Bomb squad: Device in park part of game

ALLOUEZ - A quiet Sunday morning became a little interesting in an Allouez neighborhood after a resident reported suspicious activity to the sheriff's department. It lead to the discovery of what police called a "suspicious" device in a tree.

"It appeared to be some type of pipe wrapped in a duct tape," said Brown County Sheriff's Lt. Keith Deneys. Deneys said the suspicious appearance of the device is the reason the bomb squad was called in.

"In today's world climate we have to handle that as a possible improvised explosive device," Deneys said.

People in the neighborhood would not go on camera but they were asked to stay in their homes and away from windows while the investigation was conducted. The bomb squad used a robot to retrieve the device and since it could not be identified, it was blown up. Once the bomb squad determined it was not an explosive device they realized what it was: all part of a game.

It's called geocaching. It's basically a high-tech treasure hunt. People hide small devices and then post the GPS coordinates on-line.

"It's kind of an adventure to find things." said Allouez Fire Dept. Capt. Bryan Becker. Becker is a geocacher. He also responded to the call at Optimist Park and had a hunch about the device.

"I was 99 percent sure that it was a geocache but I'm not going to gamble on it with the one percent," Becker said.

The geocache was listed online. Becker posted a message letting people know what happened to it. According to the guidelines for geocaching, people are asked to get permission before placing a device. It is also supposed to be labeled. In this case, neither of those happened.

"Clearly label what the container is so if someone should stumble upon it they'll know what it is," Becker said. And if not, it could end up in another call for the bomb squad.

This is at least the second time the bomb squad was called in to investigate what was later determined to be a geocaching device, Deneys said.

Several communities have laws in place to regulate the placement of geocaching devices. Some of them include Madison, Milwaukee and Waushara County.