Bomb Scare

I had to archive a geocache this past weekend in Hot Springs. The geocache, an ammo can, was confiscated by the Garland County Sheriffs Department while responding to a possible bomb in front of the Garland County Court House. The Sheriffs Department contacted Groundspeak, who contacted me and I took the necessary action. This is a bad situation that does not reflect well on geocaching or geocachers.

Please, please, please get permission first before placing a geocache, especially an ammo can or other regular size cache container, near a public building, especially if it is a government building. From now on, for such caches, I will be looking for a name and phone number of the person providing permission for such placement, and I will also request an email from them confirming that permission has been given. I hope you will understand my reasons and will also be more understanding when I ask you to move geocaches placed near schools, airports, highway bridges, etc.

Chuck Walla
Geocaching.com Volunteer Cache Reviewer

I just listened today to the Pod Cacher podcast of 8/3/08 and it suggested three things that we, as geocachers, can do to avoid bomb scares in the future (in addition to getting permission for cache location!). They are:

1. Use a clear container, like a lock-n-lock, if hiding in an urban area. Ammo cans or other camo metal containers will likely be suspicious looking to non-geocachers and especially the police.

2. Location, location, location -- Don't hide geocaches under or on bridges, near govt. buildings, near police stations, near ATMs or banks, or near military installations -- anyplace where a geocacher may look suspicious to non-geocachers if they are seen "hanging around" the place.

3. If you find a geocache - or have found one in the past - that you think has the potential for being suspicious looking, contact the owner yourself and express your concerns. Be kind! Don't chastize them. They just may not be aware of the situation or realize that their cache may be considered suspicious looking or in a bad area that may attract attention. If you don't hear back from them, then contact the reviewer about your concerns and let the reviewer handle it.

I think these are three good things that we should try to do as responsible geocachers and is in keeping with ArkGeo's Vision and Mission Statements. Other ideas? -- ORR