capuzfu wrote:Maybe I just don't understand people on this forum...but at one point you criticize Septa for being lax with security. The the minute you get questioned by the police it becomes this big "to do." I sure as hell would be suspicious of someone counting the numbers of people on trains, writing down bus/train numbers, etc. We live in a society where mass transit is a potential terror target, so I am frankly glad that the police harrased you.
Well, for starters, my Margaret-Orthodox incident happened in 1997...well before the world as we knew it ended. Second, I was out there with the knowledge of the supervisory personnel at both 69th Street and Bridge-Pratt. They were not required to notify police. And, I also happen to be a SEPTA employee. I did say that he allowed me to continue my filming.
SEPTA has had their traffic department that does just that for decades now, and they don't require uniforms for the checkers. The only reason people would notice them now is because we are suddenly paying attention to our surroundings and noticing things that actually have been under our nose for the past 50 to 60 years....like checkers, and rail or transit enthusiasts.
Some checks also require that no visible SEPTA ID is visible, as they may be doing checks that are real-time specific in order to design new schedules, and don't want operators who may be chronically late to "adjust" themselves, just for the sake of schedule appearance.
As for writing down bus numbers and blocks, that in itself is useless for any kind of terror plot....I doubt that someone planning anything would care about vehicle numbers or blocks. Anyone wanting to target a bus can see anywhere, anytime the size of a bus on any given line on any day....the numbers are meaningless. As for writing times down, again, it is no deterrent to anyone wanting to plot an attack....they can simply pick up a public timetable to get the same information.
In my opinion, a good way to increase security is to do it in such a way that the general public doesn't notice it. For all we know, we could have been on vehicles with undercover agents from any law enforcement agency and not noticed. Just because you don't see more uniformed officers doesn't mean there hasn't been a security increase.
I failed to mention in my original post that my friend who was stopped by the SEPTA officer, is only 17 (and looks a heck of a lot younger). Hardly a risk in my opinion, especially when quite a bit of the usual everyday petty crimes on SEPTA concourses or terminals go unanswered or unnoticed. It is a sad time when I see someone vandalizing SEPTA property and get a shrug from an officer, but heaven help you if you write a bus number down.
In fact, I am in the midst of a project keeping track of the M4's on the Market-Frankford as they get new seats installed, and have been writing car numbers down as I see them. And I will continue to do so....for writing information down is still very much legal....anywhere!
I have no problem with being questioned by police or law enforcement...and I have gone through that perhaps four times over various places since 9-11-01 in the course of my doing video. And each outcome ended in a positive manner. My objection is when the officer in question is threatening throughout the encounter instead of simply going with the flow, as was the case with my friend.
I also made mention of the incident to a few of my contacts down at 1234 today, and they are pretty much in agreement with me (and my friend) that the officer was out of line as far as threatening to confiscate his notebook. As for picture-taking, perhaps the officer might want to remember that many cell phones can take excellent photos as well as any simple digital camera....shall we confiscate them too?
And how about all the photos taken from public property, which is still very legal?
*stopping my rant now*....
