An afternoon caching ends with police questioning!!!!

[the freaks]

Had a few hours to spare this afternoon so went caching on the Mornington Peninsula with my 4 yo daughter. Grabbed 'Damn Spam' (GC1FEC8) in Mt Martha @ 1415 on our way to Arthur's Seat to knock some others off my local unfound list While leaving the last cache for the day my wife rang me @ 1700 to ask how far away I was as the Police were at home and wanting to talk to me but she didn't know what it was about

Arrived home 20 mins. later to find the Police had left but were returning to talk to me about an alledged assault in the Mt. Martha area and my rego number had been reported to them

They returned to ask me about my movements in the Mt. Martha area and what I was doing there. I explained that I had parked my car in a carpark and crossed the road with my daughter (holding hands) and walked off into the bush to find a geocache. I then returned to my car 20 mins. later (daughter on shoulders) and drove to Arthur's Seat.

Turns out someone had reported a suspicious man walking off into the bush with a young girl in tow

The Police asked to speak to my daughter to make sure she was ok. When they asked her what she had been doing today she excitedly replied "Treasure Hunting with Dad" Case closed

Never thought I would be suspected of being a child molesterer but I guess it's good to know there is vigilant citizens out there

[Rainbow Spirit]

Maybe they saw your geocaching name, and put two and two together! hahaha!

[stealth_ninja_penguin]

We have started to live in the world of 'guilty until proven innocent'

[nibbler]

Although this may have been distressing to you , personally I am encouraged that some brave people in the public say something if they see something odd.I think that its a positive rather than a negative
we need people looking after the little ones

[zactyl]

I was taking my two preteen siblings-in-law caching and we had parked on the side of the road in the bush, just waiting for this car to pass before we crossed, oh, it's a police car, and sister-in-law is giving them an enthusiastic wave... Of course they stopped, but were satisfied that we were just going for a bushwalk.

[caughtatwork]

I've put this up before

[Cheesy pigs]

We have started to live in the world of 'guilty until proven innocent'

When it comes to safety for children I am quite happy to be in the "suspicious until proven wrong" category

[Cheesy pigs]

I'm going to explain myself a bit further on this one, as my comment looked a bit flippant when I read it back.

Most police are reasonable human beings and will ask for an explanation of behaviour, whether it's a stroll into the bush with a child or skulking around a business address, it's not necessarily "guilty till proven innocent" but we do get lied to a lot and tend to be suspicious of everyone. Occupational hazard I suppose

Having said that cops are humans, have bad days and jump to conclusions. Anything involving kids will raise a cops hackles, esp if they have children themselves or have peviously dealt with child assaults/ kidnaps or murders. I have said this a few times on other forums and to other cachers but stay calm, explain yourself and be honest about what you are doing.

In my own dealings it's the people who immediately arc up with the "why are you hassling me?" mentality that makes me look deeper. I don't suggest that happened here, but remember we deal with people 24/7 who rarely tell the whole truth, or sometimes any of the truth.

[SamCarter]

I should point out that Mr Cheesy pigs was most reasonable when I was the suspicious character lurking on the side of an occasionally disreputable hill in Hobart in the dark after finding a nearby cache a couple of years ago. He pulled up beside me in his police car while I was seated in my vehicle contemplating my next hunt (I think he was kind enough not to turn the flashy lights on), and asked me what I was up to. At that time I was only a couple of months into the caching game, and so I had a frantic moment or two of thought trying to come up with the most innocent-sounding and straightforward description of geocaching that I could ... but I had only managed a few words before he put me out of my misery and revealed that he was a fellow cacher (and hence already had a fair idea of exactly what I was doing in that particular spot). This was my first -- and probably most amusing -- encounter of another cacher in the "wild".

[Richary]

Normally when out on a caching run I have the laptop with me, so could add to the "evidence" by showing them GSAK or the site if required. Or even the cache (assuming I had managed to find it of course!).

[jeza]

When it comes to safety for children I am quite happy to be in the "suspicious until proven wrong" category

Could be a double edged sword I suppose. Good that people are caring enough to show some concern, though at the same time would hate to think that a man can't take his own kids out without suspicion of child molestation. Fortunately though, I think it is far from the later. Fortunately, also i've yet to have any signs of anyone showing any suspicion when I've searched for a geocache. In fact it can be quite the contrary as people walk past and say g'day.

[the freaks]

Having said that cops are humans, have bad days and jump to conclusions. Anything involving kids will raise a cops hackles, esp if they have children themselves or have peviously dealt with child assaults/ kidnaps or murders. I have said this a few times on other forums and to other cachers but stay calm, explain yourself and be honest about what you are doing.

In my own dealings it's the people who immediately arc up with the "why are you hassling me?" mentality that makes me look deeper. I don't suggest that happened here, but remember we deal with people 24/7 who rarely tell the whole truth, or sometimes any of the truth.

The Police were quite easy to discuss the situation with and even though I didn't realise at first why the were asking about my actions I'd have to say they never seemed suspicous about my story and were happy with what I had to tell them.

I was never uncomfortable about being questioned and like others have said it's good to know there are people in the community that would go to the effort of taking down a registration number and report their suspicions to the authorities.

[ruzzelz]

Like others I consider it is good to see citzens reporting activities to the law enforcement people. Fortunately we live in a free society and honest responses to questioning will quickly address any concerns.

Our GPSr's are powerful tools and we should not forget this . I've found the track log a very powerful tool in indicating where and when I have been at a particular place for my non caching activitie (aka work).

[SamWalkers]

The test is always " in the child's best interest".
In this case the child's best interest is that her Dad continues to be an active part of her life. Do not be put off or self conscious about this event.

Secondly
The Police should continue to follow up every call no matter how small (thumbs up icon)

and the person who reported them should go and get counselling about why the felt threatened by a father and daughter going about their business.
A lot of the responses to this post will be along the line of "well done" and "what if". The fact is that the citizens actions potentially could have a long term damaging effect on that child's upbringing.

She deserves an active father - BE ONE!

[Damo.]

The test is always " in the child's best interest".
In this case the child's best interest is that her Dad continues to be an active part of her life. Do not be put off or self conscious about this event.

Secondly
The Police should continue to follow up every call no matter how small (thumbs up icon)

and the person who reported them should go and get counselling about why the felt threatened by a father and daughter going about their business.
A lot of the responses to this post will be along the line of "well done" and "what if". The fact is that the citizens actions potentially could have a long term damaging effect on that child's upbringing.

She deserves an active father - BE ONE!

Reminds me of a couple of stories I saw on Dr Phil. (It just happened to be on during my lunch break at work ok!)
One was a mother whose child asked "what are they doing mummy" about some porn that another vehicle had visible on an on-board tv so she followed them to get the license plate number and drove to the nearest police station and made a big scene to them about it with child in tow.
The other was a mother of a teenage girl who took a mobile phone pic of her boobs and sent it to her boyfriend who forwarded it on to his friends. Mother got the police and the school involved and pulled her daughter out of school for the year!
Not condoning what they were protecting their children from but the mothers reaction in both these cases was far more damaging to their child than the thing they were reacting about.

It is good that the police followed up the call but how suspicious is a man and his daughter casually walking together? The posibility of abduction of children by strangers is a fear that I'm sure most parents have, but sadly, the vast majority of abuse happens to children their own homes at the hands of people they know.