By Chris Hagan
Review Staff Writer
What originated as a game of simply catching digital creatures walking around town, Pokemon GO has metastasized into legitimate concerns for safety professionals over tunnel-visioned pedestrians and distracted drivers. What’s now the biggest mobile game in US history has police officers and firefighters ever more vigilant of those trying to catch them all.
Since the game’s release it’s nearing eight million downloads and in a two day span raked in $7.5 billion for Nintendo. The game’s allure, which superimposes those digital creatures into the phone’s interface and requires the user to stare at the phone, has lead to robbery, death, and severe injury nationwide.
In the past week, a Missouri man was robbed by armed men after luring him using the game, two men fell off a cliff in California playing and a New York man veered off the road, crashing into a tree trying to catch Pokemon.
Though nothing of that caliber has happened in Orion, it doesn’t deter LO Police Chief Jerry Narsh from reminding the public that those situations can happen anywhere if people aren’t careful.
Narsh said the LOPD has received multiple calls for suspicious people and vehicle which turn out to be people hunting Pokemon. They’ve gotten calls for vehicles that were driving slow, erratic, and when their officers looked at them they had their phones at the top of wheel playing the game. Though the game encourages outdoor activity, he says people need to stay alert at all times.
“We definitely need people to not drive while playing this game and they need to be very careful while walking,” he said.
“We’ve had people walk into traffic, walk into street signs, and it’s a proven fact that if you walk in front a car, you lose the game and it’s game over.”
Fire Chief Robert Smith said fire stations are seeing more and more people drop in to become part of the game. According to Smith, Fire Station No. 4, located at Baldwin Rd just north of Clarkston Rd., is a “Pokestop” which allows people to gather more items to continue playing the game. It’s one of the few “stops” along Baldwin Road which make it a hotspot according the players.
Firefighters have noticed many people crossing over the front fire truck apron without looking and have seen people walk into the roadway as the emergency vehicles were leaving for an emergency.
“I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to be aware of your surroundings whether you’re walking or driving,” Smith said. “The devastation that can happen from walking into traffic or veering off the road while driving can be catastrophic and that’s not worth any game.”
Both Smith and Narsh want to remind people to try to stay together in groups if it’s after dark and walk with a purpose but don’t be so engrossed in the game that you don’t know where you’re walking. They say it’s vitally important to know the boundaries of private property and understand that not everyone plays, or even understands, the game.
“This is a new thing that everyone is doing and with that you’re going to get some ying and yang to everything,” Narsh said. “It’s a cool game, it gets people out, it gets people walking, gets them healthy, and you meet other people playing a game, but there are some cautionary measures that people have to take.”