Freedom, safety, and all that

[serinde]

Here am I, sitting on campus, as part of a five-hour expedition so I can give a half-hour orientation talk to the incoming freshmen. (Why do we have orientation in May for the incoming Fall students? I wish I knew.) And unlike the previous ones, it's running late, not early, heigh ho.

So I'm listening to the representative of Public Safety give his talk. And although I am sure part of what he's doing is trying to reassure the kiddies' parents that their darlings will be safe at loose in the city, I have a serious. fucking. problem with the start of his speech, which ran roughly thus:

"How many of you were asked for ID when you came in this morning?" (no hands go up.) "Not one of you, right? Yeah, it is kinda funny that, after 9/11, you can go into a building and no one asks you for IDs. Hunter is currently an open campus. But we're gonna fix that."

Feh.

Comments

[must-sew-faster.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but the Virginia Tech, CWRU, Louisiana Tech and Delaware State shootings were all committed by students. I bet they all had school ID's. Having ID won't keep crazies out. Every time there is a shooting or a scare, security goes bug-nuts everywhere, and after a few months, things calm back down again.
Maybe the security guy should push personal safety education for students for that matter.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

It must be admitted that one of the weirder problems we get is that homeless people occasionally wander in and do curious things in the school buildings, and that's one of the issues these measures are supposed to relieve. Also that it's a magnet area for snatch-n-grab thefts, and it's unclear how much of that is due to actual students and how many are walk-ins.

But framing it as a Thing for a Post-9/11 World made me want to hoist the Jolly Roger.

[xlerb.livejournal.com]

…

SMITE THEM WITH DEATH.

I think I need this shirt (http://www.bustedtees.com/neverforget), which I learned of the other day from a web ad.

[jayeye.livejournal.com]

If he had a brain would he be a security guard?

Also, it's not like you need to check IDs to identify homeless people.

[briony530.livejournal.com]

I admit, I was a little surprised at not being challenged at all when I went to see you, tho' in the process I passed two security stations with people who definitely seemed aware of all that was going on.

I agree, what has 9/11 to do with campus safety? A terrorist would have either genuine or well-forged ID. They ain't stoopid. And they'd be more likely to operate somewhere public where no ID was required.

[erinfinnegan.livejournal.com]

Y'know what makes me feel LESS safe?! Being IDed everywhere!

I'm also going to say that soldiers holding heavy guns inside Times Square and Grand Central make me feel less safe... I'm of the strong opinion that if you live in fear, the terrorists win.

[briony530.livejournal.com]

Isn't the threat supposed to be stuff like well-concealed suicide bombs or suitcase bombs or something? I don't get what the soldiers are supposed to be doing. They mostly seem to be chatting with people who work there anyway.

[sbp.livejournal.com]

There's soldiers and guns in Times Square?

It is still a weird feeling for a Londoner to turn up at JFK and all the immigration people are sitting there with pistols on their belts. And that was a few years ago.

[syringavulgaris.livejournal.com]

They aren't everywhere like was the case some 7 years ago, but they still have National Guard young'uns with Big Guns in "significant" locations. Penn Station, too.

[caelfinn.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, but did you know that the National Guard folks you see in subway/train/bus stations don't have any bullets in those M16's? I don't know if it's changed but it was definitely the case immediately post 9/11.

I feel safer already.

I highly recommend Bruce Schneier's blog on security:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/

[erinfinnegan.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the soldiers are only in the subway station, and only on high security days. But the guns are really, really big!