This topic contains 11 replies, has 9 voices, and was last updated by 
-
Posts
-
Working in law enforcement for 18+ years, I would have to say “NO”, we shouldn’t notify them about our specific geocaches. Absolutely not.
I say this for many reasons:
[*]First off, how are they going to keep track of this information? How is everyone at the department going to know about the information you told one person.
[*]In today’s liability conscious world, the department would probably want to investigate the sitation before they agreed that it was ok or not.
[*]If a citizen were to report the object as a suspicious item, the department would handle the situation the same. Even if someone did remember that the object was something called a “geocache”, something evil could have been placed in the cache since time it was initially ok’d.
My advise…Get permission from the land owner or manager. Use transparent containers. Clearly lable the container as a geocache. Paint ammo boxes so they do not contain military markings.
If you obtained permission, write that on the side of the container: “Geocache game piece – Placed with permission of _______ Park Rec Department”. How about “Geocache site – Contact 414-555-1212 with any questions”.
I think you are better off making a cache look harmless, rather then notify your local police department. A better way to notify police departments would be to create a brocure or video that explains Geocaching in generic terms.
The WGA has discussed making a video directed for park managers. This video would also be perfect for Law Enforcment.
[This message has been edited by GrouseTales (edited 07-06-2005).]
quote:
Originally posted by GrouseTales:
Working in law enforcement for 18+ years, I would have to say “NO”, we shouldn’t notify them about our specific geocaches. Absolutely not.I say this for many reasons:
[*]First off, how are they going to keep track of this information? How is everyone at the department going to know about the information you told one person.
[*]In today’s liability conscious world, the department would probably want to investigate the sitation before they agreed that it was ok or not.
[*]If a citizen were to report the object as a suspicious item, the department would handle the situation the same. Even if someone did remember that the object was something called a “geocache”, something evil could have been placed in the cache since time it was initially ok’d.
My advise…Get permission from the land owner or manager. Use transparent containers. Clearly lable the container as a geocache. Paint ammo boxes so they do not contain military markings.
If you obtained permission, write that on the side of the container: “Geocache game piece – Placed with permission of _______ Park Rec Department”. How about “Geocache site – Contact 414-555-1212 with any questions”.
I think you are better off making a cache look harmless, rather then notify your local police department. A better way to notify police departments would be to create a brocure or video that explains Geocaching in generic terms.
The WGA has discussed making a video directed for park managers. This video would also be perfect for Law Enforcment.
[This message has been edited by GrouseTales (edited 07-06-2005).]
I couldn’t agree more. Excellent post.
Papa Fishcacher is a deputy sheriff. His department shot a geocache last year.
~MF
Papa Fishcacher is a deputy sheriff. His department shot a geocache last year.
Are you serious?? I don’t know if I want to go out there now, without official GeoCaching garb on, so I be identified. Sheesh.. whats this world coming to??
[This message has been edited by Cache_boppin_BunnyFuFu (edited 07-06-2005).]
quote:
Originally posted by Cache_boppin_BunnyFuFu:
Are you serious?? I don’t know if I want to go out there now, without official GeoCaching garb on, so I be identified. Sheesh.. whats this world coming to??
well, law enforcement is responding as such (shooting geocaches, blowing up geocaches) as a result of incidents such as what happened in london this monring and what happened in new york four years ago.
also, i didn’t get the impression that mr WISearchers was implying we need to inform law enforcement of each individual cache. in fact he stated as such. the impression i got was he is wondering if we should teach law enforcement about geocaching in general.
Suppose geocaching didn’t exist.
You are in the woods for a walk and stumble upon an ammunition box. Granted, most bombs aren’t found in boxes labeled “ammunition,” “explosives,” or “bomb,” nor in boxes designed to protect ammunition and explosives from exploding. However, you don’t know what’s in the box. The box is not labeled, or the labeling has been painted over–you can’t tell from the distance you’re standing from the box. What do you do at this point? (I still wonder what I’d do.)
You could get closer, but there could be a trip wire placed by some backwoods nutcase trying to “protect his property.” You could pick it up and carry it out, but don’t know if what’s inside is dangerous to move. You could open it, but again, don’t know what’s inside.
Now let’s say you’re the person called to investigate this box. You’re not a police officer, bomb expert, or anything like that, just plain old you. You have to figure out what to do with this box, since it’s pretty obvious it doesn’t belong there. What are your options?
Well, you could poke at it with a long stick. If it explodes the metal from the box will probably put you in the hospital and leave permanent scars. If it was forgotten some time ago it could contain unstable ammunition and you could be shot, 50+ times, depending on how many rounds are in the box. You might be able to carry it out on the end of the stick if you can get the end under the handle, but what if you drop it along the way–it’s going to get heavy fast dangling at the end of a stick. Once you get it out, then what? Put it in your car?
You could throw a rock at it. That sounds like a good idea, right? If the box is going to explode, the flying rock will give you enough time to hit the ground before it hits the box. Hey, you missed. Get another rock. Is that rock big enough? Now that’s a good sized rock! You’d better get within eleven feet of the box, cuz that rock is only going to fly about that far. You don’t wanna do that? Why not?
Hey, how about you shoot the box? A few times. Now that’s a good idea. If it’s going to explode, a few 30-06 deer rounds ought to take it down. Plus, you can stay pretty far back. If you miss you can always try again. And again. And–hey, that looks kind of fun–let me have at it! Was that Barney I just saw fly out??!!! Let me turn the scope to high… Whoa! He’s kinda messed up! Is that Holly Hobby next to him???
—
I previously rented out the house next door to an army munitions demolition expert who was called up for the war on terror. He was a police officer normally. Actually, he was normally a husband and father, at least when I saw him. Officers are really just the people next door. Okay, they’re the people next door that see all the stuff you’d never expect to see, but that’s a big tangent. Most of them are the same as you and I, just trying to not get hurt while taking care of the stuff nobody else wants to.
For everyone’s sake, buy the darn geocache sticker for your ammunition box. And I really suggest telling this to newcomers to the sport. It might save them, and us, a lot of headaches.
quote:
Originally posted by Cache_boppin_BunnyFuFu:
Papa Fishcacher is a deputy sheriff. His department shot a geocache last year.Are you serious?? I don’t know if I want to go out there now, without official GeoCaching garb on, so I be identified. Sheesh.. whats this world coming to??
[This message has been edited by Cache_boppin_BunnyFuFu (edited 07-06-2005).]
They didn’t shoot a geocacheR! Just the cache box. Here’s the story:
The police were called in regards to an ammo box in a wooded area of a town near the water tower. When they arrived, they had no clue what the box contained, and no way of finding out for certain. It could be a bomb, it could be old ammo, it could be drugs, it could be a whole list of things. So they treated it as a possible explosive device, called the ‘bomb squad’ (they have some other fancy-ish name that escapes my mind at the moment) and their protocol for this situation was to have a sniper fire a large caliber bullet through it to disable it.
Really, deputies don’t make it a habit to go around shooting things or even people. It was just standard procedure for the situation; especially in this day and age, with terrorism having the grip it does…. Unfortunately, a couple officers weren’t too thrilled with the fact that they had to go thru all that to shoot up some McToys, but the entire department received a briefing on it that mentioned geocaching, so now they all know about it.
Before I knew geocaching existed, if I’d stumbled across an ammo box in the woods, especially one that was still labelled “50 caliber ammunition” or something along those lines, with no other identification on it, I’d be a little nervous about it and would probably call the cops. Now if that box said “geocaching.com” on it, I would’ve come home and looked that up, and then probably wouldn’t call the cops.
Just remember to wear your blaze orange during hunting season because you’re much more likely to get shot by a hunter with *buck fever* than a cop just doing his job, hoping to have a boring day where he gets to make it home alive to see his family after every shift.
Quote:Originally posted by geodawn:
well, law enforcement is responding as such (shooting geocaches, blowing up geocaches) as a result of incidents such as what happened in london this monring and what happened in new york four years ago.OK I can’t read…… I thought it said that Cach”ERs” not cach”ES” were being shot. LOL
In an odd coincidence, Patric, who is mentioned a few posts ago, stopped by later the same day I posted the message about him, to say hello. He recently returned home after 22 months in Iraq. His baby daughter is now walking and talking, but he missed all that, just like I did when his wife moved to a military base in the USA. He has a 10-month-old, the first 9 months of her life he missed because he was called back after being home for a brief period last year. He’s applying for a job to be a civilian police officer. We really didn’t have time to talk about geocaching, and it probably wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. His older daughter loved meeting the dogs during their brief visit, and if I were him looking into their eyes every chance I got, there’d be no way I’d take any more risks than necessary on the job.
Sorry this isn’t written better,
OpossumPlease thank him for me. We appreciate the sacrifices he’s made.
Team GeoPink
– Jeff
Co-conspirator to make the world a better place…A container in an urban park would be more worrysome than one off the beaten path in a rural area. Many of us have forgotten or have never learned one of the reasons to place a cache. That is to take others to an interesting place or along an interesting journey.
Steve Bukosky
Waukesha
The forum ‘Old General Forum (Busted)’ is closed to new topics and replies.