Police Encounters

[+MNTA]

ok got to ask how about winter?

[+edexter]

I've been stopped by the police several times while caching when folks spotted me walking in the woods beyond their property lines and called in my suspicious behavior.  I generally just say "I'm geocaching" show them my phone or GPSr with the cache locations and they tell me to have a nice day.  

[+TeamRabbitRun]

On 6/7/2025 at 7:58 AM, DeafWiz_of_Ravenclaw said:

<...>
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! 

 

<...>

 

Best advice for when someone is tailing you like this......... Drive TO the local Police Station!

 

If this clown was that upset by you, who knows how far he was willing to go to stop you!  

If he was behind you, he most likely had your license plate. Isn't much of a stretch to find your address with a license plate number.

 

Horrifying statistic I heard recently - Averaging across my particular peace-loving country (guess which one?), over 60% of the cars you encounter have firearms on board.

 

Makes me think twice about flipping off aggressive drivers.

 

Driving TO the police most likely solves all sorts of problems, as long as you can convince THEM that you're in the right.

[+barefootjeff]

6 hours ago, MNTA said:

ok got to ask how about winter?

 

The winters here are fairly mild by world standards, so pretty much the same attire. This was last Friday when I was down in Sydney doing an 8-stage virtual set around the harbour bridge:

 

 

Doing that one, I almost had a police encounter, although not strictly police or an encounter. Ever since some terrorist threat a few decades ago, they've had security guards patrolling the walkway across the bridge decking and one of them was standing right at a waypoint, so close that I missed it as I walked past and had to double back. He was still standing there so I went a bit further along before turning around and trying to spot the information I needed while taking a few photos. Maybe they're used to tourists doing this sort of thing, but anyway he must have eventually decided I wasn't posing a serious threat to his bridge and moved on, whereupon I found the sign and the waypoint info.

[+Corp Of Discovery]

Too many to remember them all at this point.

 

A few do stick out- especially the one where I had guns drawn and pointed at me. Fun times.

[+baer2006]

17 hours ago, TeamRabbitRun said:

Driving TO the police most likely solves all sorts of problems, as long as you can convince THEM that you're in the right.

I once have actually called the police while caching because of two extremely unpleasant muggles. I was nowhere near private property, but one of the muggles yelled an endless stream of verbal abuse at me, together with some minor physical violence (repeatedly pushing me around). Walking away didn't help (they just came after me), repeatedly announcing that I would call the police didn't help, only when I actually had the police on my phone did they back off (giving me the chance to walk away in the other direction).

[+JL_HSTRE]

On 6/7/2025 at 7:16 PM, baer2006 said:

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.

 

You can "mind your own business" or you can "see something, say something."

 

If strange cars started frequently parking near my house, even if legally, I would want to know what's going on. If they're legally parked I'd start with an inquiry rather than an accusation. 

 

Maybe you live in a place where the citizenry are mostly law abiding. I live in Florida where speeding, illegal parking, littering, illegal dumping, and violations of leash laws, dog prohibitions, golf prohibitions, smoking prohibitions, and fishing prohibitions are frequent.

[+Goldenwattle]

16 minutes ago, JL_HSTRE said:

 

You can "mind your own business" or you can "see something, say something."

 

If strange cars started frequently parking near my house, even if legally, I would want to know what's going on. If they're legally parked I'd start with an inquiry rather than an accusation. 

 

Maybe you live in a place where the citizenry are mostly law abiding. I live in Florida where speeding, illegal parking, littering, illegal dumping, and violations of leash laws, dog prohibitions, golf prohibitions, smoking prohibitions, and fishing prohibitions are frequent.

Often I don't know who owns a car parked in my street, but most would be residents or their visitors. I rarely think about them enough, to bother to ignore them. The road kerb is all allowed parking.

At my last house, in my early years there, some were likely buying drugs, as I had two houses across the street selling heroin. The removalist van which sometimes parked there, I found out later, brought the drugs in. I never felt endangered by them. (Now the thief down the street I avoided.) The drug houses got raided and those selling went to jail. I figured if the woman who lived next door boyfriend, who often visited, couldn't spot what was going on, it wasn't worth me reporting. The boyfriend was senior in the drug squad.

Edited June 10 by Goldenwattle

[+Harry Dolphin]

And I was laying on my back under a picnic table in Central Park, searching for the micro cache.  Some park workers came over and asked "Is he okay?"  One of the other cachers responded:  "He's just a drunk dolphin."  The park workers left.

[+ecanderson]

On 6/8/2025 at 8:38 PM, Goldenwattle said:

😂. 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.)

Interesting difference in customs.  Do you folks transfer property ownership without surveys there on a regular basis?  In particular, we (and the title companies) here in the north like to know about these two things in particular:

• Boundary Clarity – It confirms the exact property lines, preventing disputes with neighbors over land ownership.

• Encroachments & Easements – It reveals if any structures (like fences or driveways) cross property lines or if there are rights-of-way for utility companies or neighbors.

But why would we be wandering through farm gates?  Do you have a "right to roam" similar to that in the U.K. that allow passage across 'private' land? 

 

Anyway, 'civilians' don't hassle us either.  If they want to hide indoors while we 'work', that's just fine!  

 

 

[+ecanderson]

10 hours ago, JL_HSTRE said:

 

If strange cars started frequently parking near my house, even if legally, I would want to know what's going on. If they're legally parked I'd start with an inquiry rather than an accusation. 

Another explanation for our 'reverse stealth' approach.  The signs/logos on the vehicle and our attire provide a ready explanation for our behavior on site.  We avoid doing anything really strange that would attract unnecessary attention.  All we're doing is, ahem, "locating benchmarks", right?

 

[+Goldenwattle]

2 hours ago, ecanderson said:

Interesting difference in customs.  Do you folks transfer property ownership without surveys there on a regular basis?  In particular, we (and the title companies) here in the north like to know about these two things in particular:

• Boundary Clarity – It confirms the exact property lines, preventing disputes with neighbors over land ownership.

• Encroachments & Easements – It reveals if any structures (like fences or driveways) cross property lines or if there are rights-of-way for utility companies or neighbors.

But why would we be wandering through farm gates?  Do you have a "right to roam" similar to that in the U.K. that allow passage across 'private' land? 

 

Anyway, 'civilians' don't hassle us either.  If they want to hide indoors while we 'work', that's just fine!  

 

 

Nothing to do with land borders, but fear of mining.

I am no expert on this, but I know that the government can compulsorily acquire land with 'fair compensation'. What is 'fair' is open to dispute though. When I was growing up and my father worked for a bank, this meant many moves to different towns to different branches, as through the years he got promotions. In areas with gold he said that during gold rushes, the bank always made sure at least one staff member was on the bank property at all times, less someone come onto the land and make a gold claim. I imagine gold claims have a size limitation, so might need to be staked out. The manager and their family mostly lived on the property, but that meant if they were away another staff member had to stay there until they got back.

 

"In Australia, while there's no direct law compelling mine operators to purchase land, governments at all levels have the power to compulsorily acquire land for public purposes, including mining. This power, also known as "resumption" or "eminent domain," allows them to take private property for a "public purpose" with fair compensation. For mining, this often happens when a mine's development or operations require land access, require land for environmental offsets, or when the mine's impacts necessitate land acquisition."

 

More can be read here. Go to "Compulsory acquisition and resumption"

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f75cedd3-2b2a-4fad-b72b-15452c2c4f2a

 

There is apparently a right to veto, at least to minerals exploration, so hence 'locked gates'. I'm no expect, so add this link.

https://www.bailiwicklegal.com.au/should-you-open-the-farm-gate-to-a-mining-or-oil-gas-company

Edited June 11 by Goldenwattle