Pokemon GO Prompts Warnings, Applause from Local Police

Largo, FL — The Pokemon Go craze has struck the Tampa Bay area in a very big way with players taking to the streets to find virtual creatures on their smartphones in a race to “catch ‘em all.”

The new mobile app launched over the past week is encouraging players to get out and visit real locations to find Pokemon. Rather than playing solo in their bedrooms, players are actually going outside, taking walks and conversing with people at public places about the game.

While the new game has its positive side – getting people outside and moving around – it does pose a few potential pitfalls, the Largo Police Department warned on its Facebook page.

It seems a patrol officer happened to notice about 100 people walking around Largo Central Park just before midnight Sunday, “staring aimlessly at their phones,” the agency wrote. “It looked like a bunch of trendy zombies following a mystical GPS device.”

While Largo Central Park closes at 10 p.m., the adamant Pokemon hunters didn’t seem to care all that much. Police, however, are concerned about player safety and offered a few words of advice.

“If you are going to play this game, please remember a few things,” the agency wrote. “Never, ever drive and play Pokémon. Quiet simply, very bad things will likely happen. If you are walking around playing this game, look where you are going. The game very much divides your attention.”

Players are also warned that bad guys in other parts of the country have been using the game to attract robbery victims. Police in O’Fallon, Missouri, say four men used “PokeStops” from the game to find armed robbery victims, according to Gizmodo.

For those who haven’t caught Pokemon fever, the game works by having players move through the real world. As they do, their smartphones vibrate to let them know when a Pokemon is near.

Players then throw a PokeBall to catch it and add it to their PokeDex. The game uses your phone’s GPS and camera to turn the real world into a gigantic scavenger hunt.

In each town nationwide, developers have added PokeStops— from libraries and churches to public art installations, historical markers and monuments. An in-game item called a “Lure Module” attracts Pokemon to a PokeStop for 30 minutes and they're visible and attainable to everyone nearby.

According to Forbes magazine, businesses are jumping on the PokeWagon and advertising that they're a PokeStop on their Facebook pages, which is a great way to entice players to come into their stores.

Largo Police also say it’s a great way to get folks out enjoying local parks and other attractions – as long as caution is exercised.

Anything that gets people outside is great, the police department acknowledged. To prove that point, Officer Andrews even posed with a group of "Pokemon trainers" on Monday.

Are you playing Pokemon Go? Tell us where you’ve had the best luck catching critters by commenting below!

Read more about Pokemon Go here.

Photo courtesy of the Largo Police Department Facebook page

Patch editor Rick Uldricks contributed to this story