"Danger" Leaflets-Transit Watch Campaign

Today the T is handing out full color leaflets telling the travelling public to be aware of potential terrorist action.
They're nice leaflets, 3 panel, nice design, and of course, totally useless.
"If you see something, say something." "Accidentally left behind, or an accident waiting to happen?"
I was handed one by a smiling (!) T employee on my way into the station, and by the time I got to the train, there were loads of discarded copies on the ground, in the bin - where I put mine - and on the train seats.
All these handouts will accomplish is a (most likely) union affiliated print shop making a tidy profit, and the cleaning guy getting some overtime.
The Metro noted that 30,000 would be handed out on the commuter rail. I'm guessing that means that about 100,000 were produced for this event, as they can only have enough staff to hand them out at "key" stations in the T system.
Instead of placing trash around the system, why not have more POLICE on the trains and in the stations?

I also got a Button too saying:

SEE Something
SAY Something.

At Harvard they had just put stacks of the brochures on the turnstiles. As one can imagine, far more were being knocked off and scattered on the floor than actually picked up.

helium wrote:Instead of placing trash around the system, why not have more POLICE on the trains and in the stations?

I totally agree with you that this is a giant waste of money. As for more police, if a terrorist group was gonna attack, more than likely one or two cops on a train would be out-numbered by the bad guys.

Well,
It must be time to scare everyone again.

CS wrote:Well,
It must be time to scare everyone again.

Well, it is an election year.

T police need to not just stand there also, they ought to be in plainclothes riding trains like the BART and WMATA and clamp down on criminals. Also Massachusetts Probation Services may be needed too, especially around Forest Hills, Ashmont, and even Quincy Center station with the young people that hang out there.

More harassment of photographers.

I was riding the bus the other day (I know, I know, that automatically qualifies me for the Bus Thread, but if you like, we can all pretend that it was on the Green Line instead) on my way to an important meeting. As I took a seat in the back, I noticed that someone had left a plastic bag with what looked to be a small book inside.

Did I say anything? Did I report any "unattended packages or suspicious behavior to the bus driver?" Nope. There weren't wires or anything suspicious ... and what would have happened if I had reported the package. If the driver was as concientious as possible, she would have stopped the bus and ordered everyone off. We would have had to wait 15 minutes for the next one, which likely would be delayed even further down the line because of crowding from the missed run, and I would have been late for my meeting. I might have even been obligated to stick around and answer some more questions because I reported it.

I wasn't the only one who ignored the dastardly unattended package, either. People just chose seats around it without moving it.

That's sad that after all those repeated announcements to report such unnattended items, people are still not getting the message, instead, it's going into one ear, but out the other.

ckb wrote:I was riding the bus the other day (I know, I know, that automatically qualifies me for the Bus Thread, but if you like, we can all pretend that it was on the Green Line instead) on my way to an important meeting. As I took a seat in the back, I noticed that someone had left a plastic bag with what looked to be a small book inside.

Did I say anything? Did I report any "unattended packages or suspicious behavior to the bus driver?" Nope. There weren't wires or anything suspicious ... and what would have happened if I had reported the package. If the driver was as concientious as possible, she would have stopped the bus and ordered everyone off. We would have had to wait 15 minutes for the next one, which likely would be delayed even further down the line because of crowding from the missed run, and I would have been late for my meeting. I might have even been obligated to stick around and answer some more questions because I reported it.

I wasn't the only one who ignored the dastardly unattended package, either. People just chose seats around it without moving it.

Heh, channel 7 is reporting about some lady who reported a brown paper bag, driver stopped the bus, wouldnt let anyone off till the Police came and investigated (and it took the MBTA police like 20 minutes to respond)

Issue is, now every last person on the subway etc.. will be either not caring, or 'crazy nervous' about it, and it will just end up costing everyone more $$$. the $$$ should end up to posting 1-2 T police officers at EVERY subway stop (to start), but that = just be me!

CJ wrote:Heh, channel 7 is reporting about some lady who reported a brown paper bag, driver stopped the bus, wouldnt let anyone off till the Police came and investigated (and it took the MBTA police like 20 minutes to respond)

Issue is, now every last person on the subway etc.. will be either not caring, or 'crazy nervous' about it, and it will just end up costing everyone more $$$. the $$$ should end up to posting 1-2 T police officers at EVERY subway stop (to start), but that = just be me!

Have you stopped to think about what "1-2 T police officers at EVERY subway stop" might cost? Not that I totally disagree with you, but that is FAR more expensive than raising awareness with some flyers. Unless of course you'd like to promise not to complain when the fares are raised next year.

Also has anyone been to NYC lately? I was on the subway there and every station and many trains had flyers/posters/signs/messages etc. that said similar things. Nobody there seems to have a fit about raising awareness.

I would guess very few people you would stop on the T would know the nubmer for Transit Police, yet think how handy that could come in if you noticed something suspicious and couldn't be as obvious as to walk up to the driver and say something.

JS

Yeah, i know how much that would cost, just a pipe dream!

The increased awareness is great, but if im (now pretend to be most people in the past 5 years) 'a terrorist', im not gonna leave my "bag" on the train all day, my bag will "do its thing" just minutes i get off the bus/train

the whole issue is totally flawed, just like the 50's duck and cover, but it puts the publics mind at ease, and i suppose that is all that matters!

What would really work well, sides the police (id say like they even work, but if you listen on the scanners, they chase people across towns etc), is a total CCTV system , on train cars and everything, but i suppose that is wayy beyond what would be done now !

CJ wrote: What would really work well, sides the police (id say like they even work, but if you listen on the scanners, they chase people across towns etc), is a total CCTV system , on train cars and everything, but i suppose that is wayy beyond what would be done now !

At least that has some reality to it. I wonder if they've actually caught anything from the "hub stations" that are active already. Plus the WAN they installed to support the AFC system also can handle traffic from cameras, making it more likely that other stations will get some too.

Robert Paniagua wrote:That's sad that after all those repeated announcements to report such unnattended items, people are still not getting the message, instead, it's going into one ear, but out the other.

It's to be expected. The more they blather on with this useless campaign and divert resources from more useful methods, the less attention people are going to pay. It is just a big publicity stunt so the folks at "the top" can say that they're doing something.