Having To Explain Geocaching To Local Police

January 8, 2005

Never been caught by police, but have had them looking for us. My friend and I (KEELSX6) went to Redding for a Girls Scout camp (she got me hooked on caching). We never made it to camp becuase of a fire on the road to the camp.. We tried to notify the council check with CDF and the visitors station at Whiskeytown and all we got was anwering machines. So we decide to go caching. She and I always having printouts with us and our gear. The only people we didn't tell was the husbands. So half way into the day, my husband finally got a hold of us. After the initial relief that we were okay, I had to call the Redding Police, Highway patrol, sherriff and the President of the Sierra Cascade Council and explain everything. Kind of delfated the day, but I think we loged over 20 caches that day. We then headed to Chico and tried the BEER SAMPLER at Sierra Nevada Brewery and that seemed to make it all better.

January 8, 2005

Maybe this belongs in a "Having to explain local police while geocaching" thread. Here's my flip side to this thread.

Most memorable: watching a police cruiser doing "donuts" in a secluded parking lot while someone was actually riding on the hood of said cruiser.

Second most memorable: watching a cruiser approach at high speed and do a 180 on a narrow dead end dirt road leading to a park and continue to practice several 180s (just slam it into reverse).

There are many factors to consider while looking for that perfect place to hide a cache and what future cache hunters will experience.

dutch(stealthmode)master

January 10, 2005

Please see my three logs for this cache. Actually it's just the two "notes" on March 3, 2004, that tell the story of my misadventures with the 'to serve and protect' guys. I had a blast on this day with these guys thoe. :huh: :lol: :huh:

The Cache Page

Edited January 10, 2005 by MedicP1

January 10, 2005

I have a Travel Bug that was recently arrested for monkeying around the cache!

Hawaiian Honeymoon Monkey

Edited January 10, 2005 by YuccaPatrol

2k · January 14, 2005

We went to Louisana so I could meet my mom and brothers for the first time in my life the day after this last Christmas. The first night I was there I explained Geocaching to them and my brothers wanted to go find one that was close by and new. So at midnight on a Sunday night we went looking for this cache. We got to the road we needed to take to park and walk and the road was closed with a police officer blocking the way. We turned around looking for another way...there wasn't so we went back. We got out and walked down to him and I had to explain what Geocaching was (getting a dunb look back from him) and he let us go on but watched us until we disappered behide the trees.

The reason why the road was closed is because they were filming the Dukes of Hazard there and the entire set was set up. COOL!!!! We took lots of pictures!!

January 14, 2005

We went to Louisana so I could meet my mom and brothers for the first time in my life the day after this last Christmas. The first night I was there I explained Geocaching to them and my brothers wanted to go find one that was close by and new. So at midnight on a Sunday night we went looking for this cache. We got to the road we needed to take to park and walk and the road was closed with a police officer blocking the way. We turned around looking for another way...there wasn't so we went back. We got out and walked down to him and I had to explain what Geocaching was (getting a dunb look back from him) and he let us go on but watched us until we disappered behide the trees.

The reason why the road was closed is because they were filming the Dukes of Hazard there and the entire set was set up. COOL!!!! We took lots of pictures!!

Link to the pics please... :huh:

February 10, 2005

Was doing a letterbox in southern IL in a city park - nice wilderness area. As we were scrounging around for the letterbox a county sheriff pulled to the driveway above the hill. I told my friend, "uh oh!"..

This was before I got the GPS but heard about Geocaching and started taking on letterboxes 'till I could get a GPS. I was so worried what I was going to say to the cop, even not having a GPS unit.

But he just stayed there and watched us as we both were having a hard time (first serach ever) finding this thing that an animal had drug a few yards away in some brush.

Then a 2nd cop pulled up the officveer got out, but walked to the other cop and wispered to each other. We finally found the letterbox and sen in the log book we were the first finders of a new letterbox. So we signed and put it back and went to the next clue as they sat there and watched us. I still dont know if they had any idea what we were doing.

February 15, 2005

I am a police officer and i got sent on a call today about possible drug activity here in a park.

I spoke with a citizen who lives nearby and he explained that at lunch time a nice looking car pulled up and two men got out and walked up to a tree. One of the men stuck his whole arm into a knot hole on the tree and retreived something. The two left soon there after. He thought that someone was hiding drugs in there for someone to pick up at a later time.

I immediately knew what was really going on because just two days ago I was doing the exact same kind of suspicious activity. That tree is where a cache was hidden just a few days ago.

I gave the guy a brief explanation of the game and told him that there would probably be others coming and doing the same thing because it was a new cache. He laughed and said ok.

It was a good thing that I was sent on this call because any of the other officers probably would have thought it was drug activity as well.

XPD77

February 18, 2005

Boy have I got trouble!!! I was driving on my way back from a geocache in Southern IL and a cop started folowing me. As I was looking at him, I did not see a turkey run accross the road in front of me except till the last minute. It also started flying at the last minute.

I hit it and it went over top of my truck, and came down in the windshiled of the Cop Car. Next thing I know his lights come on, and we are stopped. He came to me and gave me a ticket!!! Can anyone help me out?

1.1k · February 18, 2005

Boy have I got trouble!!! I was driving on my way back from a geocache in Southern IL and a cop started folowing me. As I was looking at him, I did not see a turkey run accross the road in front of me except till the last minute. It also started flying at the last minute.

I hit it and it went over top of my truck, and came down in the windshiled of the Cop Car. Next thing I know his lights come on, and we are stopped. He came to me and gave me a ticket!!! Can anyone help me out?

Everyone knows you'll get in trouble for flipping the bird at a cop.

February 19, 2005

oh well so much for that line!!! :huh:

1.1k · February 19, 2005

oh well so much for that line!!!

Thank you, thank you very much. I'll be in town all weekend. Be sure to stop by our gift shop and don't forget to tip your waitress.

One last animal joke....

Did you hear the one about the baby seal who walked into a club..... (ta dum)...

Thank you, oh please, no really, thank you very much.....

February 23, 2005

We went to a new cache that was behind a closed down grocery store. It was a magnetic micro. Well, you have to pull in behind the building (which is in a small strip mall area) to get to the cache. We were the 7th to log that day! As we were pulling back around the building a police officer was pulling into the main driveway. We drove right by him and he flipped a U and followed us. We pulled into the neighboring shopping area and parked. He pulled in right behind us and wrote down our license plate as we were getting out and then took off (we assume back to the cache area).

The following day, I was on my way home from the store and noticed that at the building where the cache was hidden was one K-9 unit and several other police cars. I'm sure that they thought there was new drug activity in the area! I didn't know if I should drive over and tell them about the geocaching and show them the cache or not. I opted to drive home and stay out of it.

Another time we were at the edge of a park at 3am. The police officer came up and asked if our tracker was broken down (which happened to be running at the time). We explained what we were doing and asked him if he wanted to help us. We ended up with a DNF on the cache. LOL

Now we use the handy brochure that explains geocaching. We keep several with us in case we need them. Fortunately, we haven't been stopped or questioned lately. We also have a note in our car window that we're not broken down, or abandoned but are geocaching in the area and we have geocaching website address on it.

~~J ~~

March 13, 2005

upon returning from "the nashville arch", i found a policeman waiting at my car. i removed my disguise (part of my safety precaution), gave him my sweetest smile, and asked had he come to protect me? he shook his head and asked didn't i know better than to be in this area. i told him about the cache i had been too; but he still wasn't too happy. i thanked him for his protection and was on my way with a smilie for the scariest cache i've even done. and yes, i loved every minute of it!

March 14, 2005

Not a cop, but a security guard. There is a virtual on the grounds of the Mormon temple in the area. It is high on a hill and lit up and night-can be see from all around. The historical plaque is there and there is a spectacular view. Got the virt and walked across the street to get a cache in what I thought was a Park 'n' ride lot. DNF'd it and came back to my car in the temple lot. The security guard came out and asked what I was doing across the street. It is an overflow lot for the temple, but is not marked as such. I was totally honest, showing her my printouts for the virt and the DNF and also my GPSr. She had seen others looking there and was wondering what they were searching for. She was OK with geocaching and asked me to post that others tell the guards what they are doing.

March 17, 2005

There is a cache near Portland that involves tromping behind some houses in one of our greenspaces (public land that is really an excuse to have a little tiny section of usually riparian area not covered in houses to increase the property value of the houses snuggled up to it). This particular greenspace is about 8 feet wide between the back of houses and a creek. This particular cache requires a "key" you have to find in other caches and is so a prized cache to log. Ohh did I mention this 8 feet is packed with nasty looking black berry bushes and a hardly visible path other cachers and local kids have made through the briars. Anyways ... we were hiking along this "trail" behind the houses when a home owner asks from their back yard "What are you doing?" Thinking quickly we responded "Hiking" Well considering this area and the blood and ripping of our clothes we got one of the best looks ever :lol: and continued on our "Hike"

We have explained geocaching a couple of times to interested parties but in this case it was too hard to avoid a smart-aleck comment and a good laugh.

March 17, 2005

Everyone knows you'll get in trouble for flipping the bird at a cop.

This is a true story....

A little off topic, but in the 1980's a local State Trooper had charged a guy with flipping him off. I just happend to be in the courtroom waiting on another case to come up and got to hear the bench trail of this guy. To make a long story short, the Judge found the guy not guilty and told the Trooper it was not an illegal act to give the "one finger wave". The Trooper just said "thank you Judge" and as he walked away from the bench promptly gave the Judge the "one finger wave". The courtroom erupted in snickers...

Needless to say the Judge was livid and dismissed every State Patrol ticket for the rest of the day.

Edited March 17, 2005 by Roo & the Bears

1.1k · March 17, 2005

Well I am a real cacher now in less then a month I have been ask once by local police and security guard while placing or lookng to place a cache. The local polic we showed them the cache full of toys etc and they like the idea so they wished us a good day and drove off. The second a security guard had heard of geocaching in Texas and said they couldn't give me permission to place the cache on the property but made some suggestions. It was all fun.

cheers

2.6k · March 17, 2005

...The Trooper just said "thank you Judge" and as he walked away from the bench promptly gave the Judge the "one finger wave". The courtroom erupted in snickers...

Needless to say the Judge was livid and dismissed every State Patrol ticket for the rest of the day.

Talk about eating your words. Good to see a proper demonstration in order to relay the perspective. Perhaps next time that cop will treat the pilot (of the bird) like a 'King.' :blink:

I've introduced a few of the good guys to the joy. It's always well recieved. Good clean fun!!

1.1k · March 18, 2005

"Needless to say the Judge was livid and dismissed every State Patrol ticket for the rest of the day."

I never let it worry me about what the judge or jury did to any of the tickets I wrote. It's not like I got any of the fine money. I write the tickets for the violations. It's nothing personal, nothing for me to gain, just doing my job. If the judge didn't want to do his job then that's something he'll have to answer for.

"Perhaps next time that cop will treat the pilot (of the bird) like a 'King.' "

Rodney King?

2.6k · March 19, 2005

Sorry. That was a bad joke. [Disipline to follow.] :lol:

Have you arrested me before? :unsure:

Edited March 19, 2005 by Green Achers

March 19, 2005

Yes I have a Po-lice story,and here it is....

Whilst out placing an ammo cache a curious neighbor apparently spotted me goin' into the neighborhood pit armed with my cache.It was in a bag too but I guess it was still worth investigating.So after placing it and resting on a nearby hill by the R.R. tracks a heard some radio chatter.Nah it can't be.Yup.It was.I did make it all the way back to the car though,a good .20,before being confronted.Pleasantville's finest had my car pinned in so I couldn't make a fast getaway with some of the garbage that I was CITOing.You should have seen the looks on their faces when I said I was cleaning the place up a little.I didn't have any proof that I was a cacher with me but they all bought my story,even the captain.I guess it seemed too far fetched for it not be true.

The moral of this story is....there is no moral just get out there and cache.Peace...

I never did find out who the friendly neighbor was.

March 23, 2005

I was watched carefully by the MPs while on a 5:30 am quest to be FTF of a cache on the local military base. While they didn't approach me, I was caught in the act by the Base grounds cleaning crew about 2 hours later. They didn't say anything and I left quietly, unaware that the location of the cache was a favorite hiding place for the local high schoolers' dope stash. Said grounds crew had found dope there numerous times. They looked in the preferred hidey-hole and found the cache. Not knowing what it was they were leaving with it, when another cacher who had been keeping an eye on the site came running up, having realized what was happening. He was the one who explained the game to them and retreived the cache from their possession.

Several weeks later, another of the caches within base boundaries went missing. The local geocachers blamed vandals but it turned out to be another gounds cleaning crew who had found it and were preparing to turn it over to the MPs. The first crew, recognizing what it was, took it and turned it over to the geocacher who had taught them about it.

6.7k · March 28, 2005

I seem to be a "police magnet", at least so say my fellow geocachers!

I get stopped a lot! I expect at least two dozen times in my 1100+ caches!

I cache alone and with friends, quite often out-of-town and often at night.

One of the funnier experiences was at International Park Cache, a story we still laugh at till this day.

My only scary experience was a county sherrif who searched my car - it wasn't until he started going through it that I remembered I had let my pistol permit lapse and there was a pistol in plain sight between my seat and console. Fortunately he didn't see it, and I got my permit renewed shortly thereafter.

Mostly they just run my tag and drivers license. I explain geocaching if asked what I am doing, and all encounters so far have been very friendly.

I am, without a doubt, the most checked-out geocacher in Alabama if not the US!

I got stopped three times in one night while out night caching with two friends last week!

Be careful not to seem intimidating (show your hands when they stop you), always be open, honest and friendly (I am usually laughing when they walk up) and you won't have any trouble.

I'm sure they exist, but I have met and worked with (as a counselor for the Department of Youth Services) a lot of cops, and haven't met one I didn't like or at least get along with yet - and almost married an officer I used to ride with!

Don't worry about getting stopped - thy're looking out for your best interests!

April 5, 2005

This happened to me on my first cache hunt.

A Cache Caper: Hunted Down By The Cops

Ron Tate & Brooks Gooch

From about ten yards away, in a wooded area, came a noticeably stern inquiry, "Any of you carrying any weapons?" The man and two companions, all dressed in black from head-to-toe, were armed to the teeth with side arms, automatic weapons…and beady eyes.

Being questioned were Brooks "Robinhood" Gooch, his son, Bryan and Ron Tate. The three must surely have

looked like cats wondering if someone had moved their litter box to an undisclosed location.

The armed trio turned out to be a SWAT team from Collierville, Tennessee, called by someone in the neighborhood to check out the three strangers who had been seen entering the woods adjacent to their homes.

With weapons, no less.

As we began to explain that we were looking for "cache," at least two of the super cops seemed to increase the intensity of their beady eyes. Could they have been thinking…"Yeah, uh-huh…pretty nice homes around here…probably some cash, too"

The Cache

Brooks had called me the day before to tell me about GeoCache. Brooks' account: "Bryan had checked on a

link on Garmin's web site and found, http://www.geocaching.com. On this site you can sign in and enter a zip code and a list of "GeoCaches" within 100 miles will be displayed. Click on any one of them and that particular cache information will be displayed. Latitude and Longitude from this display is then entered into your GPS unit and saved as a waypoint. Enter as many caches as you wish.

"When you are in the area of the cache, select the cache's waypoint as the "go to" location and follow the GPS instructions to the cache.

"There are various types of caches. The Troop 59 #2 cache in this account is a regular cache. The container is a Boy Scout Popcorn Tin. In the tin was: logbook, pen, 2- one dollar bills, tape measure, Star Scout patch, tennis ball, golf ball, Chickasaw Council shoulder patch, small super ball, I don't remember what the red and blue item was, and a We Survived Camping in Freezing Weather patch. From regular caches containing various items you may take something and leave something, in addition to logging the find in book provided. On our day, the temperature was in the high twenties to low thirties on January 23rd, so we took the "We Survived Camping in Freezing Weather patch" and left an OKK Heritage Trek patch.

"Since the run-in with Collierville's finest, Bryan (No Bags) and I (R'hood) have found 3 caches in the area of

Old Kia Kima."

As we left the area, we came to an open field, bordered on the right by a tree line and more woods. Walking

along the edge, we spotted a "blue light special" parked about 300 yards ahead. No big deal. Neighborhood cop.

Probably a nice guy. However, after we had closed the distance about halfway, Bryan said, "We probably ought to cut back through the woods so we can come out the other side where we're parked."

Not much imagination required here as to what the squad car guy was thinking when he observed us ducking back

into the woods…let's say…attempting to escape. In the time it took us to get through the stand of trees, there to face off with the trio–in-black and arguably a third of Collierville's finest waiting in the wings, we also observed no less than six other blue lights. All working just fine. There they were…all lined up. Well…like a lineup.

This account has to end somewhere, so let's head in that direction. Bryan later commented that once we had

explained our search for cache, one of the officers appeared to be rather disappointed that he was not required to fully exercise his extensive training for SWATTING bad guys. The group leader informed us that the probable reason for the neighborhood call was that if they told the police the strangers were armed, the officers would respond quickly. They did. All of them. Collierville must have had no discernable protection left in town, except maybe a desk sergeant who was monitoring the dispersal of his comrades to the scene of in-progress criminal activity. Exciting stuff for our neighbors to the east.

As we left the woods, the air of congeniality between cops and cache hunters must have befuddled every neighbor, behind every window of every home, behind every pair of rear window binoculars taking in the whole affair. What they

saw had to look like a bunch of long lost pals… laughing…talking about Scouting and the great outdoors…shaking hands. Festive, no less. Likewise, one can also assume that the neighbors were most likely thinking, "What the hell was that all about? You'd think these guys, civilians and cops…were headed for a company picnic."

Moral: Never look like you're searching for cold cache when the cops are in the vicinity. R'hood

April 11, 2005

This happened me and two friends 2 days ago. We were doing a multi cache in the middle of the night near a lokal hospital and were appearently spotted by a sequrity guard whom appearently called the police. We parked the car outside the hospital and went down to a small creek on the backside looking for a sign which were part of the multi. When we were on our way back we saw the light from flashlights throughout the woods, they were checking for broken windows or other evidence of a break-in. When we got a little closer the flashlights were pointed in our faces but we could make out two policecars and four policemen along with a couple of sequrity guards. Since we realized that we probably looked quite suspicious, walking around the backside of a hospital in the middle of the night, we walked towards the policemen and explained who we were and what we were doing. When I told them that part of this multi consisted in finding a sign and adding the numbers on it to get part of the coordinates for the real cache, one of the female policeofficers said "Well, well, you keep looking for signs" in a dejected tone of voice almost shaking her head. Then they all got in their cars and we in ours and drove off. There were no problems explaining at all, I just told them and they apparently didn't have and reason not to believe us I guess. We were a little amazed that we made such a stir though. :blink:

April 13, 2005

We always like to push our weekend caching well into the evening even after the sun goes down. Well, having done most of the caches in Houston, we spent one day going after some local letterboxes. We pulled into the parking area for a dog park and proceeded to find 2 letterboxes just into the woods behind the park. We were signing the last log and we heard the Sheriff announce over the loudspeaker that the park was closed and we must leave immediately. Well, we looked over and he was sitting right in front of our car (the only one left) with his lights blazing. After a few minutes walk, we approached the cop and he asked where our dog was. We told him we didn't have a dog with us. He then asked why we were parked at the dog park without a dog.

Barely keeping a straight face. we explained letterboxing. We also explained that we had looked for a sign at the entrance stating the park hours, and didn't see one.

Anyway, the guy was really nice and let us go on our way, but I just know he was running our plates through the system....

May 3, 2005

As I was returning to the parking lot from a cache I saw the local county forest preserve police in the parking lot., My car was the only other one. there so I walked up to the police vehicle and expalined what I was doing there. He had maps of all of the cache locations they knew about on county preserve land. He even had a GPS. Said he didn't like to turn it on because he thought his superiors could track him. Police unit was rigged pretty well. A laptop computer. radio gear the gps and all kinds of ram mounts for stuff that I couldn't see form the window.

6.7k · May 3, 2005

He even had a GPS. Said he didn't like to turn it on because he thought his superiors could track him.

Did you explain GPSr to him? Tell him it's a receive-only deal? You might of made a friend for life! Shame they gave him all that gear and don't teach him to use it!

June 16, 2005

If this has not been said, another way to show what Geocaching is all about to whom that might ask, if you have a PPC with explorer on it, just open the FAQ page on this site using your PPC, save it as a favorite, or as your home page. next time when your asked run explorer and show the web page in question.

June 16, 2005

A friend and I had just parked my car near to an entrance to the Cap Sauer Holdings in Orland Park, IL when one of the local cops rolled up. He stopped us and started to question us because of the fact that we were both dressed in BDU's with a backpack and unusual gadgets in our hands (GPS and PDA). I calmly explained to the officer that what we were doing and he refused to believe my story. I showed him the caches we were hunting, gave him the web address, and explained to him that this is a worldwide sport/game. Finally after a few more uneasy moments, he rolled along and just cautioned us about the incoming storms. I was almost certain that he was going to tell us to leave, but thankfully he let us to our fun.

June 17, 2005

Yes.... first time ever geocaching was today. We got our first GPSr yesterday, and have been itching to go out and find some caches. So after work at 5:30 PM, we found our first. Called a couple friends and told them about it, they wanted to go too, so we decided to go hunt down some more. Printed out some waypoints, and headed out. It was already dusk when we set out for the first one (of the second set). Dark by the time we got back to the truck. The second cache was through a park, which evidently has a sign posted that says it's only open from dawn until dusk. Parked the truck, headed into the woods, found the cache, and as the 4 of us were walking out of the woods, we noticed someone with a flashlight standing next to our truck. Upon a closer look, it was the police. We said hi, he said hi. We asked if he was wondering what we were doing out there. Indeed he was. We explained we were geocaching, and he explained the park was closed. I grabbed the printouts out of the truck, one of which explained exactly where we were. Once I showed him the printouts, and that we just got the GPSr yesterday, he seemed to feel a little better about the situation. Funny part was, as we were driving out, we noticed another cruiser at the end of the road. Apparently he had called for backup! All's well.

9.3k · June 18, 2005

Did you explain GPSr to him? Tell him it's a receive-only deal?

On a side note:

I'm a Deputy Sheriff for Seminole County Florida. Our in-car GPSr system installed in our laptops utilizes a basemap tracking program and wireless adapters that will track the location of each of our vehicles. Our dispatchers can receive a call, glance at their map and know immedietely which deputy is closest. Ours is most defenitely not a "receive-only" system. :lol:

Back to topic:

I've never been stopped by THE MAN, but if I was, I'd assume that honesty was the best policy. I've educated several of my fellow deputies on the game of geocaching, so they'd know not all ammo boxes in the woods contain bombs. I've already done all the caches in my patrol area, and make it a point to look out for folks geocaching.

Ain't caught none yet!

9.3k · June 19, 2005

I think this post must've cursed me. 10 hours after posting, I was caught at my first night cache. :yikes:

June 21, 2005

Been there. Done that. (Just recently, in fact. )

Caught In The Act

July 20, 2005

My caching partner and I were looking for a cache near a river when we heard vehicles pull up, I walked up the embankment to see 2 sheriffs cars containing 3 deputies. The one asked in a not very polite way what we were doing. (Usually I am kind of a smart a**) but this time I decided to just tell it like it was. I started to explain geocaching when one of the deputies said "Oh I've heard of that" and then he proceeded to explain it to the other officers. The tension left the air at that point and the officers explained to us that there had been 3 cars stolen in the area the previous week. They then told us to have a good time and went on their way.

Edited July 20, 2005 by redwoodcanoe

10.1k · July 20, 2005

I was looking for a benchmark: Atlantic 2, on the Brigantine Bridge (connecting Atlantic City to Brigantine). A Brigantine Beach Police Officer pulls over (we were in Atlantic City, not Brigantine) and tells us we cannot hang out on the bridge. I explained benchmarking to him, and he asked for identification. We left, and didn't find the benchmark. Oh, well. It's nice to know that the world is protected from benchmarkers.

July 20, 2005

I wonder if it my be a good idea for geocachers in diferent areas to send the local Police chief, Sheriff, Forest ranger, ...etc. a letter explaning about geocaching. Maybe include the affore mentioned brocher and any other pertanant info. Hopefully the word would spred among other officers and there would be less explaining to do. Just a thought.

1.1k · July 20, 2005

I wonder if it my be a good idea for geocachers in diferent areas to send the local Police chief, Sheriff, Forest ranger, ...etc. a letter explaning about geocaching. Maybe include the affore mentioned brocher and any other pertanant info. Hopefully the word would spred among other officers and there would be less explaining to do. Just a thought.

There has been nationwide alerts put out at least twice the past 3 years to all law enforcement agencies in the US. That's how I found out about and got into Geocaching.

July 27, 2005

I was doing a cache in Orangeville Ontario one day in a local park

When I returned to the car i saw a cab driver watching me and asked if I lost something (The cache was in a park where everyone can see you)

I told him I was geocaching and explained it and then thought nothing else of it.

the next day i got a call from the Orangeville Police, apparently someone wrote down my license plate and called the cops. The cop was good natured about it at least.

2.7k · July 28, 2005

Wadcutter Posted on Jul 20 2005, 03:47 PM
There has been nationwide alerts put out at least twice the past 3 years to all law enforcement agencies in the US.

What was the general nature of these alerts? Something like: 'some suspicious-looking activities are a benign hobby known as geocaching'?

1.1k · July 29, 2005

Wadcutter Posted on Jul 20 2005, 03:47 PM
There has been nationwide alerts put out at least twice the past 3 years to all law enforcement agencies in the US.

What was the general nature of these alerts? Something like: 'some suspicious-looking activities are a benign hobby known as geocaching'?

Paraphrased it was something to the effect:

If you see people wandering around in the woods or on street corners carrying a GPS, a bag full of McToys, and acting like they're lost, not to worry, they're just Geocachers.

That's paraphrased and the best I remember it. It's how I found out about Geocaching.

July 31, 2005

We had our first run in with a local police department while geocaching this morning. 7-31-05. We spent the night at a truck stop as we often do. Before going to bed I located a cache that we could do after breakfast the following morning.

We finished breakfast, loaaded the points into our units and started on our way to the cache GCMQZF We got about a half a block from the truckstop when a Pittston Police Cruiser pulled up alongside of us. The officer asked what we were doing, as we tried explaining to him what geocaching was and how we needed the hobby to get exercise. He was insistant that we were not going to be able to walk along the highway. Not at all. He was going to drive us there, and we were going to show him what this was all about.

So we hopped in, (yes the back of course). He knew the location we were going to. We arrived he let us out and we walked right up to the cache, opened the container and showed him the logs. He was quite surprised to see the number of visiters that had been to this park that was so close to his neighborhood. We signed the logs, replaced the cache and he drove us back to our truck.

When we got back we gave him some literature we had printed out from GeoCaching University. We also pulled out the laptop and showed him the results of a local "pocket query' on the map. He was quite amazed to see the number of caches in the area.

I would say that the officer we met will most likely be doing 2 things. One he will no doubt become a GeoCacher, since he enjoyed himself while doing the cache with us. Two I do believe that he will be educating the rest of his department as to what the hobby is all about, possibly even recruiting a few new cachers along the way.

October 17, 2005

We had quite the bit of explaining to do when entering Scottish Parliment to look for clues in a multi cache. Our small jackknives in our packs for geocaching, did not meet the countries law for carrying (2.5 inch blade), and the security officers had to call police to have us cleared. They suggested that the pocket knives be left in our hotel room, and then packed into our checked luggage when travelling home. We could have been charged-but were let off with just a warning. <_< It definately added to our caching stories.

October 17, 2005

I was down on Cape Cod (Mass) doing a few caches. Darkness decended upon me but I headed for that "one last cache". LOL My Garmin showed a road through but when I arrived there was a gate. I had passed an officer in his car on the way to the gate and he was watching me sit there looking at maps and my GPS at the gate. I finally turned around and drove over to his car so I could ask how to get to the other end of the road. He was a little brusk at first but I gave him a brochure and showed him my printout. He told me the park closed at dusk but that he was the officer on duty and he wasn't going to come over and arrest me as I searched. LOL Turned out to be a real nice guy once he understood what I was doing.

October 19, 2005

I am a newb to geocashing and usually take my kids with me. But today I needed to drop off a TB at a location south of home so I went by myself. On the way back I had to explain myself to a local in the area and I think he was satisfied with my story. He wasn't so sure the 2nd time because I had forgotten to leave the TB and had go back to the site. My story sounded a little suspicious the second time.

October 19, 2005

You would be amazed at the things I used to find people doing when I was a Police Officer, and way before Geocaching came into being. Even funnier was who they were, and who they were with, and what they were doing. Some of these people you would never think to see doing ...........................

November 13, 2005

I needed to trade a T.B. at a local cache so me and my 3 year old grandson took the little walk into a wooded area and wasnt expecting to see anyone there.Got to the cache site and there was a deputy sherrif there(full uniform).Yep he was caching to and hadnt found the cache so my grandson helped him a little.Well told him where it was.He was new but has found most in the area now.It made me fill better knowing he was a cacher to.

November 15, 2005

There's a first time for everything. I was out with some other cachers looking for Fourteen Minus Six (GCR7B7), when six University of Delaware cops rolled up. Apparently wandering around the middle of the streets on campus at 2 in the morning is acting "suspiciously." They just ran our names and DL numbers for warrants, then said, "have a good time."

Very polite, though completely unimpressed with the idea of Geocaching. I kept getting these wierd "people shouldn't do anything 'different'" vibes from them. Which is very odd, given what I really do for a living.... I generally don't have bad reactions to cops, but these guys left me feeling vaguely oppressed. Maybe it's just me....

November 15, 2005

Ok I'll bite, what do you do for a living?

Having To Explain Geocaching To Local Police

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