If You See Something, Say Something (to Someone Who Cares?)
On the downtown Q platform at Union Square tonight, I Saw Something: an unattended grocery bag that looked rather boxy. I asked whether anyone present owned it, and no one did. I figured it was most likely just forgotten groceries, but what the hey, with all those ads pleading with us, "If you see something, say something," I figured I'd call it in. Better safe than sorry.
The first result of calling it in was that while I was on the phone with the 911 operator, I missed my train.
That phone call was amusing: I said I was on the downtown Q platform at Union Square. The operator asked what boro it was in, whether any other trains stopped there, and particularly whether the 4, 5 and 6 trains did. For those of you who've never been to New York or who work as emergency operators for the NYPD, any 4, 5 or 6 train that stopped at a Q platform would never move again: Like all IRT trains (the numbered ones), they require narrower-gauge rail than the Q and the other BMT and IND trains (the ones with letters). And, again for those of you who've never been to New York or who take 911 calls here, Union Square is a fairly important transfer point associated with a well-known piece of Manhattan geography. There is only one Union Square on the Q, and indeed only one Union Square station in the subway system.
But the operator was able to produce a couple of police officers within a fairly short time. I showed one of them where the bag was. He picked it up quite casually with one hand, looked inside, poked around, and concluded it was ... food! So he tossed it in a nearby trash can.
Notice that I did not say anything about dogs or high-tech equipment. If the Something I saw had actually been Something, it probably would have done Something. And I, standing a couple of feet from the cop, would have been hurt about as much as if I had snooped in it myself.
Next time, I think I'll just look in the bag myself. And if it turns out to be food, I'll leave it be, in case the owner turns up to claim it or some homeless person salvages it.
And unless it turns out to be Something, I won't miss my train.
The first result of calling it in was that while I was on the phone with the 911 operator, I missed my train.
That phone call was amusing: I said I was on the downtown Q platform at Union Square. The operator asked what boro it was in, whether any other trains stopped there, and particularly whether the 4, 5 and 6 trains did. For those of you who've never been to New York or who work as emergency operators for the NYPD, any 4, 5 or 6 train that stopped at a Q platform would never move again: Like all IRT trains (the numbered ones), they require narrower-gauge rail than the Q and the other BMT and IND trains (the ones with letters). And, again for those of you who've never been to New York or who take 911 calls here, Union Square is a fairly important transfer point associated with a well-known piece of Manhattan geography. There is only one Union Square on the Q, and indeed only one Union Square station in the subway system.
But the operator was able to produce a couple of police officers within a fairly short time. I showed one of them where the bag was. He picked it up quite casually with one hand, looked inside, poked around, and concluded it was ... food! So he tossed it in a nearby trash can.
Notice that I did not say anything about dogs or high-tech equipment. If the Something I saw had actually been Something, it probably would have done Something. And I, standing a couple of feet from the cop, would have been hurt about as much as if I had snooped in it myself.
Next time, I think I'll just look in the bag myself. And if it turns out to be food, I'll leave it be, in case the owner turns up to claim it or some homeless person salvages it.
And unless it turns out to be Something, I won't miss my train.