Miami Vice-Grip

Matt Welch | November 29, 2005

This shit's starting to get old:

Miami police announced Monday they will stage random shows of force at hotels, banks and other public places to keep terrorists guessing and remind people to be vigilant.

Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats.

"This is an in-your-face type of strategy. It's letting the terrorists know we are out there," Fernandez said.

1) Didn't some or most of the Sept. 11 hijackers have perfectly valid IDs, indicating nothing out of the ordinary?
2) Did I miss the part about them hijacking a bank?
3) Aren't there some kind of rules against blatantly using a police force to spread fear propaganda? If there aren't, shouldn't there be?

Whole thing here, link via Boing Boing. I suppose we can be thankful that at least they're not using federal troops for the job, though even joking about that makes me feel like buying gold and stocking up on canned goods.

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|11.29.05 @ 2:53PM|#

"Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats."

Or just walk down the street and randomly shout, "Look out!" and "Jesus, what IS that?!?"

This will sure make those terrorists, uh, make sure there isn't a squad of police surrouding the bank before they, uh...man, I can't even finish this sentence as satire.

Sandy|11.29.05 @ 2:56PM|#

So when did Eric Cartman become the behind-the-scenes police chief of Miami?

I also wonder how a bunch of transplanted Jews and Cuban exiles are going to feel about the police state starting up again in their back yards.

|11.29.05 @ 2:57PM|#

I mean, if they had only had cops at the Oklahoma City federal building..

|11.29.05 @ 2:58PM|#

So if I refuse to show ID, will they not let me leave a bank, say? Or not let me return to my hotel room?

How soon before the lawsuits start, do you think?

|11.29.05 @ 3:00PM|#

Good point, Adam. If we'd had cops checking IDs at the World Trade Center, the Twin Towers would still exist!

random shows of force

That about says it all.

All hail the Mighty Blue Peacekeepers! Round and round they go, where they stop nobody knows!

The MPD. Coming soon to a laundromat near you.

keith|11.29.05 @ 3:00PM|#

Fromt he city that brought you random bag checks that can be foiled by walking to a different entrance for the same subway, I say welcome to the game, Miami. It's nice to have you on board.

And as of this article, I have officially run out of indignation, outrage, or disbelief. NOTHING this country does in the name of "freedom" shocks me anymore. This weekend I saw Independence Hall nestled behind a block's worth of steel barricades, chainlink fences, metal detectors, and security search checkpoints. Freedom is dead, baby. All that's left is to stock up on liquor and ammo while you still can (oh wait, I'm in NYC. Scratch the ammo).

|11.29.05 @ 3:04PM|#

I guess sobriety checkpoints weren't annoying and heavy-handed enough. What happens if you don't have an ID handy? Is it the law in Miami that you can't walk around in public without an ID? What's next, randomly entering homes and demanding that the occupants stop whatever they are doing and produce valid ID?

And I'm sure handing out leaflets about terrorist threats is going to be real useful too.

|11.29.05 @ 3:05PM|#

If they're going to be strong-arming peaceful citizens engaging in day-to-day activities, they should at least break into a song and dance like in "Cop Rock". That would be cool.

And aren't banks trying to encourage more online activity and less visits to their buildings? This is a good way to do it.

|11.29.05 @ 3:07PM|#

Slight correction: it's not "random shows of force" it's "random shows of freedom!"

Wonder if those 90s militia dudes would sell their compounds to us? What happened to those guys anyway?

|11.29.05 @ 3:09PM|#

Unlike the bus thing, this is a big deal.

at why point are we going to have to have a bed time, i mean, so all the "bad guys" cant do "bad things" at night.

|11.29.05 @ 3:11PM|#

Last time I had to go through a drunk checkpoint, at dusk one Friday this past summer, it wasn't enough that I obviously was not drunk; oh, no. The cop wanted to know what I was up to: "Where are you coming from? Where are you going? Have you had any alcohol or illicit drugs? Do you plan to consume any later?"

|11.29.05 @ 3:12PM|#

"This is an in-your-face type of strategy. It's letting the terrorists know we are out there," Fernandez said.

Great idea. Why don't we try that strategy in Iraq?

|11.29.05 @ 3:13PM|#

Whoops--I hit post before I finished what I was saying, but Christ! It really is getting noticeably worse, isn't it? At an almost steady rate, too.

|11.29.05 @ 3:17PM|#

"Random shows of force?" That's funny in and of itself, in that I envision the Miami PD suddenly setting up a World's Strongest Man event on South Beach...With a juiced out Eastern European guy military pressing 405 and then Bill Kaczmaier running up to the camera and yelling "you see that, terrorists!!???!?!"

Approximately as effective as the current plan.

The Chief's son was recently busted for being involved in 400 pound pot deal--smoke and mirrors.

|11.29.05 @ 3:18PM|#

"Aren't there some kind of rules against blatantly using a police force to spread fear propaganda? If there aren't, shouldn't there be?"

Strangely enough, when the folks in charge decide what the rules are, the rules don't apply to the folks in charge. Two legs bad, 4 legs good and all that.

Timothy|11.29.05 @ 3:19PM|#

I keep seeing these damnable bumper stickers around town that say, "we back the blue" on them, makes me want to punch every person with one. Cops are a necessary evil, not the sort of thing to get all excited about. There are decent cops, to be sure, but this kind of crap makes it hard not to despise the lot of them.

|11.29.05 @ 3:22PM|#

Didn't they put a tank in front of the Miami airport after 9/11, just to display force? Or am I thinking of the wrong city?

And didn't some H&R poster defend that absurd display of force as a way to reassure the citizens?

|11.29.05 @ 3:24PM|#

"Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said officers might, for example, surround a bank building, check the IDs of everyone going in and out and hand out leaflets about terror threats."

Good idea, but I have a better one.

In a bank, people are pretty alert to any suspicious activity anyway. But what about the theater? It's dark in there -- evildoers could get away with anything, especially since everyone's attention is distracted by the show. They should send plain-clothes cops into the theater to, at a random moment, shout "FIRE!" That would keep people on their toes.

|11.29.05 @ 3:25PM|#

Y'know, the funniest bit is going to be when all the government apologists, in the end, say "But it wasn't supposed to turn out like this..."

OK, so it won't be funny, but at that point there'll be nothing left to do but laugh.

|11.29.05 @ 3:29PM|#

thoreau,
"And didn't some H&R poster defend that absurd display of force as a way to reassure the citizens?"

It IS reassuring! I can now rest assured that my tax money will never be spent wisely ever again.

|11.29.05 @ 3:30PM|#

The updated AP story now says there won't be any random ID checks -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/29/AR2005112900172.html

Random shows of force? What not just randomly start shooting people in the head to make then feel safer and more free.

I hate to be a ghoul, but we should start a pool as to how many months it'll take before one of these "shows" ends in tragedy.

|11.29.05 @ 3:34PM|#

This slope is sure getting slippery.

Whoops.

Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Terrorize this!

|11.29.05 @ 3:47PM|#

I can't think of a better phrase to describe the activities of a bully than "random shows of force".

I also wonder how a bunch of transplanted Jews and Cuban exiles are going to feel about the police state starting up again in their back yards.

From my observation neither group is particularly anti-authoritarian or anti-totalitarian per se. Rather the first group is concerned about genocide (especially when directed at them) the second doesn't like expropriation of all their property and economic deprivation.

Neither group really thinks about the fact that these things are made more likely by statism.

Like practically all groups they like the idea of safety and are likely to find these measures reassuring.

|11.29.05 @ 3:48PM|#

I live in one of those rare parts of Connecticut where there's actually a lot of stuff you can do within walking distance. When I walk to the post office or various stores I make a point to never carry my ID with me. But, even though I often take a shortcut through the public walkways in the police plaza, so far the cops have left me alone.

I wonder how much longer that will be the case?

Jesse Walker|11.29.05 @ 3:48PM|#

It's a police flash mob!

MP|11.29.05 @ 3:48PM|#

This will sure make those terrorists, uh, make sure there isn't a squad of police surrouding the bank before they, uh...man, I can't even finish this sentence as satire.

But joe, shouldn't we defer to the authorities' supreme knowledge of how to properly secure us from the looming threat of terrorism? How can you, a lowly citizen, satirize their well thought out plan? I mean, since there are no subways to randomly harass (I mean search) the passengers of, they have to do something else in Miami, right?

|11.29.05 @ 4:09PM|#

Aren't Floridians allowed to shoot anybody they think is a terrorist and ask questions later?

They don't need no steenking badges!

|11.29.05 @ 4:13PM|#

&ltsatire>
In my experience, I've found that decision makers craft law enforcement strategies based on concrete concerns and a desire to be pro-active in countering terrorism. "Intimidation", "bullying", or whatever other childish labels you may wish to put on it are simply not a motive, as anybody who has worked in the law enforcement business knows.</sarcasm>

How'd I do?

t. rev|11.29.05 @ 4:22PM|#

At one point in the '80s, Miami had a program where traffic cops would stop cars...

...for good driving.

The cops would give the drivers tickets...

Janet Jackson tickets.

I am sure the good drivers in question felt amply rewarded.

|11.29.05 @ 4:24PM|#

From the article:

Howard Simon, executive director of ACLU of Florida, said the Miami initiative appears aimed at ensuring that people's rights are not violated.

"What we're dealing with is officers on street patrol, which is more effective and more consistent with the Constitution," Simon said. "We'll have to see how it is implemented."

Is Howard Simon serious here? The Miami PD is talking about "random shows of force" and "shock" and "awe" in "hotels, banks and other public places." Since when is a hotel or a bank a "public place" that can be stormed by papers-demanding police agents? I mean, what the fuck? Not only is the Miami PD proposing to blatantly intimidate innocent individual citizens; it's proposing to interfere with the normal day-to-day affairs of private businesses. Is there anything about this proposal that could be in any way acceptable to the ACLU?? What am I missing here?

Timothy|11.29.05 @ 4:24PM|#

Brilliant!

|11.29.05 @ 4:26PM|#

Second graf from story should be in italics, too, from "What... to ...implemented."

Carry on...

|11.29.05 @ 4:32PM|#

Why do I always get the feeling that these police plans start by assuming that terrorists are incredibly stupid? "Let's make sure that terrorists know the police are out there! I'm sure they don't know that yet!"

VM|11.29.05 @ 4:33PM|#

thoreau:

yes, you remember correctly. and you remember who it was, too, i'd bet.

that poster is the opposite of the several ones that always get me grumpy here. hell -- he does the same.

sigh. it's a bad day. sorry for being in such a bad mood.

|11.29.05 @ 4:34PM|#

VM-

Actually, I don't recall who said it. I've narrowed it down to a list of two, but I can't recall which. Probably the one who's always canceling subscriptions, but I'm not sure.

|11.29.05 @ 4:37PM|#

I an idea on how this is going to turn out. The story about this 'bad idea' in Miami will disappear as the police rethink their plan. A month or two later another the 'kind of bad idea' will be put out there again only to be shot down. The 'idea' will be in the news a couple of times through the year to get people somewhat used to it. Sometime later, probably after some kind of random bombing in America, the 'best idea ever' will go into effect. The 'people' will wonder why this protection was not afforded to them sooner.

The Fed�s will have to do the random shows of force (freedom) of course as to ensure it is done properly with no discrimination or anything.

Mark my words and watch and see.

|11.29.05 @ 4:38PM|#

No, Adam, you're thinking of federal law enforcement. Since 1993 they may shoot, burn and then make sure the right questions can't be asked later by demolishing the scene.

Viking Moose|11.29.05 @ 4:40PM|#

no. the other one. a guy.

:)

did i mention how fucking grumpy i am. and writing this serves as a filter, because i'm real fucking close to being the meanest fucking bastard ever seen on this board. filter filter filter.

really bad fucking mood.

snake: try two years earlier at ruby ridge.

|11.29.05 @ 4:41PM|#

My cousin lives in the Canadian wilderness where the closest town is 45 minutes away, and the nearest neighbor is 10 minutes away. Every day I read about the latest government shenanigans, the better his lifestyle sounds.

|11.29.05 @ 4:43PM|#

VM-

Then I'm not sure whom you're referring to.

|11.29.05 @ 4:44PM|#

AC - A lot of people would say that if the nearest town is only 45 minutes away, that's not the real wilderness yet!

|11.29.05 @ 4:47PM|#

JD-

By "town," I mean three houses and a combined gas station/grocery store. The nearest true town is something like 2 hours away.

|11.29.05 @ 4:48PM|#

BTW, what's going wrong today, VM? Me, I'm banging my head against LaTex (and for those who are wondering, it's a computer program, not a fabric).

VM the steamed lobster brain|11.29.05 @ 4:51PM|#

dunno. just really really grumpy.

nothing like LaTex.... what's the coding like. oh. sorry. (blush. heh)

(more elsewhere) :)

Timothy|11.29.05 @ 4:52PM|#

Hang in there, VM, try yelling at your email or voicemail, always helps me out. Speaking of which, are things looking up any thoreau?

greg wirth|11.29.05 @ 4:58PM|#

This is what people want now. To be protected from the boogeyman terrorists. We can't even respond to a hurricane.

|11.29.05 @ 4:58PM|#

Me, I'm banging my head against LaTex (and for those who are wondering, it's a computer program, not a fabric).

It sounds more like a fetish than a fabric:)

|11.29.05 @ 5:01PM|#

Timothy-

Things are definitely looking up.

And LaTex is a program for creating publication-quality documents. Frequently used in the physical sciences because it handles equations so well.

|11.29.05 @ 5:03PM|#

t.rev, i always drive my best when getting high! yikes!! incidentally, a montana police chief tried this maybe last year. it was quickly shot down.

|11.29.05 @ 5:05PM|#

t.rev, to be clear, there were no janet jackson tickets involved in Montana. maybe they just needed to sweeten the deal.

|11.29.05 @ 5:06PM|#

Actually, turns out that the tank wasn't defended by any of the usual suspects. It was just somebody whose take was "Oh, who cares if it makes some people happy and doesn't hurt anything?" It wasn't "This is important because...." and then some idiotic reason.

I can sort of respect that reasoning, even if I disagree. So I won't name the person, because earlier I was bashing on the idea and associating it with people whom I frequently disagree with.

Sorry, un-named poster.

Dave W.|11.29.05 @ 5:13PM|#

" then make sure the right questions can't be asked later by demolishing the scene."

Like when they sold the WTC scrap metal real quick-like. Who knows what they did with the Flt 93 metal. I'm guessing that it ain't in the Smithsonian.

|11.29.05 @ 5:13PM|#

"It's a police flash mob!"

Is there a word that means "funny and depressing all at the same time?"

|11.29.05 @ 5:16PM|#

I'd go with "wry."

|11.29.05 @ 5:17PM|#

What's wrong with LaTeX? You don't like?

Mainly, it messes up my HTML. I can't tell you how many posts I've screwed up by typing it instead of /i .

BTW, thoreau, if you're going to use LaTeX regularly, I recommend getting one of the commercial packages. I know it's all freely available online, but it's usually a huge pain in the ass to configure the free stuff properly. I've been using Visual TeX for the last several years and it is very easy to set up, and will compile directly to PDF as well as DVI. And it uses vector fonts, so you don't have a gazillion font files.

|11.29.05 @ 5:20PM|#

Mathematician-

I had problems creating my bibliography with this new style file that I'm using. That's all. But I got it straightened out.

|11.29.05 @ 5:28PM|#

thoreau--

Actually, I would have been a bit surprised to hear that a PhD physicist didn't already know TeX. But you never know these days...all my students keep trying to use Word with equation editor for everything. Yuck!

|11.29.05 @ 5:36PM|#

Mathematician-

In grad school, some good experimentalists that I knew wrote their papers in Word, since they never needed to include equations, and didn't learn Tex until dissertation time. (Having the dissertation style files makes life SO much easier!) In my current job, most people in my section prefer Word for some strange reason. A theorist actually gave me the "But Word is so much easier!" talk just today.

Go figure.

MP|11.29.05 @ 5:36PM|#

I had problems creating my bibliography with this new style file that I'm using. That's all. But I got it straightened out.

Is the treaty over? You're treading on thin ice here. I may have to report you. ;)

|11.29.05 @ 5:48PM|#

Thoreau-Open Office has a program designed specifically to deal with equations. I don't know how well it works, but it might be worth checking out.

|11.29.05 @ 5:55PM|#

#6-

Thanks for the suggestion, but the journals normally say that they want either Word or Latex. Latex produces excellent, excellent documents in the exact format that the journals want. After peer review and revisions, every detail of the document that you submit is exactly how it will appear in the journal.

It's just that Latex inevitably gives me a headache or two along the way. While writing my thesis I came very close to taking a hammer to my computer.

|11.29.05 @ 6:03PM|#

I love blogs. Somehow I went from being worried about the government destroying America to learning about LaTex. (I really did.) I Googled it and went through a tutorial. It looks cool and easy to learn. Maybe I will put off my rampage for another day.

|11.29.05 @ 6:05PM|#

Wasn't formatting, etc. of publications once done by the publisher? I thought it was the job of the writer to write and the publisher to typeset.

I imagine that it's much more convenient for the publisher to get the writer to do all the work. Then he just has to feed the digital files into his computerized printing gizmo and voila.

So much more convenient for the publisher.

|11.29.05 @ 6:08PM|#

easy to learn

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!

It is cool, however.

The thing with the division of labor between the publisher and writer is that it's nice to be able to see exactly what it will look like. There's no guessing about what the publisher will do. And you don't have to use it exclusively for journal articles. Any sort of scientific document that you want to create will look better in Latex. Not to mention that in some subfields of physics, articles are widely disseminated long before submission to the publisher. (I've resisted that trend, working around engineers and then biologists, but I'm in the minority.)

|11.29.05 @ 6:20PM|#

It was an oblique reference to the division of labor.

If you're a good scientist, why waste your time being good with LaTex?

I know, it's supposedly more efficient.

|11.29.05 @ 6:23PM|#

If you're a good scientist, why waste your time being good with LaTex?

Being able to present your work is part of the job.

|11.29.05 @ 6:29PM|#

It's like the way that politicians have to avoid saying anything stupid in front of a camera. We all say dumb things, and yet that has little bearing on whether or not we can balance a checkbook. Yet with politicians they are given a free pass for getting into debt, yet crucified for dumb remarks.

|11.29.05 @ 6:30PM|#

Well, we who live in the past have a deserved reputation for crotchetiness ... I was referring to scientists in general.

I would have thought that, for empirical subjects, content counted more than form.

My only advice is - never mix your fonts. The LA Times has been doing that lately and it looks like crap.

And, yes, I did do some typesetting back in the day.

|11.29.05 @ 6:39PM|#

This is an in-your-face type of strategy.

Whose face? Terrorists? The public? The folks who appropriate you money? Cui bono?

|11.29.05 @ 7:35PM|#

AC - OK, that's more like it. I could move there...

Re: the tank thing - One of my old bosses actually defended the tank, on the grounds that it was "sending a message" or some horse-hockey like that. And this was a woman in NYC, lest you think it was some red state Bubba or whatever. (Although I have no idea what her politics were like.) I knew there was a reason it was a bad idea to take that job...I've never been so happy about being laid off before or since.

|11.29.05 @ 9:19PM|#

Did I miss the part about them hijacking a bank?

"Turn this bank around; we're taking it to Cuba..."

|11.29.05 @ 9:44PM|#

I was in Miami last week for the holiday. I was crossing my fingers and wishing upon stars that a cop would demand my ID. I would have loved to been a test case.

|11.29.05 @ 10:06PM|#

Good luck ralphus. I take the NYC subway every day and I'm still waiting to so much as see a cop at my station, much less ask to see what's inside my bag.

|11.29.05 @ 11:10PM|#

legislation should be passed requiring that terrorists driver's licenses identify them as such. then the terrorists will stop slipping through the cracks when the police conduct these id checks. terrorists shouldn't be allowed to carry the same ID as me or you...

|11.30.05 @ 12:06AM|#

Everyone get on board, the speeding police cruiser to hell.

Ron Hardin|11.30.05 @ 1:48AM|#

It's a roust.

A roust being ineffectual but annoying procedures to show that something is being done.

The hassle is the point.

It's like searches at airports.

|11.30.05 @ 8:57AM|#

Thoreau

I remember the tank thing in Miami to - or actually just reading about it in somewhere in Cato . What I really remember is their response (paraphrased)

"After 9/11 they put an M1 Abrams in front of the Miami Airport. As if Al-Qaeda was mounting an attack with an armored column."

|11.30.05 @ 9:27AM|#

What gave all you L-wackos the idea that you can walk around minding your own business without being hassled by a gang of stupid goons in uniforms?

That's crazy talk.

Stormy Dragon|11.30.05 @ 4:50PM|#

My favorite bit:

"People are definitely going to notice it," Fernandez said. "We want that shock. We want that awe. But at the same time, we don't want people to feel their rights are being threatened. We need them to be our eyes and ears."

Because nothing make the public want to assist the police like being randomly accosted by SWAT teams.

|11.30.05 @ 8:48PM|#

"Ihre ausweis, bitte!"

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