This could get expensive ...
From This Article
GPS Game Sparks Local Bomb Scare
BETHLEHEM, PA-February 16, 2006 - A PennDOT worker salting roads about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday saw a woman pause at a tree near an Interstate 78 overpass, turn around and get on a bus, followed her footprints and found a locked ammunition box, and called police.
Firefighters, police officers and bomb squad technicians converged and investigated the box with "This is a game" written on the front, Lt. Joe Chernaskey said.
A fire official checked the geocaching.com Web site listed on the box, and officials discovered that rather than a dangerous device, the box was part of a new, fast-growing high-tech scavenger hunt.
Fire Commissioner George Barkanic said Bethlehem will foot the bill for Tuesday's response, but if calls about suspicious packages continue to come in, the costs, which can be thousands of dollars for a bomb squad call, will be billed to the people who hid the items.
(Copyright 2006 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
It’s a shame to see this sort of media coverage again. These stories filter through all over the world, and do nothing to help our “sport”. Here’s the cache in question:
http://www.geocaching.com//seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=a1f7d859-62ba-4fec-a1de-bfa47d4c58fd
Cheers,
Rikki
Maybe it’s time to not use ammo boxes as caches any more. As much as it sucks, because they’re great for the purpose, they scare too many folks who don’t know what’s what.
All of my caches are clear-sided containers so that if, by chance, someone reports it as a bomb, the police can see what’s inside it without resorting to blowing it up. I’ve come across some ammo boxes that haven’t had any modification to the original markings on them.
It’s sad that the person who hid the cache refused to tell the police where his other caches are because if they were called out to another one, they would be able to modify their response accordingly.
I don’t really agree with kiltedcachers of not using ammo boxes anymore…but rather, educate the new cachers that are join this great sport about proper labeling and camoing of them… I’ve seen some that still had the Ammunition markings in it saying 50mm rounds with no markings of a geocache… if they would just take the time to spray paint over it and either stencle or buy geocaching labels to cover it… this would have happened, not to mention reading the rules of no caches near or under bridges or major interstate roads.
Well it just happens that one near my home was thought to be a bomb also and was exploded by the bomb squad. Check out the cache logs.
(GCQ7B3) Ridge Road: In Plain Sight. The one cacher arrived just as the Police blocked off the area for the bomb squad. He has posted pictures too.
mrfixitman
Just a suggestion. I keep the local law enforcement aware of where caches are placed and provide photographs so they know what they look like. Hopefully, they will share the information with their officers that patrol the area so they know that someone acting suspiciously might be a geocacher and a suspicious container might be a geocache. It benefits the community by seeing if it is a geocache before calling out the troops. Also, if the cache owner has documented that he informed local law enforcement about the sport and the cache, then it will help avoid the black eye the sport might receive and potentially help the cache owner avoid liability for the response. (Assuming permission was sought and granted before the cache was placed.)
Also, it helps if you think like a police officer before you place the cache. Are you placing the cache near what might be considered a high value target? What would you think if you found a cammo’ed container near a high value target? Common sense helps.