Police Blow Up Suspicious Device In Boston...again

[Waldorf]

Police Blow Up Suspicious Device In Boston

(WBZ) BOSTON There were some tense moments in Boston's financial district Wednesday morning as police were forced to blow up a suspicious device.

The bomb squad shut down busy Devonshire Street after someone spotted a green box chained to a no parking sign.

The box turned out to be some kind of traffic counting device and was completely harmless.

For the love of god, maybe, just maybe, the police department can make a phone call to the transportation department BEFORE blowing things up. Are these guys idiots?

 

[bowesst]

Thats easy for you to say now after reading the story. Why would it make any sense to call the transportation department when all the info you have is that there is a green box chained to a no parking sign? Should they have also called the sanitation department, or street maintenance and snow removal department just in case it had anything to do with them? Should they also have called all companies who make green metal boxes? Maybe they should have just ignored the tip all together.

There is nothing wrong with being vigilant and keeping the city as safe as possible. If blowing up 100 suspicious packages that turn out to be harmless saves one real bomb from going off or one life being lost I'm fine with it.

 

[Waldorf]

I'm all for safety and anti-terrorism, however, what constitutes a 'suspicious' green box? For all I know, the pigeons flying around are really remote-controlled bombs...you get the picture, bad example.

All I am saying is that a little investigation and a little research would have gone along way. Most investigation involve some sort of, well, investigating, even if that means calling EVERY city department. In the post-9/11 world (there, I said it) we ought to be vigilant, but we can't be held hostage to our fears.

 

[IMAngry]

The question is ...

The thing is, unlike flashing lightbrites under bridges, anyone who has spent anytime in the city (or any city for that matter) has seen these boxes.

Maybe the city should just call me? I could help them out. Gratis, of course.

Lesson to take away, though: the transportation department should ID the boxes on the outside. I think they haven't done this, one because they didn't want to bring attention to themselves (vandalism) and two, they didn't think it necessary.

Add up the three events, and you see a trend. The Police Dept. is coming off as buffoons.

 

[IMAngry]

Another thing ...

There is nothing wrong with being vigilant and keeping the city as safe as possible.

Errr, wasn't this the justification for forcing Japanese-American CITIZENS into US containment camps, during WWII?

 

[PerfectHandle]

Both of you have a point. Basically, it's ridiculous that the Police should be blowing up the Dept. of Transportation's property. Not because the Police shouldn't blow up an unidentified green box chained to a street sign, but because the DoT should mark their property or otherwise alert the Police to its presence. That's a much less expensive way of going about the city's business.

That said, I think the Police have a little bit of an itchy trigger finger.

EDIT: I was pretty slow I guess. I was responding to ZenZen and Bowwest.

 

[Scott]

btw-The police blow up suspicious stuff all the time but usually they take it out to Moon Island.

They also have a shooting range out there and a building that the fire dept uses for training.

 

[IMAngry]

I joke!

The only thing we need to blow up is our Mayor's huge ego.

 

[Waldorf]

Thursday, March 1, 2007

tERROR

I mentioned yesterday that a traffic counter chained to a pole in downtown Boston was detonated by the bomb squad. This story was not widely reported in the local press. (The Globe hasn't reported on it, as far as I can tell.) See the previous post for links to TV news coverage. And so far, no traffic-counting firm CEO has apologized or resigned.

The well-known security technologist Bruce Schneier (The Economist has called him a "security guru") said something depressing/amusing about the incident on his blog today:

It's not just the Mooninite blinkies. In 2004, the Boston police harrassed a protester by pretending he might be standing on a bomb. I'm beginning to think that something is seriously wrong with the police chain of command in Boston. Boston PD: Putting the "error" in "terror."

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Ouch! (Thanks, Boing Boing, for pointing out Schneier's comment.)

Why is Boston so detonation-happy? Last week, I spoke off the record to a person of my acquaintance who works in City Hall, and this person said: "Two words: Homeland Security." It's not the BPD, this person claimed; it's the Homeland Security types who've moved into City Hall who are exceedingly "nervous." In a comment posted to Schneier's blog, one of his readers is even less charitable:

The most plausible explanation is a pile of Federal anti-terrorism funding, sitting around in a municipal budget, waiting idly for something to do, and hoping for renewal with the new fiscal year. The people who write annual reports for the city need expenditure line items, and don't need to include any press clippings with the document they submit. The personnel and material costs of this "anti-terrorism" action will surely be itemized, and used to justify future anti-terror funding.

OK, Globe Spotlight Team! Time to mobilize. Let's investigate this funny business.

Link

 

[IMAngry]

and ... again

Unbelievable!

Boston Police Blow Up Suspicious Looking Man
By Brian Briggs

Boston, MA ? There were more tense moments today after Boston Police were forced to blow up a suspicious looking man near a lamp post.

An alert city worker called in the man after noticing that he had been leaning against the lamp post for more than ten minutes.

Officer Charlie O'Hara of the bomb squad said, "We got a report of a man loitering in a high-traffic area with a bulky coat and a backpack. We cleared the area, snuck up behind him, attached the explosives and detonated him."

Complete story: http://www.bbspot.com/News/2007/03/boston-police-blow-up-suspicious-looking-man.html