Officers join geocaching craze with hidden ‘treasures’

It is the latest outdoor craze across the globe and now West Midlands Police neighbourhood officers in Sandwell have taken to geocaching to spread useful crime prevention messages to their community.

Described as a worldwide treasure hunt, game players use GPS-enabled (global positioning system) devices, usually mobile phones, to find containers that are hidden in public areas by other geocachers.

PC Ben Dolan, from the Soho and Victoria policing team, came up with the idea of using geocaching after seeing one of his friends getting involved in the hobby. Together with his colleague PC David Harnett, he has placed caches in two Sandwell locations that have already attracted more than a dozen visitors.

He said: “It’s a fun and innovative way of interacting with our communities. The geocaches have been found a number of times over the past few weeks and we have received some really positive feedback. We place a logbook for people to sign, crime prevention advice and small trinkets for people to take and use, such as UV property-marking pens.”

The officers’ first geocache was a plastic box wrapped in brown tape which they hid in some bushes at Victoria Park in Cape Hill. It has already been found six times, with one person commenting on how pleased they were to see the police taking an interest in the pastime.

PC Dolan and PC Harnett have been careful to choose locations that are safe and suitable for children and families to visit when hiding a geocache across their neighbourhood area. They want their geocaching to be fun, educational and useful and are encouraging people to join in over the school summer holidays.