Chicago police ask you to report people using maps or taking notes in public

Rogier says:

(Click on thumbnail for enlargement) The London police force clearly has the graphic-design edge , but the Chicago Police Department matches if not outshines the British bobbies for the ardor and toxic nuttiness with which it propagates anti-terrorist paranoia. Click on the image to read which categories of people are considered suspects now. You might want to duct-tape your jaw to your face first (be careful not to do this in public; I'm sure the cops consider duct tape highly fishy too).
Like the London example, this flyer is genuine. You can find it on the City of Chicago's website here.
If terrorists do their dirty work by spreading, well, terror, what should we call public servants who aggressively promote fear and unhinged suspicions by telling the public to report note takers, binoculars users, camera enthusiasts, map owners, and motorists who time traffic lights?

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Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Cpt. Tim

I like how the guy i ribbed gave me a smiley wikny combo and the guy i wasn’t talking to got all mad because he has a similar name.

David wins.
Anonymous

Too bad the CPD is not on the lookout for 14 year olds impersonating officers
David

w00t!
woolie

As an urban photographer, I have first hand experience with this kind of “vigilance” on several occasions. Obviously the people defending this have never known how unpleasant it is to be detained and harassed for legal activities. It’s a personal violation, someone exerting brute power over you, a kind of groping, it’s an action to make you helpless and isolated. The authorities are getting their first tastes of a police state, and I’m afraid they like the flavor.

This behavior is consistent with the common failure modes of democratic states. Everyone here should dwell on this for a while. We’ve managed to stand for 200 years without giving up -all- of our liberties to prevent crime, but they all seem to crumble in a couple years in the face of ‘terrorism.’
Dave X

@ #11– Why shouldn’t cops be hunting terrorists? Part of their job is public safety, right? As I read it, the flyer is basically saying that the holidays is a great time for an attack because loads more people pack themselves in malls, and don’t pay attention to much more than whether they’re gonna score the Wii that little Timmy wants for Xmas– so basically, to keep any eye out for anything that looks suspicious, and to report it.

The flyer doesn’t say what they’re doing with the info. Having citizens contact the police makes more sense than having us try to ring up DHS or the FBI, doesn’t it?
gabrielm

This is why I love the boing.

The posts make me think and the comments make me LOL.
JohnnyWeird

Great. As a guy who walks around with a notepad to record ideas outside of the office, this sort of thing messes with my work habits. All these security measures have done for me is make me more scared of the cops than Al Qaeda.
simplehuman

I really enjoy the “suspicious attempts to gain explosives and dangerous chemicals”.

The other night I bought 4 1 gallon bottles of industrial strength drain cleaner at nearly midnight from my local Home Depot…in chicago!

Should I lie face down with my fingers interlaced behind my head and wait for Jack Bauer to come bursting in?

If someone is buying alot of Ammonium Nitrate they’re already going to get flagged in the FBI watch lists anyway. That’s been in place since the OK City bombings.

You can’t even buy FIREWORKS in Chicago, so I don’t know where these chicago-based terrorist cells are buying explosives.

Oh and I bought the drain cleaner because it’s was on sale. Home Depot is enabling terrorism!
Evil Jim

One person in ten million being an actual terrorist is not an excuse for treating all ten million like terrorists.

On the lighter side…
One way to defeat this is to report every single item listed. “Sir, I saw a suspicious police officer taking down suspicious notes while standing suspiciously close to my double parked car.”
airshowfan

“… abandoning potential containers… (e.g. vehicles…)”

So if you park your car somewhere and walk away (which I do a couple times a day), you can expect that you’ll return to see the whole block cordoned off and a bomb-squad unit about to blow your car up?
ill lich

Seems like “busy work” for the cops, it makes them look like they are doing their jobs, but it doesn’t actually contribute to public safety at all. These things are either already suspicious (“attempts to test physical security”) or so vague as to be useless or even counterproductive (people using “binoculars, video, maps”? are we to stop and question all tourists now?). If you’re paranoid even the most inconsequential act can seem “suspicious.”

Why don’t they just put up signs that say “obey the laws”?
Mike Estee

This reminds me of the mall scene from Brazil, when the young hero mistakenly believes the christmas package to be a bomb.

It’s funny, the odds of being killed by another motor vehicle are significantly higher than being killed in a terrorist attack, and yet all this energy is being wasted fearing this tiny little enemy. The best way to fight terrorism is to not be afraid and get on with your life.

The best way to get this posters taken down would be to take them literally at every opportunity…
Another Aaron

Why should cops not be looking for terrorists? Because they’re paid to police the local community and deal with crime issues within that community. Deal with THAT, and the rest will take care of itself.

Folks already call the police when they see something suspicious, they don’t need pointless lists of innocent behaviours to look for. The last time we saw lists like this was during the Red Scare, and look where that got us. Neighbors and coworkers reporting eachother as communists.

For the record, *I* have reported suspicious activity. I handle a map database for a power company near DC. A “contractor company” called up asking for detailed maps of all the gas mains under and around BWI….they followed none of the proper security protocols, didn’t have the proper ID numbers, and their company didn’t exist when I attempted to verify what information they did give. It was reported to security, who then reported to the necessary folks. A few weeks later, we discovered that power & gas companies up and down the East Coast had received similar exploratory calls.

THAT’S suspicious activity. Carrying a notepad in a mall is NOT.
ill lich

I just noticed the “call 911″ at the bottom– are they trying to clog up 911 with pointless calls? I’m sure if I called 911 with reports of “suspicious activity” they’d tell me “sir, 911 is for emergencies only, is this an emergency?”
Chorske

Holy smokes, we’re turning into a nation of squealers. I think some of the blame goes to America’s Most Wanted and McGruff for getting the general public addicted to providing tips to LE. Who needs cops when we all spy on each other?
nerak

Anthropologists in Chicago are screwed too, we’re known for being the nerds with notepads in odd places.
Epicanis

I’m beginning to wonder how it can possibly be that things like this don’t fall into the same category as “shouting ‘Fire’ in a crowded theater”.

Do we need a law prohibiting “incitement of terror”?
Another Aaron

The Fuslims are after us too? Well CRAP. Maybe all this IS called for after all.
Chorske

@#22 Awesome post. A great example of what should be going on: people using experience and jugement to weed out potential problems, rather than stupid checklists.
Dave X

“are we to stop and question all tourists now?). If you’re paranoid even the most inconsequential act can seem “suspicious.” #20

Doesn’t that just go along with what I was saying about our responsibility as citizens to take these directions sensibly? It’s as if you just want to be outraged, so you’re deliberately ignoring the ability of citizens to act sensibly. Consider all the street photographers who HAVEN’T had their film impounded, or been harassed.

all this energy is being wasted fearing this tiny little enemy.. #21
It’s a flyer, and it’s asking you to call a hotline. That’s hardly a tremendous waste of energy or resources.
Alex

Wow… cameras, video, maps, planning routes… perhaps someone is getting “terrorist” and “tourist” mixed up.
M

If you live in Chicago and read the paper these days, you will realize that this is simply the Chicago police department’s attempt to keep the cops away from their normal work of beating up citizens in bars while being recorded by security cameras.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49kgG0s7lVk
http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/Chicago.Police.police.2.336027.html
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/special.operations.section.2.341295.html
belchy

The fliers really aren’t a huge deal. Most people will respond reasonably to them. The key here is for the AUTHORITIES to provide a proportionate response to someone’s tip. If three city blocks are shut down because someone forgot a package on the sidewalk, then we have a problem.
Another Aaron

The resources get wasted when the police have to follow up on nonsense tips.

And the American public, sensible? Groups of people (anywhere) are rarely sensible, especially when it comes to identifying “the bad guy.”
PhiCancri

“… abandoning potential containers…”

I guess this means one should avoid the Chicago area if they plan on doing any Geocaching. Not that leaving empty ammo containers in percarious areas was getting people excited about “teh terroritz” before…
PhiCancri

“… abandoning potential containers…”

I guess this means one should avoid the Chicago area if they plan on doing any Geocaching. Not that leaving empty ammo containers in percarious areas was getting people excited about “teh terroritz” before…
The Unusual Suspect

@ #26: “Big joke to you have haven’t seen a car bomb’s result. These Fuslims want to kill us. Vigilance is a good thing, and our habits may have to shift a bit as we defeat this committed enemy. The scumbags who tried to blow up Heathrow were physicians, UK born and raised, and wealthy. Help get the f-ers. Join the team.”

WWEBoing demonstrates too much inside knowledge of terrorist activities. He must be a terrorist! REPORT HIM! REPORT HIM!

(See how it works now?)
certron

#11, #22, I’ll see your HUAC and raise you a H.R. 1955 / S. 1959 aka the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_House_Resolution_1955

Passed through the House 404 to 6. I hope you aren’t planning to tell anyone about your plan to become a vegetarian political guitarist! That’s just too extreme. Planning on organizing or attending a protest? Don’t even think it! Literally!

Here is the definitions section from the passed House bill:

(1) COMMISSION- The term `Commission’ means the National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism established under section 899C.

(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization’ means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.

(3) HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.

(4) IDEOLOGICALLY BASED VIOLENCE- The term `ideologically based violence’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual’s political, religious, or social beliefs.
Dave X

“And the American public, sensible? Groups of people (anywhere) are rarely sensible, especially when it comes to identifying “the bad guy.”

And your constructive proposition here is to what? Not ask people to report suspicious activity, because you think they’re too stupid? Or to only trust “qualified” folks to figure it all out (even as you clearly find fault with their ways currently)… ?

I’m not for a return of the red scare or anything (believe me, I’m not even approaching “normal”) but frankly, I don’t see what the alternative to things like this would be.
Jay Levitt

So if you park your car somewhere and walk away (which I do a couple times a day)

@Air: First, I wish you wouldn’t discuss terrorist techniques here. This is a public forum. They might get ideas.

Second, I really can’t say too much, because they’re watching me, but let’s just say: Please keep your car with you at all times.
Another Aaron

The alternative is for the CIA and the FBI to actually talk to eachother, for whoever’s in office to actually listen to the terrorist warnings of his or her advisors (Clark), and for our police to actually focus their activities on the crime ridden areas of our inner cities versus ticketing speeders and chasing terrorists.

Yes, terrorists exist, but your average police officer is never going to come across one. Yes, that police officer should pay attention to what comes “across their desk,” and so should the average citizen, but NEITHER should be encouraged to start picking out random suspicious people from their neighbors and co-shoppers.
Pieps

My favorite was this summer, when the “if you see something, say something” PSA was going over the 1970′s-era loudspeakers at El stops. The abysmal sound quality added to the Big Brother-esque feel of it all.

Too bad they’re not playing anymore, I’d really like to have recorded that business.
David

@38 – Yes, terrorists exist, but your average police officer is never going to come across one.

Using that logic, we should take away all firearms from police officers since the average cop never pulls his out . . . his gun I mean.
dglenn

@29: “Consider all the street photographers who HAVEN’T had their film impounded, or been harassed.”

I might find it a bit easier to do so if my perspective hadn’t been coloured by having been harassed for taking photos in public. (In the fog, yet.) I’m well aware that ‘anecdote’ is not the singular of ‘data’, but the experience does make it a little harder to give more weight to all the folks who haven’t gotten taken to the police station for questioning yet than the fact that some of us do get hassled to varying degrees pointlessly.

@40: “we just need to round up all the non-whites, and all the liberals [...] Oh, wait. I’m not white. Forget what I just said”

I’m in sort of a curious position there: anybody looking at me an expecting to see (the American interpretaton of) “white” will do so with nary a doubt. But someone expecting to see something else may well tag me as “brown” (meaning, in this case, Middle Eastern, usually, though I’ve also been mistaken for Indian (and several other categories)).

I’m half-WASP and half Greek, raised thinking of myself as “white”, no asterisk, no caveats.

(This, of course, is a perfect lead into to an anti-racialism* rant which would be both too long and too much of a tangent to politely indulge in here. So maybe I’ll blog it later if I have time.)

[*] That is, the meme-set upon which racism is based, and which I would like to eschew entirely except that because racism does exist and need to be talked about, we’re stuck acknowledging the memes behind it in order to discuss it and fight against it. *sigh*
dainel

All this is totally unnecessary. All these calls to 911 will put an undue strain on the police. Instead, we just need to round up all the non-whites, and all the liberals, and ship them off to Gitmo. Then the country will be totally safe. There are no white terrorists. At least those that are not liberals.

Oh, wait. I’m not white. Forget what I just said. :)
Another Aaron

Now that’s just being silly.

One, the cop HAVING a fire arm PREVENTS the cop from having to pull it out most of the time.

Two, I doubt that statistic holds up for beat cops in West Baltimore, Compton, a lot of DC, and a bazillion other high crime areas in the US.

Three, it’s my understanding that the average cop in Britain DOESN’T carry a firearm and it works over there. (I think that would be a bad idea in Baltimore, but it might work in a lot of other places in the US.)

Four, that was just being silly.
Keeper of the Lantern

On the LIRR a few years ago they had “If you see something,say something” posters that showed a photo of a greasy bag. Really.

As for me, as a New Yorker (now living in London) I have no plans to say ANYTHING: It’ll only fuel a bunch of silliness and hysteria. In fact, have any of these programs EVER stopped a terrorist even once?
Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator

Owwww, my head hurts. Somebody tell me Certron (35) is wrong. I don’t want to believe that.

Father Brown (4), you’re being sententious. David (5), I thumb my nose at you. DaveX (6), I was fine with Cpt. Tim’s comment. He’s been pretty sharp today.

DaveX again (and I’m arguing with you respectfully because I know you no one’s fool), what you have to ask yourself is, “What’s the stupidest interpretation someone could give these instructions, and how likely is that to actually occur?” That flyer has a rating of “extremely stupid : way too likely.” All the comprehensible instructions are things people would report anyway. If you can tell for sure that someone’s trying to “improperly acquire” explosives, weapons, ammunition, dangerous chemicals, official vehicles, uniforms, badges, or access devices, what else are you going to do? Ask if they’re free on Saturday night? Put them on your Christmas card list?

That “abandoning potential containers for explosives” bit is just plain sloppy. At first I genuinely thought they meant you were to watch out for people who were abandoning empty containers. After all, if a container were filled with explosives, it would be an actual container for explosives, not a potential one. What they wanted was “abandoning possible containers for explosives” — or, even better, “abandoning containers which could possibly contain explosives.”

The part that has the highest “extreme stupidity : high likelihood” is the one that tells you to report people who don’t look like they ought to be where they are. That’s like asking people to haul out their most unquestioned prejudices and unload them to a police officer or 911 operator.

As for having the police hunting terrorists — no. Bad idea. They’re not trained for it. They have other important things to do. Also, police are a constant-surveillance mechanism, and terrorism is a low-probability event. If they don’t really know what they’re looking for, but they’re told to be on the lookout for it anyway, all they’re going to do is turn up lots of false positives.

It could be worse. It could be Boston.

Another Aaron (22): Thank you. You’re made of win.

Phicancri (32), geocachers are already getting busted.
M

@29, also–”It’s as if you just want to be outraged, so you’re deliberately ignoring the ability of citizens to act sensibly. Consider all the street photographers who HAVEN’T had their film impounded, or been harassed.”

Yeah, consider all of the people in any situation who don’t actively squeal. I’m not impressed: that, alone, never seems sufficient to prevent abuse when the “authorities” are on a roll. In fact, when bad things happen, good people with brains hide. [I had a personal Chicago story to tell here, but I decided that I'd better leave it out, beause I don't want trouble, and that fear, in itself, is the problem here]. I don’t care if 97% of the populace act properly–the’ve NEVER been the ones we need to worry about, anyway.
mojo_jojo

…and while you are busy watching my partner in crime take pics, i will be picking your pocket…
David

@42 – thppppttt!
ill lich

“Consider all the street photographers who HAVEN’T had their film impounded, or been harassed.”

This is ridiculous backwards logic. First of all, who has statistics on this to show how many have been harassed vs. how many have been ignored? Secondly, this is like the Bush administration pointing to “all the terrorist attacks that haven’t happened” as somehow proving that they are doing their job– it’s specious reasoning. Thirdly, we are all supposed to be innocent until proven guilty– impounding film “just to be safe” is a blow to all of our freedoms. It’s like saying “well, you haven’t actually done anything illegal, but we’ll lock you up just in case”– you might say it’s alright, until it happens to you.
Tom

DaveX @29: “Consider all the street photographers who HAVEN’T had their film impounded, or been harassed.”

That’s like defending the death penalty by pointing to all the people who HAVEN’T been proven innocent after they’ve been killed.

As citizens we need to hold the organs of the state to a high standard of performance. This sort of advice poster conspicuously fails to meet it.

And the citizens who are producing and promoting this kind of advice are failing to meet the very standard you yourself are promoting, that of not acting like idiots.

I guess some citizens are more equal than others in your view.
Halloween Jack

“Consider all the street photographers who HAVEN’T had their film impounded, or been harassed.”

Over 97% of Airstrip One citizens have not been interned in the Ministry of Love! Doubleplusgood! We love Big Brother!
Foolster41

Good to see Chicago is serious about the war against tourism.. (Couldn’t resist).

Seriusouly, tourists are not allowed to take commemorative pictures or get lost and need maps? I’ll grant using binoculars in a city is a little strange except at sporting events.

But seriously this just another sign that paranoia and seeing every little thing as a possible terrorist threat has gone too far.
ill lich

“It could be worse. It could be Boston.” –moderator Teresa

See. . . now if this HAD occurred in Boston you’d be pointing at it as proof of Boston’s paranoia and stupidity. It didn’t occur in Boston, and yet it is still used to impugn Boston.

I assume you were joking, but some people want to believe stereotypes (life is so much easier that way), don’t go out of your way to perpetuate them. I’m not saying the Boston Police were reasonable in the ATHF scare; they clearly over-reacted, but Police do that everywhere, including in this case, Chicago. In other words, don’t blame Boston, blame the POLICE. I don’t blame New York City when a NY cop sodomizes a suspect with a broom handle, I blame the cop.
Bat Guano

If you live in chicago, carry around the flyer. Anytime you see someone taking notes or using a camera, do as the flyer says — CALL 911! If the cops accuse you of abusing the 911 system, show them the flyer.
Davin

We should call them the reason we can’t have nice things in this world.
DMcK

So far the immediate vicinity around my place of work has been cordoned off and paralyzed for hours at a stretch by nervous nellies calling in the bomb squads (robots included!) to investigate (a) an empty paint can, and (b) a trash can filled with (gasp!) trash. Oh yeah, and Boston. This “see something, say something” crap is an utterly counterproductive waste of time; the average joe schmoe citizen doesn’t have the slightest clue how to identify actual “suspicious behavior” if it was happening in front of their face. But I guess the real purpose is to keep us terrified, and thus compliant.
mellowknees

Crap! I was planning on hosting the Annual Note-Takers and Container Abandoners Conference in Chicago this year. Looks like we’ll have to find another venue…
eander315

Reporting systems that produce too much information like this usually fail rather quickly.
Moon

The Chicago Police should spend their time giving tickets to buttheads who run red lights and/or drive while talking on their cell phone.

Not only would it make the City safer, it would eliminate or reduce the sales tax. Seriously, if they only ticketed 10% of the people doing those two things, they could collect enough to balance the City budget with no cuts in spending.
David

Why doesn’t BoingBoing stick with it’s slogan of being a directory of wonderful things instead of trying to be a civil rights platform. There are other websites that do this better and more effectively.
Dave X

I may be the only person to say it, but I feel for the cops. It’s got to be tough to find out about any sort of real terrorism before it actually happens– putting up a flyer may convince an otherwise-shy person to come forward with something useful.

And be truthful.. as citizens, it’s our job to be sensible about things like this flyer. Just because the police list “note-taking” doesn’t mean that we’re all going to fly off the handle when we spot a shopping list…

Calling this an aggressive promotion of fear is pretty ridiculous.
acx99

Dear U.S.A,

Boo!

Yours sincerely,

Europe.
Cpt. Tim

I propose an amendment to Boing Boings name:

Boing Boing: If David doesn’t want to read it, no ones twisting his arm.
Dave X

@ #7– Or how about “Boing Boing: If you’re not with us, you’re against us! Go back where you came from! As a captain, I outrank you! HAHAHAHAHAHA! Jeez, how many times can one man be disemvoweled?”
Kragshot

Being a resident of the burg in question, I have to say that this was only a matter of time. The authorities in Chi-town have been abusing its citizenry for decades, since the Democratic National Convention in 1968, and before.

They are actively putting cameras on all the street corners on the South Side (where the majority of African Americans live) and it’s only going to get worse.

But then and again, you know that there is a serious problem with our municipalities when the primary focus of law enforcement is the generation of revenue, not protecting the citizenry….
cavalaxis

“Suspicious reporting of lost or stolen identification”

WTF? It sounds like they’re trying to warn people about standard social engineering attacks, but they haven’t got a good enough grasp of the concept to be able to articulate a sensible warning against the same.

As for the whole mess, to quote FDR, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
Cpt. Tim

I was talking about David, the poster above you who was complaining about what boing boing chooses to post, not you, david X.

I had no issues with what you said… but.. umm.. eff you i guess?
Another Aaron

Cops aren’t supposed to be hunting terrorists. If they run across evidence of them during their daily duties, they should report it (or even deal with it). Otherwise, that is a task for the FBI and others who are (in theory) better trained in those areas.

How quickly we’ve forgotten HUAC (The House Un-American Activities Committee) and the Red Scare.
David

@#7 — I propose an amendment to Boing Boings name:

Boing Boing: If David doesn’t want to read it, no ones twisting his arm

Nice thought, but I don’t think they’d go for it. However, if the powers that be want to run everything by me first, I’m game. ;-)
Dave X

I knew who you meant, Cap’n– I just think you’re rude.