Civic News

When geocaching goes awry

Police investigated a suspicious package in a Dover park on Saturday. What they found was a message in a bottle.

In search of hidden treasure. (Photo by Flickr user Johan Larsson, used under a Creative Commons license)

Dover Police responded to a report of a “suspicious package” in Schutte Park on Saturday morning. What they found was undoubtedly suspicious — a prescription pill bottle wrapped in camouflage tape.
The contents of the pill bottle turned out to be just as much of a mystery as the package itself. Anthrax? No. Avian flu? Nuh-uh. Smuggled weapons? Negative.
Inside the pill bottle was a hand-written letter, rife with clues.
After calling in the Delaware State Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit, law enforcement officials came to the conclusion that the package was not so much a threat to civilians as it was to local geocachers in search of this hidden treasure.
“While the Dover Police Department understands the recreational activity of geocaching, we ask that creators of geocache finds create items that are more obvious in nature,” police spokesman Mark Hoffman said in a statement.
Read the full story
Discussion on this geocaching forum seems to indicate that these mixups happen often.

Before you go...

Please consider supporting Technical.ly to keep our independent journalism strong. Unlike most business-focused media outlets, we don’t have a paywall. Instead, we count on your personal and organizational support.

Our services Preferred partners The journalism fund
Engagement

Join our growing Slack community

Join 5,000 tech professionals and entrepreneurs in our community Slack today!

Trending

The person charged in the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting had a ton of tech connections

The looming TikTok ban doesn’t strike financial fear into the hearts of creators — it’s community they’re worried about

Where are the country’s most vibrant tech and startup communities?

What a new innovation index tells us about Delaware

Technically Media