[Az-Geocaching] Law Enforcement, Geocaching, Anarchy and futons

[RopingThe Wind]

>Being questioned by an officer while geocaching doesn't constitute 
>harassment.  Officers are trained >to spot suspicious activity, and in all 
>honesty some of the searching we do in looking for caches does >look truly 
>suspicious.  My most recent contact by an officer was in Tempe, who saw my 
>truck with the >lights on near 52nd St/Broadway at Futte o' the Butte.  He 
>pulled up and asked what I was doing.  I >explained Geocaching in very 
>basic terms, showing him my PDA with the cache page downloaded.  >The lack 
>of anxiety in my voice and my forthright information satisfied him quickly 
>and he wished me >luck and left.  If I have nothing to hide, why act as 
>though I do?  As I said before, the respect you >get is often the respect 
>you give.  In no way do I mean that Scott and Regan were being jerks.  I 
> >honestly don't believe they gave him anything but the respect they would 
>expect from anyone else.  >So no, I didn't miss the point.
>
>Brian
>
>Team A.I.

That was very well stated Brian.

As far as me and Regan's situation... no, we certainly were not being jerks 
and we did not talk back to the officer or question him in any way and we 
just let him give us his little speech. We did discuss geocaching and other 
related issues for a few minutes. I did question him in one aspect and that 
was the fact that he said it was illegal to geocache in County Parks. I said 
that "I thought there was guidelines posted on the Maricopa County Parks 
website dealing with geocaching?" He said there was not and I left it at 
that. I did not question him further. I figure he knew what he was talking 
about. Again, our entire conversations was low toned and never out of line. 
Otherwise, perhaps he would have arrested us. (btw... I think the officers 
name was 'minicker' or something like that).

I have delt with law enforcement officers with ballooning for 10 years. On 
many occasions, they come out to my city landings. They have always been 
friendly and just want to make sure everything is ok. I have no problem with 
that. I have had situations were a 'concerned citizen' called 911 thinking I 
was crashing and police, paramedics and everyone else showed up, when in 
reality, it was just another typical, safe landing. I never get nervous 
about an officer showing up at a landing. I know he/she is just there to 
make sure everything is ok (this also means making sure I am doing so 
lawfully). I once found myself flying down I-10 near Eloy and the wind was 
going straight down the interstate. No matter what altitude I flew at, I 
couldnt get off the dang freeway! The officer actually told my ground crew 
that I was welcome to land in the dirt median inbetween and he would make 
sure we had room to do so! I was very low on fuel. But in the end, I didnt 
need to do that. When I landed just over the fence from the highway, I went 
over and thanked the officer for his assistance and to let him know that 
everything was ok. We shook hands and parted. I was glad he was there 
though. If I needed to land in the median, he was there to help.

As Brian said, there are a few bad apples in every bunch and on Sunday 
morning, me and Regan must have had the apple that had the worm up's it's 
a**  :)

Scott
Team Ropingthewind

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