Terrorism and photography in Seattle

[Bob Douglas]

This is another sad example of the paranoia instilled in us by the media and the administration. I'd bet the officer watches Fox News and.... Compound this with ineffective use of investigative techniques and we'll continue to have these situations. Seriously if this person was really a terrorist why simply confiscate the film and let the potential terrorist go, humm is this a rerun. It's obvious the officer and possibly the department should attend more training. Don't get me wrong we do need to be vigilant but not at the expense of the freedoms our forefathers and foremothers have shed blood over and so eloquantly engineered into our constitution and bill of rights.
Further food for thought if photography in itself is such a security risk then everyone approaching or using targets should be searched as cameras both still and motion have shrunk in size such that they allow anyone with the will and means to inconspicusouly photograph anything they want barring the presence of metal detectors. So with the officers' mindset maybe would should frisk everyone crossing the Golden Gate Bridge or entering Manhattan.

[Barry Trabitz]

Francisco,did not President Bush declare the war is over some two years ago? Even though Congress neve declared war as required by our Constitution.

[domenico Foschi]

In a perfect world , where children were not brainwashed and not forced to recite the allegiance to the flag in schools, they should have Orwell's 1984 as required reading . They should teach :critical thinking ,(they should teach) that describing people or deeds good or evil are mainly ways to cover a lot of grey ares, that dissent can be a very good thing .

[Jim Ewins]

I respectfully suggest that Scott was incorrect. The deputy was a Seattle high school grad. If you're old enough and do community service thats all you need for a deploma. (No civics classes here) Jim

[francisco_5406]

If I were planning where to set explosives, such as on a bridge (and not necessarily a bus terminal) I would prefer the resolution of a nice 4x5 over a cell phone camera. So I could see questioning a photographer around a bridge, like the Golden Gate in San Francisco, as a good idea.

If I were planning to distribute an airborne pathogen to a crowd of people, who would disperse and spread the pathogen, then a bus terminal would be an ideal location for the release. And videotaping or photographing the circulation of people walking through the terminal, or where the air ducts are, would be part of the homework involved in the planning of the terrorism.

Do you think that the 9-11 skyjackers and their supporters reviewed the Twin Towers plans? Or that somebody from the group went on site to actually see the buildings, guage their structure, ride the elevators and look around to see for themselves where the best approaches were?

Had they done their homework earlier - by visiting the Twin Towers parking garage, and yes, photographing the structure for later study by engineers, perhaps they could have succeeded in blowing up the towers in their first attack in the early 1990s?

Do you think the terrorists who blew a hole in the side of the USS Cole might have photographed the ship ahead of time? Would a cell phone camera provided enough detail to tell them where the bulkheads were, and where the best place to strike was?

Perhaps the guard was a stupid nitwit. But I rather have stupid nitwit being extra cautious than nobody even caring. Until you guys suggest a better way to guard against attacks, I'd rather have them stop too many than too few. Funny how few attacks there have been on US soil since the security has been increased... but logic and results have nothing to do with it, right?

[Paul Metcalf]

Didn't see anything on his website that has to do with large format.

[paulr]

Domenico, I'm reporting you the authorities for advocating critical thinking in a public forum. Geez, someone's kids could be reading this!

[Bruce Watson]

Francisco, logic and results have everything to do with it. You don't seem to understand what's wrong with events like this, and there have been a lot of them scattered all over the USA and it's territories this decade. Lord knows that no one is going to change your mind about it. But even the USA's founding fathers knew this was wrong:

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security" -- Benjamin Franklin

[Mark Carney]

Bruce

Thanks for the Franklin quote. I was hoping it would show up.

[Scott Fleming]

Jim could be right. I DO know however that the primary prerequisite for LEOs in general is that they deeply desire to carry a gun in public and wear a unifrom that makes them look forceful.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad they are there and a huge percentage of them are indeed well trained and respectful of the constitution. Unfortuneately that still leaves room for a million or so power hungry jerks within the ranks.

A great assesment tool in understanding LEOs is the fact that there is one class of folks they hate more than any other ... cops who bust cops. So if respect for the law is all that big with them ... why do they all hate the rat squad?

As to protecting us from terrorists ... after seeing how spiffy these alphabet types are in real life over the last couple decades ... I just pray that some level headed common citizen will be there to notice 'Akmed' acting odd before he can press the button or light the fuse.