I think, that for the sake of our national security and our very own lives, we all need to be individual sleuths, and report suspicious things. I think we should all have the phone number of the local FBI office and non-emergency police programmed into our cellphones, and call them immediately, when witnessing something strange.
I vaguely remember they caught some terrorists, because someone reported a moving van parked in an unusal place, and insisted that the police check it out -- they found videos of US landmarks, focusing on aspects that no tourists would photograph. I think it was a year or two ago.
Also remember actor James Wood observed and reported when the terrorists were doing a dry run PRIOR to 9-11-01 attack, but at that time, they didn't take him seriously, because the terrorists weren't "doing anything", merely acting suspicious, and not in a way normal passenger would act. If they had, they may have uncovered the whole plot. AFTER 9-11-01, he identified I think two of the terrorists of the 19, who were on his flight in July 2001.
Sure, many of those things could be false alarms, but rather report 100 false alarm, than miss one real event, that could prevent the next attack.
Actually, I was considering not getting on the train and not reporting this twitchy looking dweeb. He really made me nervous and when I was on the train I was getting the worst headache. I figured oh well rather be safe than sorry. After I told the conductor, I had to go sit down becauser I was getting a migraine :(
"I think, that for the sake of our national security and our very own lives, we all need to be individual sleuths, and report suspicious things. I think we should all have the phone number of the local FBI office and non-emergency police programmed into our cellphones, and call them immediately, when witnessing something strange."
I agree. I regret not calling the police right then and there - they could have been very quickly since there are usually a good number of police in the area. I assumed that the B&N security would take care of the situation but I should have known better that they wouldn't bother calling the police. You know, I guess part of it is I didn't want to feel like an idiot for calling the police over what might have been be a trifle. The other part is that I didn't want to freak my friends out. Well, I won't make that mistake again. Several years ago in Arizona I saw several guys on top of a building with a couple rifles. I immediately called the police and within 10 minutes there were SWAT everywhere. They pounced on those dudes so quick, I am sure they s**t their pants. :-) Turns out they were film students at a local city college or something like that and the guns were fake. Heh! Well, in spite of that the police said I definitely did the right thing. I'm sure those kids got an experience they will never forget too! :-)