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Hains Point is something of a peaceful getaway for the area's cyclists and runners -- generally free from vehicular traffic, the 3-mile loop also known as East Potomac Park is flat and affords views of the Washington Channel and the Potomac River. And while the park is nowhere near any of the city's office buildings or monuments, one cyclist recently learned not to assume that the U.S. Park Police that patrols it isn't sensitive to perceived security threats.
I rode my bike down to Hains Point yesterday around 6 p.m. to do a few laps, only to be informed as I approached that the park had been shut down to all traffic. Not wanting to pick a fight with Park Police officers over what seemed like an arbitrary and unexplained end to my day, I turned around and rode back home alongside a number of other cyclists who were equally miffed. This morning, though, I found out that it was actually someone I had planned to meet in the park who was responsible for the shutdown. He wrote:
I went there straight from work so I had my bag with me. I didn't want to do laps with my bag so I locked it to a fence post. I got back on the bike and saw [name redacted] almost immediately. We did a lap and then found that the road was closed when we got back to the top of the loop. We did a few more laps and then decided to leave. I went to get my bag and it was gone. I went to the park police to report it stolen. It turns out that my bag was the reason they shut down the street. They had come in to "clear" my bag. I guess they thought I was trying to blow up a random part of Hains Point. I did get my bag back and didn't get arrested.Let this serve as reminder for all you cyclists and runners out there -- security is security, whether in front of a federal building or in an isolated park.
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"Let this serve as reminder for all you cyclists and runners out there..."
Why isn't this a reminder to everyone? Why single groups out?
I guess you folks don't watch Al Jazeera. A rogue Al Quaeda splinter faction made up of disgruntled botanists and bicycle enthusiasts released a tape threatening America's public parks, playgrounds, botanical gardens, turf farms, and flower nurseries. As a result, Homeland Security has elevated the Alert Level from Blackwatch Plaid to The Cover of the Seminal Rush Album "Moving Pictures."
Another example of the pointless and paranoid terrorism/security mania that has been the norm since 9/11/2001. Aargh! Be afraid, vote Republican!
let this serve as a reminder to everyone: we are a nation full of paranoid people.
Come on people, this could have been a serious plot to blow up an isolated fence post in an area with very few people around! I can understand the Metro's "Is that your bag?" reminders, but people really need to moderate their paranoia when they get out into the outside world . . .
It's a hard-learned lesson. As with any public place, you shouldn't leave your bags unattended. Officers who find your bag aren't going to automatically assume it's innocent, because it's possible it's not. They don't know, either way, so they'll be cautious and find out for themselves. That said, I don't know what cyclists and runners can do with their bags if they (rightfully) don't want to lug them around while they do laps. I guess if they can stow them out of sight, they would lessen the risk, or alternatively they could alert security that that IS their bag, thereby getting it vetted beforehand.
Look out terrorists. USA is #1 in detaining and blowing up unaccompanied backpacks. Who says Bush/Cheney aren't leaving a glorious legacy?
I can understand a bag left in the subway, or next to a monument, or in a high-traffic area, but come on. A fence in the middle of nowhere? I know it's a National Park and all, but this is really overkill. What's next? Blowing up unattended Hello Kitty lunchboxes and Bratz backpacks in the Grand Canyon? It's already a big goddamned hole in the ground! Who's going to want to blow it up? How about full body cavity searches for everyone going to see the Cherry Blossoms? I'll even volunteer! I can show tourists my collection of rare scrimshaw colonial american anal love beads. One at a time. Bow chika bow wow.
There must have been a crime scene investigation at Hains Point. They dug up an absolutely huge body down there recently.
Forget about the rampant paranoia in this story - what I want to know is, how is locking up a bag supposed to secure it and its contents? Aren't zippers fairly easy to open? Hmm.
Me thinks the Park Police are a bit "trigger happy". Next thing you know they will consider an discarded McDonald's bag a "suspicious package".
I'm with DCfist, enough about paranoia and stupid police tricks (we all know), what is up with locking up a bag? Was it a backpack? A courier? Did he put a chain through the bag strap and think to himself "impenetrable!" Amazing, I have never heard nor seen someone just lock a bag up outside.
Normally I would agree with the posters that the Park Police's reaction was a bit much, but keep in mind the bombing at the recruitment station in NYC that happened oh...yesterday? I know there is a huge difference between Times Square and the middle of friggin' nowhere.. But I don't blame the police for being a bit paranoid so soon after a recent bombing. So some recreational bikers got a bit put out - hardly a huge price to pay.
Perhaps his bag had locking velcro and padlock zippers and a stylish exterior of Kevlar/steel fabric resistant to hard pulls?
"But I don't blame the police for being a bit paranoid so soon after a recent bombing. So some recreational bikers got a bit put out - hardly a huge price to pay."
Actually, I disagree. We're paying a huge price for this paranoid securitocracy that our nation has become. Just stroll around our fair city and you'll see what I'm talking about: recklessly strewn jersey barriers around the Lincoln Memorial, propped-up metal barricades at the base of the Capitol Steps, security screenings to get into the Botanic Gardens, the shutting down of an isolated, near-empty park in the middle of nowhere because of an orphan backpack--to what end?
People tend to forget that our government was based upon the idea of openness and transparency--while practically everything today screams the opposite.
To be sure, it would be a bummer if an unattended backpack exploded at Hains Point and took out a couple of trees. But I'd be willing to take my chances on that happening if it meant I could drop my backpack off next to a fencepost for a few laps around a park without creating a national security issue.
"But I don't blame the police for being a bit paranoid so soon after a recent bombing. So some recreational bikers got a bit put out - hardly a huge price to pay."
Actually, I disagree. We're paying a huge price for this paranoid securitocracy that our nation has become. Just stroll around our fair city and you'll see what I'm talking about: recklessly strewn jersey barriers around the Lincoln Memorial, propped-up metal barricades at the base of the Capitol Steps, security screenings to get into the Botanic Gardens, the shutting down of an isolated, near-empty park in the middle of nowhere because of an orphan backpack--to what end?
People tend to forget that our government was based upon the idea of openness and transparency--while practically everything today screams the opposite.
To be sure, it would be a bummer if an unattended backpack exploded at Hains Point and took out a couple of trees. But I'd be willing to take my chances on that happening if it meant I could drop my backpack off next to a fencepost for a few laps around a park without creating a national security issue.
amen, 14thandYou. i'm glad that someone else feels the way i do about this...
And of course nobody would ever hide a bomb in one of the hundreds of thousands of cars parked around DC or any major city...only in bags or cleverly packed inside the tubes of a bicycle frame...the authorities' paranoria of bicycles in never ending...look at all the crimes (and problems) associated with cars but let something happen where a bicycle is used, the world is then told to fear bicyclists (not car drivers)
Help, I've got 18 bicycles in my basement!
And of course nobody would ever hide a bomb in one of the hundreds of thousands of cars parked around DC or any major city...only in bags or cleverly packed inside the tubes of a bicycle frame...the authorities' paranoria of bicycles in never ending...look at all the crimes (and problems) associated with cars but let something happen where a bicycle is used, the world is then told to fear bicyclists (not car drivers)
Help, I've got 18 bicycles in my basement and they look dangerous!