[Rick618]

http://stuff.co.nz/4399742a10.html

Computer game causes Auckland bomb scare
| Wednesday, 13 February 2008

A bomb scare caused by a computer game closed a busy part of downtown Auckland today.

Mayoral Drive was closed between the intersections of Wellesley St West and Cook St after a package was seen being strapped to a railing at the rear of the Aotea Centre about 3.50pm.

Motorists were asked to stay away from the area while the Defence Force bomb squad was called to examine the package.

Senior Sergeant Junior Abraham told NZPA the call to police was made by Aotea Centre security staff who saw somebody acting suspiciously around a railing before then planting the device.

A quick view of closed circuit camera footage was enough to convince police to call the bomb squad, he said.

While the area was blocked off, an employee from nearby Datacom came to police and told them the device was a geocache, a tracking device used by computer buffs.

Further investigations were made to confirm this and the alert was lifted around 6.30pm.

Mr Abraham said the device was harmless but whoever planted it should have known better.

"If they are going to place these devices around the city of Auckland they should not be going to public places and buildings like the Aotea Centre," Mr Abraham said.

-NZPA

[cache_test_dummies]

Stage Door Geocoin Exchange (Auckland)

[Rockin Roddy]

cache_test_dummies, on Feb 13 2008, 05:20 AM, said:

Stage Door Geocoin Exchange (Auckland)

Another case of a cacher not thinking it through IMHO....I hope this person had permission (although, from what I'm reading, I don't think so).

Was frisbee playing allowed here??

[blimpman]

Rockin Roddy, on Feb 13 2008, 05:35 AM, said:

cache_test_dummies, on Feb 13 2008, 05:20 AM, said:

Stage Door Geocoin Exchange (Auckland)

Another case of a cacher not thinking it through IMHO....I hope this person had permission (although, from what I'm reading, I don't think so).

Was frisbee playing allowed here??

Seems like the NZ people haven't quite caught on to what Geocaching is yet. But the cache could have been an ammo case or not marked which would have created suspicion.

"While the area was blocked off, an employee from nearby Datacom came to police and told them the device was a geocache, a tracking device used by computer buffs.

[Rockin Roddy]

blimpman, on Feb 13 2008, 06:03 AM, said:

Rockin Roddy, on Feb 13 2008, 05:35 AM, said:

cache_test_dummies, on Feb 13 2008, 05:20 AM, said:

Stage Door Geocoin Exchange (Auckland)

Another case of a cacher not thinking it through IMHO....I hope this person had permission (although, from what I'm reading, I don't think so).

Was frisbee playing allowed here??

Seems like the NZ people haven't quite caught on to what Geocaching is yet. But the cache could have been an ammo case or not marked which would have created suspicion.

"While the area was blocked off, an employee from nearby Datacom came to police and told them the device was a geocache, a tracking device used by computer buffs.

I doubt it would have mattered much because of the location. Sounds like a sensitive area to me!

[seaf20]

here you can see some pics of the cache being muggled by a bomb squad!!!!! kind of hillarious when you come to think of it... i wonder who's cache was it.....

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/13/geocach...ind-soul-mates/

seriously that thing really looks like a bomb....

This post has been edited by seaf20: 13 February 2008 - 08:03 AM

[Vinny & Sue Team]

Yes, and this is one of the first times that such a geo-related bomb scare has been prominently reported on Fark.com. In fact, their report on the bomb scare this morning, as follows:

Quote

Bomb squad called out to dispose of a geocache, cunningly strapped to a railing at a major urban center. In other news, the New Zealand Press Agency thinks geocaching is some kind of "computer game"

included the comment that reporters in NZ really do not seem to understand what geocaching is all about!

[Guyute1210]

seaf20, on Feb 13 2008, 11:02 AM, said:

here you can see some pics of the cache being muggled by a bomb squad!!!!! kind of hillarious when you come to think of it... i wonder who's cache was it.....

http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/13/geocach...ind-soul-mates/

seriously that thing really looks like a bomb....

It also looks like one of Gaskin's Gas Can Geocoins was in the cache too.

[Viajero Perdido]

Rockin Roddy, on Feb 13 2008, 06:35 AM, said:

Was frisbee playing allowed here??

The "frisbee guideline" is a great one. But I think there should be another:

Is there a security camera trained on the spot? If so, it's probably a lousy spot for a geocache.

Really...

[Renegade Knight]

Viajero Perdido, on Feb 13 2008, 10:08 AM, said:

...Is there a security camera trained on the spot? If so, it's probably a lousy spot for a geocache.

This is very true.

Regarding the OP.

Caches do not cause bomb scares. What causes them is how people and the process react to a situation in a world where there are real bombs. It's important to remember the difference.

Why does one cache get a bomb squad responce when another gets a drug team responce while another gets a simple glace and no responce at all? It's how the people react to the cache. At all times the cache was just a cache.

[PhxChem]

So now Lock N Locks look like bombs?


I wonder if Wal Mart has daily bomb scares on their food storage aisle.

This post has been edited by PhxChem: 13 February 2008 - 06:40 PM

[sbell111]

seaf20, on Feb 13 2008, 10:02 AM, said:

... seriously that thing really looks like a bomb....

OMG!!!!!

Someone put a bunch of bombs in my refrigerator!!!!

[CacheSafari]

PhxChem, on Feb 13 2008, 06:11 PM, said:

So now Lock N Locks look like bombs?

Is the railing a normal place one would expect to find Lock N Locks?

Can a Lock N Lock be improvised into an explosive device? (Think sneaker on a plane.)

Would a muggle find a camo'd Lock N Lock affixed to an outside surface to be perfectly innocuous?

Poor judgment.

[sbell111]

CacheSafari, on Feb 14 2008, 01:19 PM, said:

PhxChem, on Feb 13 2008, 06:11 PM, said:

So now Lock N Locks look like bombs?

Is the railing a normal place one would expect to find Lock N Locks?

Can a Lock N Lock be improvised into an explosive device? (Think sneaker on a plane.)

Would a muggle find a camo'd Lock N Lock affixed to an outside surface to be perfectly innocuous?

Poor judgment.

...in your opinion.

If the mere use of a lock-n-lock is poor judgement because a muggle might think that it's a bomb, then we may as well pack up the website, because the game is dead. One wonders why you even play this game, if you think that the mere use of a lock-n-lock is poor judgement.

Either way, PhxChem was speaking to seaf20's post that stated

Quote

seriously, that thing really looks like a bomb

It only 'really looks like a bomb' in the sense that a bomb could be made to look like anything.

This post has been edited by sbell111: 14 February 2008 - 11:28 AM

[GSVNoFixedAbode]

news clip on the night

To put the event into some context, in the past week or so there have been at least two bomb threats phoned into the courthouse only 200 or so metres away so when someone (already jumpy) watched some 'dodgy' activity on a CCTV camera they called the police. Police thought this must be Strike 3 so acted with full caution.

A local cacher who worked nearby spotted the activity, came out and talked everyone back down to planet Earth. I suspect the police took cache & contents away to at least have something in hand at the end of the day.

A radio station followed up the next day with a very good
short interview with Pivotal - the cacher who assisted in defusing the ...situation.

[edit]And before there are any smart responses from those who listen to the clips, that's the way we pronounce it down here!

This post has been edited by GSVNoFixedAbode: 14 February 2008 - 03:02 PM