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Geocaching Shuts Down British Town

Posted by samzenpus on from the everyone-panic dept.

DaveAtWorkAnnoyingly writes "Many geocachers will be thinking twice when planting their treasure in an urban space as one geocacher found out in England after the police cordoned off the center of a small West Yorkshire town and the Bomb Squad was called in. From the article: 'It was a normal busy Friday morning in the small West Yorkshire market town of Wetherby when someone working in a café spotted a man acting a bit suspiciously on the street. He appeared to have a small plastic box in his hand and after fiddling with the container he bent down and hid it under a flower box standing on the pavement. He then walked off, talking to somebody on his phone.'"

18 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. Honestly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People need to lighten up. This is getting out of hand.

    1. Re:Honestly... by DrXym · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sleepy English towns and villages can be like this, more so in Scotland and Wales

      The UK is no stranger to bombing campaigns from the IRA, muslim extremists and even the odd loony. It is highly predictable that if you bury a suspicious package in a high street someone is going to ring the police. Not everyone is aware of some esoteric nerd pasttime that involves such acts.

      If you really must bury something somewhere like that, go get a policeman you doing it, preferably with a sheet of paper that explains its legalities. Better yet, don't do it in the middle of a high street and find somewhere more rural to do it.

    2. Re:Honestly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The fact that this happened only days before the anniversary of the 7/7 bombings in London can't have helped...

    3. Re:Honestly... by jeremyp · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Had the police known it was a harmless package in advance, I'd understand your point. Unfortunately, in the UK, we have had some experience of harmless looking packages in the past.

      You do understand the difference between "harmless" and "harmless looking" don't you?

      --
      All I want is a secure system where it's easy to do anything I want. Is that too much to ask ~~ Randall Munroe
  2. Muggles by daitengu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Often times caches specifically state "DO NOT SEARCH IN VIEW OF MUGGLES". "Muggles" being those unfamiliar with geocaching. This is a perfect reason why to heed those words.

    no, honestly, this is dumb. the terrorists have won.

    1. Re:Muggles by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Seriously. I mean when did it become illegal to do what that guy did? Back off stazi, and get your hairy palms off our fun.

    2. Re:Muggles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The terrorists always win. The thing people don't seem to really understand is who the terrorists are.

    3. Re:Muggles by mabinogi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It didn't, and the police even said they have no real problem with it, but would appreciate being told about caches in urban areas so as to avoid this sort of misunderstanding in the future.

      --
      Advanced users are users too!
    4. Re:Muggles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So all I need to do is tell the cops there is a cache somewhere and they'll ignore my bomb?

      Sweet.

    5. Re:Muggles by Darinbob · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This is not dumb. Most people know nothing about geocaching. Someone looks furtively around and hides something plastic then scuttles off. You don't have to be in a sleepy town to call the police on this, it should be happening in large cities too.

    6. Re:Muggles by digitig · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It didn't.

      Wrong. They gave the last person to find the cache (!) a police caution, which means that they now have a criminal record.

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    7. Re:Muggles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      His actions may not be illegal, yet the BBC article says he got a 'police caution'. While that sounds like a 'friendly warning' a police caution is recorded on your record for 5 years and can affect a persons ability to get a job, get a clean CRB check if they work with kids etc. etc. Effectively its a punishment handed out by the police without trial or jury as a way of improving their crime figures with a quick case resolution. People accept cautions because they think its just a warning without understanding the consequences.

      I know someone personally who has suffered as a result of this. His actions may not have been illegal but he has been sentenced for something entirely innocent.

    8. Re:Muggles by delinear · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The aim of terrorism is to disrupt the daily lives of others and spread fear. They've got us so on edge that we'll shut down a town for the sake of a plastic tupperware box that wasn't even planted by a terrorist. I'd say that's mission accomplished? When you get to the point where you don't even need bombs or martyrs anymore to throw a spanner in the works of everyone's daily lives, yeah that's an indicator you're winning.

    9. Re:Muggles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It didn't, and the police even said they have no real problem with it, but would appreciate being told about caches in urban areas so as to avoid this sort of misunderstanding in the future.

      One piece of geocacher etiquette:

      When you're hiding a geocache, tell the shopkeeper that it's there. It's not just courtesy, it's a necessity, exactly for cases like this. And if they're not cool with it, find somewhere else. Also while we're here, you're not supposed to hide them on private property. (Not suggesting that the geocache in TFA was, though.)

      There's a geocache hidden outside a science museum near where I live, which the guys inside have nothing to do with, but they know it's there. So if you go looking for it, for example, the security guards won't bother you. (Although, in this case, they probably encourage the curiosity; they're a science museum.)

  3. It's all about goals by Sarten-X · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Isn't this the very goal of terrorism? To disrupt our daily activities with irrational fear?

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    1. Re:It's all about goals by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think those in power view it as a positive side effect. ;)

  4. Re:Idiot cafe worker by Minwee · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really? A bomb... that's a danger to people on the street... yet small enough to fit in the palm of one's hand? Is shrapnel really considered a terrorist threat nowadays?

    They're called "Hand Grenades" for a reason, you know. It's because they can fit in the palm of one's hand. And they have a long history of being a danger to people.

    Or did he think its antimatter explosion would eradicate the entire city block?

    No, but he probably thought that a modern anti-personnel grenade was capable of throwing fragments over two hundred meters away. That makes for an area about _five_ city blocks long that could get quite uncomfortable for passers-by, with a "what's left of you will wish you were dead" zone about a third of a city block across at the centre. The real thing is nothing at all like Counter-Strike.

    But, you know what? You're right. I'm just being silly. After all, nobody ever sets off bombs in England, so I'm sure there's no reason for anyone to worry about anything. Ever.

  5. Re:At least police were nice about it. by martin-boundary · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "If you feel as though you have to do that, then perhaps contact the police, let us know where it is, give us a description and perhaps a picture and a contact number would be very useful."

    That's ridiculous, this isn't the 60s anymore. The police should just zoom in the CCTV footage and x-ray the box through Photoshop, then use face recognition to contact the would be geocacher's mobile phone directly and leave a message confirming that the paperwork is being filed electronically already.