More info about Bomb Scare needed

[ShowerComic]

Ok, so it seems LaGuardia was evacuated due to a fake Bomb / Bomb Scare earlier.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090801/US.LaGuardia.Evacuation/

My problem with this article, - not enough details to convince me anyone claimed the device in question was a bomb in the first place, (like any at all)

Quote: It wasn't clear if the man made a threat, but security officials said he "was just acting crazy,"Kelly said. The man's name was not released.

The rest of the article being about everyone who was stranded, due to the evacuation. So the question is: Why was he acting crazy? Hmm - Maybe he is mentally ill, and slightly off his medication, because the TSA confiscated it, and he miscalculated, or maybe he was traveling and stayed longer than he expected again not carrying enough meds. Maybe he was mad at an airline in general over a police, (such as checked baggage fees)

what did they find: oh yeah: "The device in the man's bag was a few batteries and wires, but was not dangerous, police said."

So what's the deal? how paranoid is the government anyway?

 

[GreNME]

So what's the deal? how paranoid is the government anyway?

Simple answer: very paranoid.

The government reacts this way because it's very risk-averse. They are damned if they do go overboard and damned if they don't do anything. There really isn't much in the way of available middle ground for them, given the oh-so-wonderful court of public opinion.

I can't say how decent a move closing the whole airport down was. I can say that the action makes more sense if you consider that their own risk assessment would be weighing the possible inconveniences of some travelers compared to any possible actual losses of life if there was something more serious. They might not have made the most prudent move based on what you know, but when the choice is to act based on worst-case situations or to under-react and risk something more costly (in lives), most governments are going to choose over-reaction.

 

[MattC]

Ok, so it seems LaGuardia was evacuated due to a fake Bomb / Bomb Scare earlier.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090801/US.LaGuardia.Evacuation/

My problem with this article, - not enough details to convince me anyone claimed the device in question was a bomb in the first place, (like any at all)

Quote: It wasn't clear if the man made a threat, but security officials said he "was just acting crazy,"Kelly said. The man's name was not released.

The rest of the article being about everyone who was stranded, due to the evacuation. So the question is: Why was he acting crazy? Hmm - Maybe he is mentally ill, and slightly off his medication, because the TSA confiscated it, and he miscalculated, or maybe he was traveling and stayed longer than he expected again not carrying enough meds. Maybe he was mad at an airline in general over a police, (such as checked baggage fees)

what did they find: oh yeah: "The device in the man's bag was a few batteries and wires, but was not dangerous, police said."

So what's the deal? how paranoid is the government anyway?

As GreNME said, very.

In matters like these, a lot less is known than the investigators would like. How, for example, do we the security people at LaGuardia know that the man hadn't planted bombs elsewhere before we found him? We could theoretically look at the security tapes to figure this out, but the time it takes us to do this would probably be more than enough time for one of them to go off. Furthermore, what if a civilian finds the bomb first? They're likely to start a panic rather than leave calmly. Or worse, they'd try to defuse it and that wouldn't end well.

At least by overreacting and overseeing the evacuation of the airport, we can ensure a modest amount of control over the process and ensure that injuries are both predictable and minimized. Also bear in mind that an "evacuation of the airport" normally means only those places open to public access - most employee-only places won't be evacuated in these incidents unless there's some evidence that the perp made it into one of them.

A better way to think about it perhaps is like this - people don't act rationally when they hear the word "bomb," particularly in conjunction with "airport." If people go nuts and flee, more people get injured and the panic grows. If we act first, we stand a much better chance of controlling or minimizing the inconvenience to both us and them.

~ Matt

 

[rjh01]

As a fire warden I think I should comment. First off a suspicious package was found. Most people are not willing to bet people's lives on if such a package could explode. So an evacuation is needed. They would need to evacuate at least 200 meters away from the device. A window can and will smash sending glass a good distance. Metal parts of a bomb could penetrate an internal wall. Or maybe it could start a fire or release toxic gasses that get into the air-conditioning system. With building codes not being as strong in the USA as in Australia they would need to have an even bigger reaction than in Australia.