Results tagged “security”

News broke late last week that Hawk One, the company that was responsible for providing security guards at the District of Columbia's 127 public schools, had gone belly up. The timing couldn't have been worse, as D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee handed out 388 pink slips to teachers and staff on the very day that the Hawk One guards didn't show up to work. The combination may well have exacerbated a skirmish that broke out at McKinley High School on Friday in reaction to the layoffs, during which two people were arrested.

President Barack Obama will be addressing a joint session of Congress tonight to make his big health care speech, so the usual security perimeter around the U.S. Capitol for such events will be in effect. The president's speech is set to begin at 8 p.m., but the Capitol Square will be restricted beginning at 6 p.m. The United States Capitol Police are also advising that the following streets will be closed beginning at 6:30 p.m. until the end of the speech.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty likes to keep active. The man gets up almost every day and runs, bikes or otherwise exercises for a solid hour (if not more), and he likes to be seen always zipping across town to take care of his mayoral business, whether in his little Smart Car or his big Lincoln Navigator. But ever since Fenty got in a fender-bender about a week ago, the Washington Post has had a hard-on about whether or not the mayor did anything wrong to cause the accident, and today Nikita Stewart goes ahead and asks the question: Should the mayor be driving himself around the city at all?

D.C. is just too real for the Real World.

We missed this one in the Examiner this morning: Among the legislative business conducted by the D.C. Council on Tuesday, the body gave initial approval to a bill that would require gas stations in the city to install video surveillance cameras. Reporter Michael Neibauer has fun with his lede: "D.C. Councilwoman Yvette Alexander was victimized at a gas station, and now all District service station owners appear likely to have to pay." The Ward 7 Council member rarely makes headlines, but you may recall that her purse was stolen at a Southeast gas station way back in June, 2007. She introduced this legislation in October of that year, and it's apparently taken this long to bring it to a vote. What was the hold up, Yvette? A second vote is still required before the bill becomes law.

Roll Call's Emily Yehle reports that some drunk guy managed to wander in and out and back in to the Hart Senate Office Building through a parking garage on Monday before finally being stopped by Capitol Police. The incident "appears to be a function of somebody not doing their job." You think? The man, described as having "no malicious intent," was eventually arrested for unlawful entry. Lots of hemming and hawing about human error from officials, and frankly we're surprised this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. One interesting tidbit about the effect of the new Capitol Visitor Center, which was built with the intention of streamlining security procedures: Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer says the new CVC has resulted in "more open doors" and a need for more officers. Earlier today, Terrie S. Rouse, CEO for Visitor Services at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, announced that the center has received one million visitors since it opened in December.

DCist contributor James Calder reports from his morning trek for bagels at Dupont Market on 18th Street this morning: as per his usual routine, James stopped on the way back home at the corner of 18th and T to grab an Express. But as you can see in the above the photo, the box was missing, along with the Washington Post box. A third box had also been spirited away, but he couldn't be sure to which publication it belonged.

The Post updates with word that all the negative press from this morning's stories about the nine Muslim passengers who were booted off of an AirTran flight on Thursday has provoked an apology from the airline. The passengers were removed from a flight heading from National Airport to Orlando.

"We regret that the issue escalated to the heightened security level it did on New Year's Day, but we trust everyone understands that the security and the safety of our passengers is paramount and cannot be compromised," read a company statement. "We apologize to all of the passengers -- to the nine who had to undergo extensive interviews from the authorities and to the 95 who ultimately made the flight. Nobody on Flight 175 reached their destination on time on New Year's Day, and we regret it."

AirTran has also agreed to provide free return airfare and refund the travelers the cost of their tickets on another carrier after AirTran refused to rebook them. The group, made up mostly of a couple of young Muslim professionals from Alexandria and their families, told the Post they still haven't decided if they'll accept the free tickets, since it would mean flying on AirTran again. Can't say we hardly blame them.

Bill Myers reports in the Examiner that Mayor Adrian Fenty's regular bike rides have chalked up at least 178 man-hours for additional police security. "At least 100 times between January 2007 and June 2008, records show, one or more extra officers were paid to accompany Fenty’s bike team and security detail." The records paint a pretty different picture than the mayor's image as a chief executive who tends to drive himself around town without a large security detail or a motorcade. Police union head Kris Baumann told the Examiner the extra hours are "an embarrassment and a waste."

As if travel and transit weren't already bad enough this Thanksgiving weekend, federal authorities are warning of a potential terrorist plot on the New York City subway system during this holiday season. And while the FBI may be calling the threat "plausible but unsubstantiated," WTOP is reporting that D.C.'s Metro system is responding by placing itself on alert as well. A Metro spokesperson told WTOP that they have "no reason to believe that the D.C. system is a target," but Metro Transit Police officers are now being put on a state of "increased vigilance and visibility," meaning you may notice more transit police in Metro stations and at bus stops.

Someone's put together a sensible guide to how to go about refusing to be searched by Metro Transit Police. The Citizen's Guide to Refusing DC Metro Searches has a downloadable half-page PDF you can print out and carry with you or give to friends. A disclaimer takes pains to note that the site isn't providing legal advice, but tips like staying calm, speaking clearly, not running, exiting the station promptly after refusing to be searched and not resisting should you be detained all seem like excellent advice.

The most ominous portion of yesterday's live washingtonpost.com chat with Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn:

Washington, D.C.: I am opposed to these searches and plan on refusing any Metro officer's request to go through my bags. Because I'll be allowed to refuse search and turn around without being detained, I will simply enter the Metro through another escalator or elevator. How do you plan on addressing this loophole?

Continue reading "Be Careful How You Act if You Refuse to be Searched in Metro"

A lot of you have already weighed in with negative initial reactions to WMATA's plan to start a random bag search program on Metro. There's more information available now, with an official release and an expanded WaPo story, so let's break down exactly how this is purportedly going to work:

The Post gets out the first word of WMATA's official announcement that Metro Transit Police will begin conducting random bag searches on Metro. The policy will be similar to that of New York and Boston — both cities began random bag searches after the 2005 London Tube bombings. We'll most certainly have more on this later in the day.