Posted on 10/11/2001 1:49:43 PM PDT by be-baw
I work in a power plant in Michigan. Last Friday afternoon, three young middle eastern-looking men showed up in the plant carrying cameras. They asked for a tour so they can take pictures for a photo-journalism college class they were taking. My boss, the plant director, talked with them, got the name of their professor and turned them away. Having noticed the discussion I talked with my boss afterwards. I asked them if he thought that was peculiar. He said yes. I asked him if he was going to call the police. He didn’t answer. He just turned around and walked away.
This afternoon I noticed on Free Republic a post about three Pakistani men who were discovered inside of a water treatment in Hudson, New York. The similarity of that incident to the one in my plant seemed like it was far beyond coincidental. I called my boss (I’m off today), and told him about it. He told me he had contacted the professor of the three students. The professor told him he thought he knew who those three students were, but that they had had no specific assignment to try to get pictures of our plant. My boss told me he would follow up, without being specific how he planned to it.
Well, I decided I wanted to know for sure that the proper people were being notified, so after contemplating for a couple of hours, I decided to call the FBI. The office listed in my phone directory is in Detroit. I called and was connected to the command center. The gentleman I spoke with would not give me his name. I started out by telling him that I work in a power plant and three students showed up wanting to take pictures. “Oh yeah,” he said,”we’re getting a lot of that.” “What do you make of it,” I asked. “We don’t know what to make of it,” he said.
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. Finally, I asked him, “Well, don’t you want to know more about it?” “Sure,” he said, “go ahead.” So I explained the rest to him. I asked what he thinks we should do. He said if it happens again, ask them for picture identification.
I find this rather disturbing. It sounds as if this is happening all over the country, yet those who have a responsibility to investigate don’t seem to want to pursue it. One would think, at the very least, warnings out to be going out to utilities to beware of swarthy men carrying cameras…
Bravo for you, be-baw. I also like the suggestion that others have put forth about arming yourself with a camera. A digital camera would be ideal and many can be easily tucked comfortably in a pocket.
MM
No. He is not an example of a swarthy man you shoot on sight(although deserving of such). He is an example of a swarthy man at whose nose one tosses seating objects.
Of course we need to inform law enforcement agencies, but what else can we do besides just that? Suggestions?
Fortunately, they would need a BIG bomb to take it out.
Did you hear of the dead dog in Nepaug Res? Some oil slick around it?
I have a fear, but I wont post it online, but it scares the string-beans out of me, so I hope the terrorists don't think of fit.
then, call the local news outlets/tv. stations. Now.
It's ridiculous that the Detroit Bureau of the FBI acted in this way. Did you have a chance to ask him WHY he wouldn't give you his name?
WE are going to have to be the eyes and ears.
Perhaps the FBI is overloaded. But if they are, they need to beef up their staff as soon as possible, since, according to reports that I have heard, they are dependent for the most part on tips from citizens. If they have to ignore tips because they are overloaded, then we are in big trouble.
He said something to the effect of "we don't do that." When I called the FBI National Hotline and asked for a name, the woman told me, "Operator 63."
I would hope that the FBI and other national security organizations are recruiting big time. I fear we may have been caught with our pants down. I'm inclined to believe that hiring on to the FBI requires a lengthy screening process.
I recently bought a Nikon Coolpix 775, and am very happy with it so far. It is small and light enough to carry in my pocket, takes good pictures, and it was a pretty good price. I have better quality film cameras, but they are large, so I got this one for times when I want to carry around a camera without the effort of my large cameras.
I got the same kind of detached, mellow response from the FBI operator. BUT!! Within an hour the posts stopped. This was nearly MIDNIGHT on Saturday. Sunday morning all the posts had been pulled from the ISP. The poster has not been heard from in the last four days. Take heart, the FBI is following up and very quickly!
Michigan just went to a shall-issue system for CCW's.
Get yourself a carry permit, get trained and start carrying. All the time. Unless your workplace makes you go through a metal detector there are numerous small pistols that you can carry 24/7 without anyone knowing.
There is a photo attachment that fits a Palm. However I use what I think is the smallest Palm there is (Handspring Visor Edge) and it's still not as compact as a Minox.
The problem with Minox is getting the film developed. I say, get the little Nikon and throw it in a desk drawer or jacket pocket.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
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