(no subject)
I got a ticket today.
I was walking through the Mission with a friend in a deep conversation, and we were trying to find a bench. Further, he was feeling anxious, so I decided to find a place to sit around a police station, as in general they are pretty safe places. We sat down on a bench thing next to a tree in the parking lot, and within a minute a police officer comes out. I figured he was just going on duty until I noticed he was coming towards us looking angry. A few more officers followed behind him.
It turned out that we'd accidentally entered a "secure" area. Although there was no physical barrier (we walked in right from the sidewalk), we'd been so deep in conversation we'd missed seeing the red "Do not enter" sign. They were very polite, but demanded our IDs, and proceeded to give us tickets. The point that actually upset me was that one of the officers said "we can't have this in a post 9/11 society."
So keep in mind, we posed no threat, and in my opinion, because my tax dollars pay for their salaries, there's a certain amount of grace that should be taken here. I can fully understand why some areas of a police station need to be cautioned off: for example, if there is a crime lab, or a room where they keep evidence, or a place where they hold arrestees, it makes total sense not to let the general public go there. On the other hand, having a clear pathway that is directly open to the public with inviting looking trees and benches seems.... odd, at best.
The best part was that they had to bring like five police officers out to make sure we weren't a threat, although someone could tell within a minute of talking to us we weren't. I'm sure there is some stupid post 9/11 law that requires them to bring all those officers out to make sure we don't do anything bad, or violate some bullshit behavior pattern they'd decided is threatening. It's kind of sad they had to basically waste 20 minutes (times five, an hour of the officers' time) filling out needless paperwork and effectively handling a non-threat.
A single officer could have handled this on his own (or two, if the officer decided he needed backup), and common sense would say: "ok, we've never seen these guys before, they have no prior record, they seem genuinely confused, let's just show them the door." Instead, they had to do some work. If an "infraction" on that level causes that much hassle, I can't imagine how annoying it is for the officers at airports who have to basically shut down terminals and bring out bomb squads whenever and absent-minded passenger accidentally leaves one of their suitcases at a restaurant or seating area.
But this is what our society has turned into. A far-reaching paranoia that is so severe that people are forced to throw common sense out the window. I mean, I could see alternate viewpoints to everything (what if my friend and I had guns or knives, for example), but you can morph any situation into an alternate viewpoint like that, and it's kind of taxing after a while.
I was walking through the Mission with a friend in a deep conversation, and we were trying to find a bench. Further, he was feeling anxious, so I decided to find a place to sit around a police station, as in general they are pretty safe places. We sat down on a bench thing next to a tree in the parking lot, and within a minute a police officer comes out. I figured he was just going on duty until I noticed he was coming towards us looking angry. A few more officers followed behind him.
It turned out that we'd accidentally entered a "secure" area. Although there was no physical barrier (we walked in right from the sidewalk), we'd been so deep in conversation we'd missed seeing the red "Do not enter" sign. They were very polite, but demanded our IDs, and proceeded to give us tickets. The point that actually upset me was that one of the officers said "we can't have this in a post 9/11 society."
So keep in mind, we posed no threat, and in my opinion, because my tax dollars pay for their salaries, there's a certain amount of grace that should be taken here. I can fully understand why some areas of a police station need to be cautioned off: for example, if there is a crime lab, or a room where they keep evidence, or a place where they hold arrestees, it makes total sense not to let the general public go there. On the other hand, having a clear pathway that is directly open to the public with inviting looking trees and benches seems.... odd, at best.
The best part was that they had to bring like five police officers out to make sure we weren't a threat, although someone could tell within a minute of talking to us we weren't. I'm sure there is some stupid post 9/11 law that requires them to bring all those officers out to make sure we don't do anything bad, or violate some bullshit behavior pattern they'd decided is threatening. It's kind of sad they had to basically waste 20 minutes (times five, an hour of the officers' time) filling out needless paperwork and effectively handling a non-threat.
A single officer could have handled this on his own (or two, if the officer decided he needed backup), and common sense would say: "ok, we've never seen these guys before, they have no prior record, they seem genuinely confused, let's just show them the door." Instead, they had to do some work. If an "infraction" on that level causes that much hassle, I can't imagine how annoying it is for the officers at airports who have to basically shut down terminals and bring out bomb squads whenever and absent-minded passenger accidentally leaves one of their suitcases at a restaurant or seating area.
But this is what our society has turned into. A far-reaching paranoia that is so severe that people are forced to throw common sense out the window. I mean, I could see alternate viewpoints to everything (what if my friend and I had guns or knives, for example), but you can morph any situation into an alternate viewpoint like that, and it's kind of taxing after a while.