The chubby blue line
Okay, okay, this is really ridiculous.
In March, New York will put armed police onto subways. With dogs. And machine guns. Because they believe that this will make us safer.
It won't. It will make you less safe, and possibly also be intimidating.
Police are stationary bandits. It's hard to trust someone who is a demonstrable instrument of the State's monopoly on the use of coercive force. It's even harder to trust one who is making the world a worse place but believes that they are making it a better one.
This won't stop terrorists from suicide bombing the subways. The chubby blue line and his explosive sniffing pooch won't stop it. A terrorist could put his explosives on a dead man trigger and walk into the crowd.
Will they find such a terrorist? Doesn't matter. Will they shoot him? Doesn't matter. Will they kill him? It doesn't matter. They can't stop the explosion, lots will die, more will be terrified and that means that the terrorist would have achieved his or her aims.
In the mean time, war is peace, we're here to help and Big Brother is watching you.
Comments
Determined individuals will always find a way. You can't keep the professional burgler out of your house, but that's no reason not to lock your doors. Efforts should be made to stop terrorist attacks. The story from all the Force Protection briefs bears repeating. Some VIP was being surveiled by terrorists. They passed on a plan to kidnap him because he walked around his car every morning, checking for bombs. If he was this vigilant, the terrorists reasoned, they might as well skip to the next target. Come to find out, he was checking his car for scratches after his wife drove it. Security measures might not be 100% effective, but the fact they are in effect can be a deterrent.
That being said, I'd be more impressed with an easing of restrictions on hand-gun permits. Instead of putting the power to do something in a few hands, put it in everyone's. Same thing for airlines. There should be checks to make sure you don't have guns or explosives, but knives, brass knuckles, expandable batons, etc would be fine. As soon as anyone started something, 10 people would beat his ass.
Posted by: Josh Kaminoff | February 15, 2008 9:46 AM
@Josh: An armed society is a polite society. I don't remember who said that, but I certainly felt safer in South Carolina, where there was close to one firearm for every person, than I do in Edinburgh, where there are no handguns whatsoever and even most of the police don't carry weapons. And that feeling is backed by statistics: you are far more likely to be assaulted on the streets of Edinburgh than the streets of Columbia, South Carolina.
And I think that you're absolutely right when it comes to security measures. We should have more of them. Putting armed police with dogs and machineguns onto subways isn't a security measure; it's security theater.
Putting uniformed police onto subways to keep the peace and deter crime in the same way that beat cops are supposed to is a good idea - one that is proven to deter crime, but not terrorism.
Posted by: Nathan | February 15, 2008 11:10 AM
Two more small points.
First, if the police want to carry sub-machine guns for the increased firepower, I'm all for it. If they want to carry them to intimidate, I'm not. I think the H&K MP7 is the perfect choice for the former. It's pistol size and can be carried on a thigh holster but is better in almost every way than most sub-machine guns twice its size. I'd gladly take it over anything the military currently issues.
Second, detecting for bombs is fine with me. Having dogs do it might, again, be a little intimidating. There are plenty of high-tech non-invasive devices available to sniff out trace amounts of explosives. Granted, they're not perfect, but they won't give positive errors on doggie treats or a steak lunch either.
A police officer with an H&K MP7 and a bomb-sniffing PDA size device wouldn't stand out in the slightest but would have the same capability or more of one with an Uzi and a german shepherd.
Posted by: Josh Kaminoff | February 15, 2008 11:22 AM
@Josh:
That's a great idea: a police officer with an H&K MP7 and a bomb sniffing PDA looking around our subways. Inobtrusive, doesn't startle the passengers, doesn't make it look like a police state, and I'd venture to say they'll see a lot more than a policeman in a uniform with a dog and carrying an Uzi.
That's great thinking.
Posted by: Nathan | February 15, 2008 3:57 PM
Normally, I would argue the other way. When people argue for high-tech and expensive solutions (the MP7 alone is several grand), I usually offer simpler time-tested methods. We tend to get wrapped up in technology being the solution to everything that we miss the cheap easy solutions. In this case though, the added benefit of being unobstrutive would be worth it.
Posted by: Josh Kaminoff | February 16, 2008 2:46 AM
And what about all the riders who are allergic to dogs/dander? Here's a nod to the phobic as well.
Posted by: super7rachael | February 17, 2008 2:46 PM