BEWARE OF SWARTHY MEN CARRYING CAMERAS (FBI Getting "a lot" of Reports)

October 11, 2001 | be-baw

[Jay W]

I need to upgrade to Thought Editor 7.0. I wrote:

"the distinction between citizen and soldier "

but meant the distinction between civilian and soldier!

I shall now do 50 pushups as punishment for implying that soldiers are not citizens! And if that's not enough, I'll do 50 more!

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Call the national hotline. My FBI guy was pretty interested in my story and my story was a stretch... I called anyway. YOu can get it on web site. Please call because My mom and Dad will be near nuclear power plant on west side of MI this weekend.

[Fred25]

We citizens are going to have to do some of this investigative work ourselves. We can’t always expect “the government” to be on top of everything and to always protect us. I don’t mean we should go out and harass Arabs, but we should certainly be keeping an eye on them right now (in my humble opinion).

[SarahW]

This sounds VERY serious, there is no innocent explanation for it.

I hope the Costco manager had the presence of mind to save the security tapes, and to call the FBI himself.

IMHO calling the FBI might not be as good as calling the local police ON THE SPOT - have the police come and shake 'em down, get their ID, ask them what they are up to, ask what they were filming, etc.

Hard to get over that "oh, I'm just overreacting" feeling, but if I observe anything like that, I'm calling the cops. Period.

[SarahW]

This sounds VERY serious, there is no innocent explanation for it.

I hope the Costco manager had the presence of mind to save the security tapes, and to call the FBI himself.

IMHO calling the FBI might not be as good as calling the local police ON THE SPOT - have the police come and shake 'em down, get their ID, ask them what they are up to, ask what they were filming, etc.

Hard to get over that "oh, I'm just overreacting" feeling, but if I observe anything like that, I'm calling the cops. Period.

[flamefront]

This guy did not seem interested in hearing about it. I say this because he did not ask me any questions, as I expected he would.

I guess ...

The VietNam war was managed as a body-count war (whether true or false).

This anti-terror war is an FBI-tip count war.

[Fury]

Yep, the current events are making being a railfan a difficult one. I am all for a neighborhood watch concept and have had several people tell me to stop taking pictures of trains at some very popular places to do so.

Am always very pleasant and show ID to the folks and one person said they were going to call the State Police. I said fine and I will be here taking some pics of the trains when they arrive... ;)

[SarahW]

This sounds VERY serious, there is no innocent explanation for it.

I hope the Costco manager had the presence of mind to save the security tapes, and to call the FBI himself.

IMHO calling the FBI might not be as good as calling the local police ON THE SPOT - have the police come and shake 'em down, get their ID, ask them what they are up to, ask what they were filming, etc.

Hard to get over that "oh, I'm just overreacting" feeling, but if I observe anything like that, I'm calling the cops. Period.

[jwh_Denver]

You didn't send over a couple dozen doughnuts first? Well, what do you expect?

[be-baw]

I think the Detroit FBI office is a dry hole, so I intend to file an online report on the FBI's terrorist website. In addition, a kind and diligent freeper has given me (via freepmail) the means to contact a veteran FBI agent with whom he is closely acquainted.

Furthermore, I will make sure that the gentleman who is in charge of emergency response for our local police is notified. I've already met with him and one of his detectives regarding security at our water treatment plant. I suspect my boss won't like it, but too bad.

[be-baw]

I think the Detroit FBI office is a dry hole, so I intend to file an online report on the FBI's terrorist website. In addition, a kind and diligent freeper has given me (via freepmail) the means to contact a veteran FBI agent with whom he is closely acquainted.

Furthermore, I will make sure that the gentleman who is in charge of emergency response for our local police is notified. I've already met with him and one of his detectives regarding security at our water treatment plant. I suspect my boss won't like it, but too bad.

[Dave S]

My mom and Dad will be near nuclear power plant on west side of MI this weekend.

My uncle was one of the contractors on that plant. Hope they dont go after it, my parents live about 35 miles down wind.

[Labyrinthos]

Perhaps the FBI lacked interest in your phone call because your boss already reported the incident. Also possible that the 3 middle eastern looking guys were actually G-Men testing the security at the plant. I say that because in my former life, I worked for a large multi-national corporation, which required security badges to enter certain highly sensitive areas within the building. Undercover security personnel set up sting operations where they would tell a person entering a secure area that they left their badge at their desk and "would you mind letting me in because I'm late for a meeting." If the person hesitated, the security guy might add, "Come on Bob, we've worked together for years and you know how bit*hy Anne can get if you show up late to one of her meetings." If the person let the security guy in, then he was fired on the spot and escorted from the building.

[jrewingjr]

We all need to be thinking about what the targets might be in our own neighborhoods and keeping our eyes open. What's a target? We all know our home areas better than outsiders; we are going to notice things that are out of place locally before the feds will.

The public at large definitely tends to take things more at face value, hence the title sheeple. If a Freeper sees a middle east looking type taking pictures of a chemical plant, we don't just "move along now" and assume that Achmed is just a foreign student taking tourist pictures. I know that I would be making a citizen's arrest on his ass, and he better have more than a boxcutter.

Freepers make up a vast, diverse network. Thousands of eyes and ears. We all come with different occupations, talents, and abilities, but together we all make up one hell of a team.

Yes, I know the feds will have some intel that we won't, but while they are squeezing informants and analyzing data, locals will SEE things directly as they happen. Our whole nation is now under attack, and we are all "soldiers" in this effort.

Be alert, and stay safe, everyone.

[be-baw]

I'm trying to call the national hotline. The line is busy, but I'll keep trying. If it's any solace to you, my plant is near Lansing, about 90 miles from Lake Michigan.

[be-baw]

I called the FBI National Hotline. I gave the woman I spoke with my name, home and work phone numbers, and the pertinent info. I asked her what she will do with the info--she said she will report it up the chain. She gave me her operator number.

[Kryptonite]

I think taking their pictures is a GREAT idea! If they want to pretend that they're just innocently looking for scholarly photo ops, they should have no problem whatsoever having their pictures taken. Then, ask them for identification and photocopy/lasercolor copy that. And finally, shake 'em down -- stall while someone else calls the FBI.

[FrogMom]

Happened to us at work today. A gate closed and streets blocked everywhere - 3 "Iranian" men with cameras photographing the entry and security at the Post main gate. MPs handled it, don't know all the details.

[jwalsh07]

Do what you think is right be-baw!

[MississippiMan]

My guess is that those "students" taking photos of power plants, dams, factories, government buildings and what not are actively involved in an intelligence-gathering operation, and must be assumed to be doing so.

Agreed. It's also my guess that these people go back to their apartments and belly laugh at our naivete and stupidity as they plot to kill us.

There's even a fairly deep rift in the approach to this situation right here on FR. (Note the sarcastic "SKY IS FALLING" thread and hundreds if not thousands of similar comments that currently populate the boards.) And this is between people that are normally of a reasonably similar mindset on many issues. Not this one.

I for one take it very seriously. Life here did forever change on 9/11 when those towers came toppling down, and rest assured that those people aren't close to being finished with their attempts.

MM