Pokémon Go is a smartphone app the world seems to be going insane for, including Daniel Zaliski, who has been playing Pokémon since the second grade.
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The game works off your cell phone’s Global Positioning System and clock to detect where and when you are in the game and make Pokémon appear “virtually” around you (on your phone screen) so you can catch them, a press release said.
The popular smartphone game has caught the attention of other police departments around the world.
But it has not been all fun for gamers.
In Missouri, police have reported that armed robbers are using Pokémon Go to lure victims into isolated places before robbing them. A player in Wyoming stumbled upon a dead body while on the hunt. In Massachusetts, the app mistakenly featured a man’s home as a convergence site for players.
When playing the game you use a Global Positioning System tracker on your phone and it locates all the Pokémon in your area, but one thing people are forgetting is to be aware of their surroundings. “That shouldn’t change just because an app said you should”.
The Oregonian reports that a 22-year-old player was stabbed while using the app – and even kept playing after the fact. “You have to be aware of your surroundings at all times and being glued to your phone certainly does not help”.
Goodale said he first learned about the game from his teenage daughter over the weekend.
He also said people wandering streets to catch Pokémon need to be careful.
There are various landmarks for players across the nation and the White House is one of them.
The game has been released in the US, New Zealand and Australia with demand surging since its official release in those countries just days ago. He has also talked to officers about people acting odd or seen in unusual locations and told them they might just be on the app. “So we want to encourage folks to go ahead and park and then play the game”.
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Zaliski added that he has to keep an eye on him at all times.
