Police use Pokémon Go as a lure to catch criminals
Police are harnessing the popularity of Pokémon Go to catch fugitive criminals.
If you can't find them but still want to catch them all, why not use a lure? While gamers across the globe are setting up traps to catch wild Pokémon through the incredibly popular virtual reality game Pokémon Go, police have cottoned on to the same principle.
In a Facebook post last week, the Manchester, New Hampshire police force claimed there was a rare Pokémon in the booking area of their precinct.
The alleged Charizard, the fully evolved form of Charmander, was apparently sitting in the station. In a Facebook post which promptly went viral, the police said:
"Attention all area #PokemonGo players: we have recently found out that there is a #Charizard in our booking area. With the Charizard being such a rare character, we are only inviting a specific number of people.
If your name appears on the following list you are one of the lucky ones. Come down to the station to capture Charizard. Hurry before the Charizard leaves!"
Who has been invited, you ask? Only those on the department's most wanted list.
It's amusing, but given a second thought, most would realize it's a joke -- and also a way to promote the police department's most wanted list. However, considering just how chaotic New York's Central Park became on news a Vaporeon had spawned, perhaps one or two criminals will gloss over the small print and head over there anyway.