Caches on or under Bridges

Groboz · Post by **Groboz** » 15 July 08 8:47 pm

I guess everyones heard about the IED scare in New Zealand earlier this year; but a cache in Australia also caused the bomb squad in Queensland to be called. A rail worker inspecting a rail bridge over the Burdekin river alerted the Police about a suspicious package. It was found to be inert and I guess some more LE types now know about our little hobby

I have one under a bridge; a dreaded PVC pipe type, but it's well hidden and has "geocache" written all over it. I agree, common sense should apply when placing these but we don't need more rules and guidance. The Police are usually sensible and generally will keep things in perspective. They will be cautious but wont go overboard and disrupt every package that someone thinks may be a bomb (unless the Pope's motorcade is due to cross over it). It's also a good opportunity for training as well

Perspective people; every one needs it. The explosives you could pack into a small cache container would be unlikely to destroy anything larger than a foot bridge and would create more "terror" and loss of life if left under the seat of a bus/train. Terrorists know this, the Police know this, and the public need to know this so that we can keep a lid on all the media induced hysteria

Map Monkey · Post by **Map Monkey** » 15 July 08 9:39 pm

Groboz wrote:I...but a cache in Australia also caused the bomb squad in Queensland to be called. A rail worker inspecting a rail bridge over the Burdekin river alerted the Police about a suspicious package. It was found to be inert and I guess some more LE types now know about our little hobby

The "bridge" happens to be the disused one without any rail tracks, next to the newer one, in the backblocks of Qld....no chance of anyone wanting to blow the old bridge up.

I believe most of the issues with these types of caches are usually solved/filtered before they become problems (reviewers, savy finders etc)...there will always be the odd dozen people who believe us cachers are out to hurt the world.

A clear container with geocaching sticker would go a long way to allaying any fear of those with common sense.

mm

Richary · Post by **Richary** » 15 July 08 10:03 pm

Map Monkey wrote: A clear container with geocaching sticker would go a long way to allaying any fear of those with common sense.

mm

<p>A clear container would, but that makes camo hard if it is required for the hide. And geocaching stickers mean nothing. If it becomes well known that cachers hide things with big green stickers under bridges then there is nothing to stop a terrorist buying some big green stickers.<p>That said, keeping it all in perspective I doubt that despite the government's advertising campaigns that Australia is anywhere near as paranoid as the USA (or needs to be). Any hide needs to be appropriate, and under a bridge I would prefer a micro or lunchbox than a "pipe bomb".

LazyLeopard · Post by **LazyLeopard** » 16 July 08 4:13 am

richary wrote:but that makes camo hard if it is required for the hide.

You could argue that if the hide's in a place that might cause security concerns then an extreme camo makeover probably isn't appropriate.

richary wrote:And geocaching stickers mean nothing.

A geocaching label with a cache reference might at least give a lead to any LEO called to check a box out. Not quite so useful now that you need to log in to GC.com to get co-ordinates, but something, at least...

There was an incident near my place of work involving a camoflaged bat-recording box which had been placed under a bridge by the local Environmental Office as part of a road-widening environmental impact study. All was well for a while, but then, in the aftermath of a terrorist alert, someone spotted it, and the local plod called in the UXO boys, who took it to pieces using a water-shot. The process took a while, and a six-lane highway was closed for the duration. Had the box had some identifying information on the outside...

HMAS MB · Post by **HMAS MB** » 16 July 08 2:07 pm

Just because it has Identifying info means nothing to UXO techs. IEDS come in all shapes and sizes.

Trust me I have made them

. Only for work however.

LazyLeopard · Post by **LazyLeopard** » 16 July 08 7:17 pm

HMAS MB wrote:Just because it has Identifying info means nothing to UXO techs. IEDS come in all shapes and sizes.

Trust me I have made them . Only for work however.

Sure, once the UXO lot have been called out, but that sort of exercise is expensive. Had there been identifying information on the bat monitor, appropriate cross-checks within the local Authorities would have allowed the plod to say "Yes, we know about that and it's not suspicious." It's for exactly that reason that the Met in London require all geocaches to be clearly labelled and registered with them, including a description of the container and of its hiding place....

THENANKS · Post by **THENANKS** » 17 July 08 11:24 pm

fehrgo wrote:
theUMP wrote:A clear plastic clip-lock container full of $2 shop trinkets is just soooo much less threatening!
...unless it is wrapped in a black plastic bag

I opened a bag of doggie doo last week at a cache site. I've been geocaching in Queensland too long.

That was the bag I left for Pirate to pick up as an FTF prize

.