imprisonment and/or a $2200 fine. There are exemptions for occupational, sporting or recreational use, preparing or consuming food, etc. but cache swag isn't mentioned.

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17 minutes ago, barefootjeff said:

There are exemptions for occupational, sporting or recreational use, preparing or consuming food, etc. but cache swag isn't mentioned.

It looks like there is a religious exemption. I have a friend whose religion requires him to carry a blade.

 

But there doesn't seem to be an EDC exemption, unless that counts as occupational or sporting/recreational use.

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I had a friend in high school that found a bag of weed in his front yard. Brought it in the house to mom and dad. They called the police. Police confiscated the weed... and followed him around surreptitiously for 3 months. The police thought my friend was a dealer and had gotten busted by his parents. He wasn't. 

 

As stated above, the police have more important things to do than monitor a random glass pipe found in the woods. Call the police if you find something that is truly and immediately dangerous ( I have heard that there are certain illegal drug manufacturing processes that are hazardous and occasionally a 5 gallon bucket of chemical soup exhibiting an exothermic reaction or issuing a cloud of foul vapors is found in an area containing a cache. That is hazardous and IMHO deserves a call to the authorities) 

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3 hours ago, ChriBli said:
5 hours ago, geoawareUSA9 said:

Well, if they're a spammer, they're really bad at it, still just the one post.

From that account. Maybe there were 1112 other accounts before that with just one strange post each.

I appreciate your concern.

 

Suffice it to say, should a given user turn out to be an insidious insider threat, all it takes is for vigilant citizens like you to report their posts, and forum moderator action will be swift and terrible.

 

permabanned.gif

Edited by geoawareUSA9
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I don't know the legality of this, but I recently found a 50 cal round (intact) in a cache.  I simply removed it, took it home, and gave it to my neighbor who is a gun enthusiast.  He found out that it was filled with the wrong type of gun powder, and suspected that if someone were to have tried to shoot it it would have exploded.

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