Suitably Flip

If You See Something... Tell Someone Else

RFTR Blogger is staying vigilant on the Metro-North Railroad (kudos).  Unfortunately, MTA personnel are not always following suit, as he learned this morning.

Read the discouraging tale of his brush with homeland insecurity.

It became very apparent that this fast-moving person had left behind a plastic bag. It had what looked like it might have been a purse sticking out of the top, and the shape of a box (maybe a shoebox?) in the bottom. But let's be honest, folks: God only knows what was in that bag.
...
After a few minutes, the conductor happens by. She says "excuse me" three times before it catches his attention, and she starts to explain: "Some woman left this bag here and got off the tr—" And he cut her off (!), saying, "I'll be with you in a few minutes."

The increased police presence in and around subway terminals does lend an incremental sense of security.  And certainly the investigative and enforcement effort taking place behind the scenes (as evidenced during the recent subway threat) is a strong one.  But RFTR's experience this morning seems symptomatic of a broad-based complacency when it comes to preventative awareness and on-the-scene diligence within the transit system.  The number of times I've been subject to or witnessed a bag search in any MTA facility or vehicle stands pat at zero, and that includes two trips through Grand Central Station every day.

I do feel relatively safe riding the New York City transit system, though undoubtedly that's in part due simply to the fact that nothing disastrous has yet happened.  That absence (knock wood) of visceral evidence of the perils of complacency may also contribute to the gross indifference witnessed this morning and in general to a lackluster enforcement effort.  Hopefully we can wise up without the aid of external catalysts.

Comments

If You See Something... Tell Someone Else

RFTR Blogger is staying vigilant on the Metro-North Railroad (kudos).  Unfortunately, MTA personnel are not always following suit, as he learned this morning.

Read the discouraging tale of his brush with homeland insecurity.

It became very apparent that this fast-moving person had left behind a plastic bag. It had what looked like it might have been a purse sticking out of the top, and the shape of a box (maybe a shoebox?) in the bottom. But let's be honest, folks: God only knows what was in that bag.
...
After a few minutes, the conductor happens by. She says "excuse me" three times before it catches his attention, and she starts to explain: "Some woman left this bag here and got off the tr—" And he cut her off (!), saying, "I'll be with you in a few minutes."

The increased police presence in and around subway terminals does lend an incremental sense of security.  And certainly the investigative and enforcement effort taking place behind the scenes (as evidenced during the recent subway threat) is a strong one.  But RFTR's experience this morning seems symptomatic of a broad-based complacency when it comes to preventative awareness and on-the-scene diligence within the transit system.  The number of times I've been subject to or witnessed a bag search in any MTA facility or vehicle stands pat at zero, and that includes two trips through Grand Central Station every day.

I do feel relatively safe riding the New York City transit system, though undoubtedly that's in part due simply to the fact that nothing disastrous has yet happened.  That absence (knock wood) of visceral evidence of the perils of complacency may also contribute to the gross indifference witnessed this morning and in general to a lackluster enforcement effort.  Hopefully we can wise up without the aid of external catalysts.