Police Encounters

[+MysteryGuy1]

Anybody here ever had a run-in with the police while caching?  Recently, a new cache popped up on the grounds of a library.  The cache page did state to be careful, as GZ was within line-of-sight of the police station across the street, however several people found it without incident.

 

This was supposed to be an easy find, but I looked and looked in the designated area with no success.  I kept seeing a cop going in and out of the station and finally gave up, fearing I was being watched.  Indeed I was.  He pulled me over as I tried to drive off, and grilled me about my activities.  Naturally, he had never heard of geocaching and I'm not convinced he was buying my explanation of it.  Needless to say, this is one "easy" cache I will not be going back for.

 

(And strangely, this was not even the most unpleasant encounter I've had with a muggle.)

Edited May 31 by MysteryGuy1

[+Max and 99]

12 minutes ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

Anybody here ever had a run-in with the police while caching?  Recently, a new cache popped up on the grounds of a library.  The cache page did state to be careful, as GZ was within line-of-sight of the police station across the street, however several people found it without incident.

 

This was supposed to be an easy find, but I looked and looked in the designated area with no success.  I kept seeing a cop going in and out of the station and finally gave up, fearing I was being watched.  Indeed I was.  He pulled me over as I tried to drive off, and grilled me about my activities.  Naturally, he had never heard of geocaching and I'm not convinced he was buying my explanation of it.  Needless to say, this is one "easy" cache I will not be going back for.

 

(And strangely, this was not even the most unpleasant encounter I've had with a muggle.)

I don't know of any locals that have been questioned by the cops more than us. Very frequently while geocaching, maybe about 30 times! They have all been really nice about it and knew what it was. When they enthusiastically know what geocaching is I often ask if they'd like to come help us look.

 

One was at night behind a bank, and after the cop talked to the three of us he got in his car to drive away and we headed to our cars to drive away. He pulled up and rolled his window down and said "you can still go sign it!!" We told him we already had before he pulled up. 

We once finally solved a really difficult puzzle, and ran out in the rain just after dark. Of course the cop thought we had a flat tire and quickly pulled over to help us but we laughed and told him what we were doing and he laughed and drove off. 

Spoiler alert: I have a geocache that was placed with permission and near a police station. I asked if we should let the police co-workers know just in case they see someone looking, and the person in charge said "nah, they won't care or pay attention." 

It always makes me a little anxious, but I don't know anyone who has been stopped more than we have so we usually we just smile and tell them what we're doing. 

This is just my opinion, but one thing I think really helps is to let them know that this has been a game for 25 years, and that cities all over the world have geotours to invite tourism. 

 

I'm sorry about your bad experience. I think geocaches like that should have very specific and very good clues to avoid someone having to hang out longer than needed. 

 

I've had those bad experiences that really just ruin your day.

Edited May 31 by Max and 99

[+niraD]

17 minutes ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

Anybody here ever had a run-in with the police while caching?

I once found a cache that was hidden in front of the local police station, placed by an officer who was also a geocacher.

 

And I've been asked whether I need help by a few park rangers, and by a couple private security guards. Apparently, I look more like someone who might need help than someone who might cause trouble.

[+Max and 99]

Just now, niraD said:

Apparently, I look more like someone who might need help than someone who might cause trouble.

Hilarious. 

 

You just reminded me of the fantastic geocache inside the Sedona Police Department. It's there to build community, and they sure enjoy seeing people come in and work on it. 

[+Viajero Perdido]

Years back, I came home from a solo caching hike in the local wilderness.  The wife greeted me with a raised eyebrow, said, the police called, want you to call back.  What the heck?

 

A constable had noticed my car parked, thought it was a little suspicious.  (There'd been some occasional body dumpings.)  He tried the doors, not locked, hmm.  It's a convertible; I never lock the doors.  And if I was going to dump a body, I'd use a car with a big enough trunk to only need a single trip, not a teeny Miata.

 

He said he walked down the trail about a kilometer looking for me, but finally gave up and turned back.  The caches and I were farther down the trail than that, ha.  I think he just wanted an excuse for a nice on-duty walk in the woods.    He was nice about it on the phone.

[+kunarion]

2 hours ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

Anybody here ever had a run-in with the police while caching?

 

Me!  I'm a cop magnet.

 

And, yeah, some of the muggle encounters were scarier.

[+MysteryGuy1]

2 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

I think geocaches like that should have very specific and very good clues to avoid someone having to hang out longer than needed.

 

This one actually had a very detailed hint, and I still couldn't find it.

[+cerberus1]

3 hours ago, MysteryGuy1 said:

Anybody here ever had a run-in with the police while caching? 

Years ago we were in a development and the coordinates for 'parking' were in front of a wooded lot.

We walked up n over a large hill, found the cache, and were rewarded with,

 "(my real name) !  You!  In the woods (my real name0 !  Come out !  Show your hands! Show your hands !"

Two cars and threes officers with firearms drawn...  After explaining and showing the officers our printed-out directions that "it's okay to be there..." by the CO, we were let go.  There was another close by but headed back to familiar territory instead. 

Apparently, these folks didn't tell their neighbors about their 'hobby'...   I bet that CO got a talking to by the police.

I haven't done a ' "The cache is in my yard. Really !  It's my yard..."  cache since...

[+Max and 99]

Right after we got first to find on a geocache place by a local geocachers work location, a local named rooster went to find it. Oh my gosh he was approached by several black vehicles. Had guns pointed at him and put the back of a squad car. Scary!!! I think I would have left the hobby at that point. 

 

There was one placed with permission so the person inside could watch people finding it. Placed with permission always makes me feel comfortable looking. Except the coordinates were way off and someone got in really big trouble for snooping around a business that didn't want them anywhere near there for safety reasons. I hate the sense of feeling I'm allowed to be here replaced with we're going to call the cops get out of here now! 

 

I can totally relate to it's okay to come here, it's on my property. Then give a really, really specific hint to make sure visitors don't go on a neighbor's property. Those always make me nervous. And for goodness sakes if you sell that property, remove the geocache!!!!

[+brekkcaching123]

This has never happened to me, BUT it did happen to someone who found one of MY caches. GCARTV6.

 

 

Edited May 31 by brekkcaching123
Edited attachment. Removed username, location, and other information in the image.

[+NanCycle]

4 hours ago, niraD said:

I once found a cache that was hidden in front of the local police station, placed by an officer who was also a geocacher.

 

And I've been asked whether I need help by a few park rangers, and by a couple private security guards. Apparently, I look more like someone who might need help than someone who might cause trouble.

This describes my encounters with law enforcement officers exactly.  The police station one was at the State Highway Patrol station in Raton, NM.

[+funkymunkyzone]

Police encounters, security guards, even military.... yep, lots and lots, in several different countries too.

[+Viajero Perdido]

3 hours ago, Max and 99 said:

Placed with permission always makes me feel comfortable looking.

 

Not me.  I dislike performing in front of a live audience, so there's at least one challenge cache I'll never qualify for.

 

For front-yard caches, I wish people would always include coords in the Municipal Coordinate System, eg 382 Seaside Drive*.  Around here, city lots are only 33' wide, and that's totally within the radius of error.

 

Everyone who's been in this game for a while has a law-enforcement story.

 

(* Obscure allusion.)

[+geodarts]

The last encounter I had was when an officer told me where to look for the cache.

 

The most ridiculous one was with private security who did not like me observing from a public street for an earthcache. He brought two or three cars presumably to intimidate me. But I was a public defender and it would take more than that. I almost laughed when he took a picture of my car license, particularly since a DMV search would have been blocked. He ended up telling me he did not want to see any pictures of his property on the internet. I don’t know if photos in my online caching log counted.

 

One of my friends made the police log section of the newspaper But that is about as far as anything has gotten around here.

Edited June 1 by geodarts

[+MNTA]

I've had two encounters with law enforcement.

 

The first I was working on the ICS challenge power trail in southern ID. A sherifs deputy stopped to see if I needed assistance as I was stopped out in very rural country walking around. I told him I was caching and showed him all the nearby caches on the map, hundreds and he had never known. We unfortunately DNFed the one we were looking for together. Great time.

 

Second was searching for "Welcome to The Border!" https://coord.info/GC65Z25 which is on the fence between the US and Mexico. The Border Patrol drove by three times checking on us. We took a couple of pictures and had a few laughs.

 

[+me N u]

Previously posted in the discussion https://forums.geocaching.com/GC/index.php?/topic/422301-the-funniest-thing-that’s-ever-happened-while-geocaching/

 

 

Taking uniformed AND plain clothes police caching with us - GCC52E

 

Our group had been stopped at a checkpoint the previous day and the uniformed police decided the area was too dangerous for us to be there, so they camped with us overnight and we awoke to find plain clothes police had joined them. We explained what were doing in the area and they joined us on a 30Km each way journey into the desert, once back on tarmac we had a blue lights escort  to the next town several hundred Km away.

 

[+Smitherington]

I had one recently and I wrote about it in the log:

 

 

After I had found the container and signed the log I went back to my vehicle to log it. One of the County boys was coming my way with his lights on and in my rear view mirror I saw more lights maybe a half mile behind me. But He did a quick maneuver and pulled in behind me. I continued to log the cache while he presumably ran my license plate. He came up to the window and asked if I was alright. Someone had apparently called in about some old guy walking around looking confused. That must come from not finding the container right away. Do you get a confused look when you can't find a cache right away? Do you walk around looking lost? You would think that when he ran my GEOVAN plate an advisory would pop up that says - This guy is a geocacher. Leave him alone. He is harmless. Anyway, when I told him I was geocaching he said “Did you find it?” He is one of the enlightened. Oh well, something interesting to add to the log.

 

[+niraD]

42 minutes ago, Smitherington said:

Someone had apparently called in about some old guy walking around looking confused.

I resemble that remark...

[+JL_HSTRE]

I can imagine someone hiding a cache outside a library and not bothering to get explicit permission because it's basically a public park, right?

 

Definitely speak to the library manager when placing a hide near a library. They will nearly always say yes and now they know what's going on when patrons report suspicious behavior outside.

 

Public libraries are usually government buildings, sometimes targeted by political extremists, and often frequently by the homeless and other mentally-impaired individuals. Please don't make the librarian lives any more difficult with a surprise geocache. Regardless of whether there's a police station across the street. 

[+BirdSearcher]

I was just researching some archived caches in my area  - before my time,  many years ago, there was a series of 13 spooky night caches w/Halloween theme, hidden in a forest park - according to the online logs, the FTF were a group of maybe a dozen who went out the first eve to search, and a neighbour at the trailhead called the police. No problem, apparently the policeman who arrived was familiar with geocaching  (this is Canada so YMMV  ) The whole event sounded really fun, I wish I had been a cacher then...

[+Viajero Perdido]

3 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

Definitely speak to the library manager when placing a hide near a library. They will nearly always say yes and now they know what's going on when patrons report suspicious behavior outside.

 

<aside>

Consider coordinates 796.587 to avoid attracting police.  (Dewey Decimal Coordinate System.)

</aside>

[+CAVinoGal]

On 5/31/2025 at 10:24 AM, Max and 99 said:

You just reminded me of the fantastic geocache inside the Sedona Police Department. It's there to build community, and they sure enjoy seeing people come in and work on it.

 

Reading through the replies on this thread, I was reminded of this one - we found it a few years ago and it was fun.  We weren't prepared for the lights and sirens that went off when we finally got it open - Here's part of my log for that one, March 11, 2019:

We'd already found SPD#2 earlier on our way in to Sedona from our hotel in Oak Creek, and were looking forward to this one. It did not disappoint! We felt safe exploring the contents, even with the siren and lights going off!

 

We've had other police/sheriff/security encounters as well.  Most memorable to me is going for a FTF at night, at the end of dirt road in a marshy area, with a few other geocachers after an event.  We're poking around with our flashlights/phones and a sheriff patrol car pulls up to see what we were up to.  He knew what geocaching was, waited till we found it (just to be sure that's really what we were doing?) and then we all went on our way.

[+Gill & Tony]

Not police, but Calgary City Hall security

 

https://www.geocaching.com/live/log/GLERXG28

 

The cache is still going strong.

[+Wanderschuler]

Only once...(I'm sure there will be a second time someday LOL).

It was a PNG in a movie theater parking lot. I prefer hikes, but PNGs have their time and place too. The lot was completely deserted, so our car stood out. Not sure if it was too early in the day, or if the theater was out of business. Anyway, the hint was something like "hanging in the evergreen bush". We found the cache in a timely manner, signed it in the car, but while we are returning it to the evergreen, a Seekonk police car pulls up behind us, blocking us so we cannot reverse. Cop gets out and asks comically, "And WHAT are you two ladies doing!?!??!" Luckily he had at least heard of geocaching from a friend, so he was cool. He did some routine checks, like looking in the backseat, etc. The entire encounter was less than 5 minutes.

Edited June 2 by Wanderschuler

[+Weber_and_Sons]

funny! One of my close family members is a police officer and has gone geocaching with me and I have a feeling if he saw somebody poking around a bush he would understand, especially cause we have a geocache in our yard and he has seen people get it.

[+HiDeHi]

My geocaching partner once went for a FTF right outside Westminster Abbey. He found out that a minor misdemeanor 40 years back was still a red flag to those in blue. 😃

[+brekkcaching123]

On 6/1/2025 at 1:01 AM, MNTA said:

The first I was working on the ICS challenge power trail in southern ID.

I'm in Idaho. Someone I know went out to that power trail got pulled over looking for the 1st cache.

[+JL_HSTRE]

If you're a male geocacher who caches alone be careful about parks with playgrounds. There are paranoid mothers out there who think lone men with phones anywhere near children must be predators and will call the cops on you. Even if you're simply walking by or through the park, not searching in the park. 

[+brekkcaching123]

2 minutes ago, JL_HSTRE said:

If you're a male geocacher who caches alone be careful about parks with playgrounds. There are paranoid mothers out there who think lone men with phones anywhere near children must be predators and will call the cops on you. Even if you're simply walking by or through the park, not searching in the park. 

Maybe if it's just because Rexburg (where I'm from) is one of the safest places in the country, but no one is ever scared of crime happening. One time this mom and her probably 5 year old son were on a late night walk at about 11:30 while I was searching for a cache and they just said hi.

[+justintim1999]

Stopped and parked a little too close to an entry gate while searching for a multi cache.   When I returned the officer was waiting for me.  He asked what I was doing, and I explained what geocaching was.   He looked skeptical and said he'd look it up.   He informed me that I should park in a lot just up the road.   I went on to find a couple of other caches.  On my way out I passed the officer sitting by the side of the road.  While passing he gave me a thumbs up.   

[+Viajero Perdido]

"Geocaching - putting suspicious people on the streets for a quarter century!"

 

Feel free to use that.  

 

Don't all cops know about caching by now?  I think lately, if one asks, what's that?!?, they actually do know but won't let on, because they want to hear it from you.  Your garden variety troublemaker wouldn't give a convincing explanation, but you - under pressure - should be able to.  Make us proud.

[+Doctorvapor]

I was going after a cache in a State Park.  This is a small park that was the site of the original location of the people that first settled the area.  It turns out that there was a parking fee.  As I paying the fee, one of the park Rangers asked me if I wanted to see anything specific in park.  I told him I wouldn't be long, and told him that I was after a Geocache located in the woods just in case he saw me waking off the normal path.  He said; "I know exactly where it is, if you need help finding it, come get me and I'll show you where it is."  I laughed and said; "No, that cheating, it's more fun to search until you find it."  I drove off, parked, and found the cache within 5 minutes, climbed back in my car and left."

[+MartyBartfast]

Not a Police encounter but I was going for a cache on a very busy tourist street in London which I knew was going to be in a phone box.

When I got to GZ there were 2 phone boxes back to back. I went in the first and searched to no avail, and as there were so many people about I thought it would be too suspicious to go into the other one, so I decided to go off and do my other caches and checkout the second box on my way back.

As I was walking away I saw out of the corner of my eye an assistant from the adjacent shop dash out heading towards me he grabbed my arm and I thought "This is going to be awkward!" but he just said "No, it's not in that one it's in the other one" then he more or less dragged me back and pushed me into the other box pointing to the ceiling saying "It's up there". 

He said they'd seen people hanging around the boxes and wondered what was going on and eventually asked someone, and after that the assistants derived great pleasure from watching all the cachers, and often popped out to point people in the right direction.

 

[+_Calypso_]

Encounters yes, trouble no. Once, a police officer asked me what I was doing, ad I explained it to him. He'd heart about geocaching and jumped at the chance to see what it was all about. We found the cache together  Another time, the cache was directly across from the police station, and the officer asked me to move on. They know about the cache, but they don't appreciate it. 

[+DeafWiz_of_Ravenclaw]

I was encountered by the police 3 times. 
 

1- pulled over to a small pullover dirt parking spot (big enough for 1 or 2 cars) off a water reservoir for a cache nearby. I usually wait until all clear from any muggles and cars so I can begin searching in an awkward place. There were several overgrown bushes in the area and I went behind the bushes, disappearing from the road. Found the cache and after signing it, I made my way back to the car and since I couldn’t see the road due to bushes and once I emerged from the bushes and into the road, a police car drove by at that exact time. That police officer stopped immediately and turned around to speak with me. I explained geocaching, he seems not to understand it and questioned me to see if I’m ‘alternated’ due to drugs. I’m like, no I’m geocaching! He then let me go but he seems not to be confident. So, I got to my car and drove away. 
 

2- a new cache was published near my home and it has been found several times. So, I made my way to there in the middle of a workday. Union arriving to the area, it’s a dense residential neighborhood and the only spots to park is at the front of other people’s houses. I decided to park away from any driveway. The access to the GZ was a small water runoff area and it has rock gravels which lead to the woods behind the house. Naturally, I assumed the geocache had permission to place in this neighborhood and assumed the neighborhood are aware of it, so I confidently walked up the rock gravels to the woods behind the house. At first I couldn’t find it and I was standing around, looking confused and looking at my phone. I then found it after 5-10 minutes searching. After finding it, signed log and placed back, I walked back to the car and I saw the woman from the house outside, with the phone recording to me (at first I didn’t realize she was recording me, I just smiled to her and said, “nice day!”  As I got into my car, 3 police vehicles with lights arrived! So, I remained calm and noticed the woman with the phone still recording me, that’s when I realized that the woman called the police and phone recorded me. The female cop came to me and asked me what I’m doing, I told her I was geocaching. She immediately knew what I was talking about, but she seems to be annoyed probably because 3 cops car has to be pulled away from their duties for a geocacher. She then let me go and I drove away. 
 

3- my 3rd time was more friendly … a geocache was hidden near a police station. The suggested parking lot was in a lot shared by the recreational department and the police department as well. I parked there and made my way to the cache, I remember finding it fairly quick as it was an easy find, it took only 2-3 minutes and came back to my car and saw a police car blocking my car. So, I approached to him and said, “can I help you?”  The police officer replied back, smiling, “did you find it?”  I told him, yes I did. He then wished me a safe day and drove off. 

One other time, not police related… There was a geocache hidden in a guardrail in a busy intersection. I was working on a challenge to find a geocache in each town in my state, there was one town in my state that didn’t have many geocache and I wanted to pick an easy cache to check off that town. When I arrived to the GZ, I knew it would be a challenge with so many muggle cars driving by and I didn’t want to pass it over because other caches for that town requires a hike and I just wanted a P&G that day. So, I waited as long as possible (pretending to look at my phone, waiting for someone) near the guardrail. Finally after some time, it was all clear and I was able to get a Quick Look and found the cache quickly. I took it out and signed it. When it’s time to place it back, I didn’t notice a muggle car approaching from behind and the driver saw me put ‘something’ into the guardrail, he immediately stopped and shouted at me. He was really angry looking and I was spooked and said, “I’m geocaching, sorry” something like that. I turned around and walked back to my car. That muggle turned around and blocked my car as I couldn’t pull out. He was screaming, “I’m calling the police!”  I tried to explain to him, but he wasn’t taking it. Good thing he was blocking the traffic as the road is a 1-lane road, other cars has to beep to that angry muggle and forced him to move on. I was able to pull away and drove off. I was driving to the next town for the next cache to check off new towns, I noticed the muggle was behind me the whole time I drove to the next cache. When I noticed it, I decided to drive off to different location, trying to lose him. I was relieved when I lost him at a traffic light where he was forced to stop. That is one of many reasons that I don’t like guardrail hides! 

 

 

Edited June 7 by DeafWiz_of_Ravenclaw

[+Goldenwattle]

There's a remote-ish police station on the Barkly Highway in the Northern Territory in Australia. My car GPS led me straight there. The cache does say, 'maintained by local police officer.' The policeman came outside to see if I had stopped to see him. The station was surrounded by a high, wire fence. I explained I was after the geocache. He pointed to an old steam engine. I found it.

      Steam engine is lower left of this photograph.

 

I have also been with another geocacher whose driving has a couple of times attracted police attention. Embarrassing.

Edited June 7 by Goldenwattle

[+baer2006]

3 hours ago, DeafWiz_of_Ravenclaw said:

He was screaming, “I’m calling the police!”

I've been in a similar situation a few times. In all cases, I knew I did nothing wrong (searching/replacing a cache on public land isn't illegal) and I calmly said something like "Sure, go ahead and call the police. I can wait, I'm not in a hurry." This seems to take the steam out of any angry muggle 😉. End result was always me driving/walking away without police encounter.

[+Goldenwattle]

On 6/1/2025 at 3:23 AM, niraD said:

I look more like someone who might need help than someone who might cause trouble.

Being female I sometimes get cars slowing and asking if I need help. Gets tiring. If I need help I'll wave down a car😂. I was once sitting beside my bicycle beside a country road signing the log when an elderly couple pulled up and asked if I needed help. I looked up, thanked them, but no. They drove away. Another time a woman saw me get out of my car and start to walk along a bike path towards a cache. She also wanted to know if I wanted help; was I escaping. Rather dramatic of her! Very concerned and she looked stressed. I think this was more about her experiences than mine. Something in her past. Again politely thanked her, but said no. Another time I parked my car and was waiting to run across a busy country road between cars. A guy pulled up and asked if I wanted a lift. "No thank you; I'm fine," I replied politely. He insisted on asking again, coming closer, making me miss a gap in traffic. I turned and raised my voice, "I said NO, and no means no. I'm working. Pi...off!" Rather aggressive of me and I don't often speak like this (although not the first time😂🙄), but he was becoming a pest and made me wait for another gap. He then left. What, he thought I was going to leave my car there and get in his car! Silly man!

[+Goldenwattle]

3 hours ago, DeafWiz_of_Ravenclaw said:

I saw the woman from the house outside, with the phone recording to me

I had that once. With a friend I parked in a cul de sac, which had an access path to bushland where the cache was. A women came outside from a house and began filming us. I waved hello and we went on our walk. Made me wonder why she was so concerned, and what that house hid. A women's refuge, or other safehouse? It was very unusual, as I have parked outside many houses and never before had someone come outside and film us.

[+Goldenwattle]

7 hours ago, MartyBartfast said:

an assistant from the adjacent shop dash out

I started looking for a well hidden cache outside a hairdressers in a country town. Three hairdressers rushed outside pointing, "There, there!" A great help that, as it would have been a tough find.

 

[+niraD]

2 hours ago, Goldenwattle said:

With a friend I parked in a cul de sac, which had an access path to bushland where the cache was.

I've seen situations like that, where a public path connects a cul-de-sac sidewalk to a multi-use trail in the greenspace behind the houses. In some cases, an angry neighbor took such offense at strangers (geocachers) parking on their street that the cache ended up being archived to avoid fueling the conflicts.

[+Drummerbadboy]

Last fall I went into a wooded area that I admit looked pretty sketchy and had some police presence nearby. However, my thinking was that the caches I was looking for each had an enormous amount of favorite points, and also no one in the logs mentioned encountering any issues. So I figured it must have been safe, but as I got into the woods I saw that the area had been overtaken by some very unfriendly muggles who more or less chased me out. The cops then pulled up next to me and grilled me on what I was doing in there (they also had never heard of geocaching) and had some very strong words about how dangerous the area had become. I immediately let the CO know and they pulled all of their caches from the area. Definitely a scary few minutes, but had I exercised better judgment in the first place it could have been avoided.

[+baer2006]

4 hours ago, niraD said:

In some cases, an angry neighbor took such offense at strangers (geocachers) parking on their street that the cache ended up being archived to avoid fueling the conflicts.

I have encountered a few "angry neighbors" as well. But usually I don't feel like letting such wannabe policemen restrict my freedom of movement. When I park at the side of a public street in a residential area, and someone comes up saying things like "You cannot park here! What are you doing here!" in an unfriendly voice, I say "Yes, I can, and that's none of your business" and walk away. But I admit that I would probably handle the situation differently in areas (or countries), where the chances that such unfriendly are armed, is much higher than here in Germany.

 

Anyway, back to topic of police encounters ...

• Returning home from caching trip, my wife told me that a police officer from <nearby town> had called her, because our car (which is legally registered to my wife) had been reported, and I should call him back. I did, and as expected, some "catious neighbor" had seen me park in his street, doing some "suspicious things near a lamp post" and drive away. When I said that I have only found and replaced a geocache, the officer laughed and said he had already expected exactly that. Nowadays, police here is definitely aware of geocaching.
• Many years ago, I was driving home from caching, when I was called on my mobile by an officer from a police station close to where I live. He asked me, if I was hiding "fake mushrooms" in the woods. Turned out that a muggle had managed to find a stage of one of multi-caches and took it to the police as a "suspicious item", possibly used for nefarious purposes. It payed off that I always have a stash note in my containers with my phone number . So I drove to the police station to pick up my fake mushroom. We had a nice chat there about overly anxious people, who suspect bad things whenever they see something they don't know.
  When replacing the stage, I moved it by 50 m or so, in case the muggle checks the location where he found it a few days later.

 

 

[+Goldenwattle]

7 hours ago, baer2006 said:

usually I don't feel like letting such wannabe policemen restrict my freedom of movement.

Mostly I don't either. One (an older man) approached my friend and I to ask what we were doing there. He thought we might be doing something connected with drugs. The old nark (Australian meaning = pest) busybody could have seen our cars were decent and we certainly didn't have a druggy look. We explained ourselves and did our geocaching (out of the nark's sight.) There was also a sign saying bicycles not allowed. Obviously a homemade fake - I bet by the nark - as bikes are a legal road vehicle. We reported the sign and it was taken down by the authorities. I bet that upset him😁.

Only one other time can I recall having a problem parking on a suburban street. An older woman (with my experience, narks tend to be more often older males, but not exclusively) came out of a house and said aggressively that we can't park in front. I replied, "I bet you have loads of friends, and a wonderful garden you have." The garden was mown weeds. 

Otherwise, most people are nice and respectful and mind their own business. The opposite of those people was the farmer who saw me parked on a dirt road (the type of road that goes through farms with gates to open and close). I was writing notes after having found and returned a cache. He wanted to know if I were okay. I said I was, and I hoped it was okay I was on this road. He assured me it was okay (a public road) and just to leave gates as I found them. Then he was on for a chat. Not a nark person😆😉.

Okay, just remembered another, but this is over many years of caching and over 15,000 finds, so very rare incidents. I parked on the wide public owned, grassy verge outside a driveway into a property in the country. No where else to park, as the road had no parking space. On my return from finding the cache an older man (as I said was the most common) was waiting for me, telling me couldn't park there. 'Where then?' I asked. He indicated the through lane of the road. Nice, so he expected me to park in the middle of the public road, where a car could appear and and my car could cause an accident. These narks are not always the most thinking people. I am also suspicious sometimes, especially in the country, they are hiding something. Truly I am not interested in their crop!

Edited June 8 by Goldenwattle

[+ecanderson]

We're rarely if ever bothered by anyone.  We don't get the 'weird old guys in the park' problem.  We don't get the 'what are you doing here' problems.  People often volunteer to make space for us or open gates.

 

Stealth is vastly overrated.

 

Our 'working' attire, not including the 'company' jackets for cooler weather work:

 

 

The signs on the cachemobile:

 

 

 

If anyone would like the artwork for the vehicle signs, speak up and I'll forward it to you.

 

[+Goldenwattle]

8 hours ago, ecanderson said:

We're rarely if ever bothered by anyone.  We don't get the 'weird old guys in the park' problem.  We don't get the 'what are you doing here' problems.  People often volunteer to make space for us or open gates.

 

Stealth is vastly overrated.

 

Our 'working' attire, not including the 'company' jackets for cooler weather work:

😂. May work where you are, but in some parts of Australia wearing something like that (Australian version) could potentially worry the locals and have them locking the farm gates. They could be worried about fracking or other mining. Surveyors, mining companies. On the other hand, a yellow* safely vest just means an ordinary worker, and has been known to be effective in hiding in full sight. (* pink or orange too.)

Edited June 9 by Goldenwattle

[+barefootjeff]

14 minutes ago, Goldenwattle said:

On the other hand, a yellow* safely vest just means an ordinary worker, and has been known to be effective in hiding in full sight. (* pink or orange too.)

 

Yes, I've worn a muggle invisibility cloak, a.k.a. a hi-vis work shirt, to avoid looking too suspicious when using my ladder in very public-exposed locations:

 

 

Of course, anyone taking a closer look would probably think the bare feet a bit incongruous, but so far it's worked.

[+Viajero Perdido]

If I was going up a tree with a portable ladder like that, I think I'd camo myself in normal work clothes, plus a helmet with flip-down hearing protection, and a small chainsaw on a keeper cord.  The arborist look.

 

May as well do a bit of trimming while up there.  Bonus firewood!  

[+Goldenwattle]

2 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

Yes, I've worn a muggle invisibility cloak, a.k.a. a hi-vis work shirt, to avoid looking too suspicious when using my ladder in very public-exposed locations:

 

 

Of course, anyone taking a closer look would probably think the bare feet a bit incongruous, but so far it's worked.

I was going to ask where the work boots are?😆

[+Smitherington]

Barefootjeff makes me think of the bare foot sisters that hiked the Appalachian Trail. Don’t need boots.