Pokemon Anime
Image: Bulbapedia

You've no doubt heard stories in the past about Pokémon GO players trespassing to catch 'em all, but there's never been much documented about it other than news reports and player accounts.

Recently, though, Canada's national broadcaster CBC gained access to 471 pages of internal files on the subject from the Department of National Defence – revealing the military's struggles with Niantic's augmented reality mobile app when it was released in 2016.

When PokéStops and Gyms began to pop up all over the place, Candian trainers from far and wide began entering military locations at all hours of the day. It led to some odd but amusing email exchanges internally, like the following one:

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Plse advise the Commissionaires that apparently Fort Frontenac is both a PokeGym and a PokeStop

There was one case where two men in a van drove onto an air force base located near Toronto just before midnight. When confronted by a corporal, it was discovered they were both catching Pokémon.

In a separate instance, one lady at Worthington Tank Park was found playing the game while her children climbed "all over" the tanks. Other cases of individuals "acting suspiciously" also turned out to be Pokémon GO enthusiasts.

It resulted in "at least three" military police officers at different sites being assigned with the task of playing Pokémon GO and searching for virtual Pokémon infrastructure, to get a better idea of the locations where civilians might be found.

A military police officer's notes about PokéStops and Gyms
Image: CBC

At one stage, some officials thought PokéStops could potentially increase foot traffic in a military museum. Others located at the CFB in North Bay weren't quite as happy and ended up filing a complaint with Niantic on 21st July 2016:

With the implementation of this PokeStop, there will be an increase in traffic onto the base, which could have a negative impact on 22 Wing's Mission

Since then, the game's release, Niantic has rolled out the Wayfarer tool, which allows Wayfinders (players) to nominate and review new and old points of interest. A rating system then approves the spot. It means there are now fewer Wayspots in unsafe locations, such as military bases.

[source cbc.ca, via bbc.com]