Monday, September 14, 2009

Suspicious carry-on on BART? No problem!!

Interesting observation this morning. A man was carrying a beat up pink paper box, one of those pink boxes you get from bakeries or donut shops. This pink box was a bit ripper up, and it had duct tape all over. It also appeared to be heavier than just donuts or a cake as the man carrying it looked like he was balancing a hefty weight as he walked out of the train and up the escalators.

I know the box could be carrying a host of things, and most likely very harmless items! But, it did look a bit suspicious with the excessive amount of duct tape wrapped around the box, in all direction, and the heavily taped corners. I didn't immediately jump to the worst conclusion but I did pause for a moment to examine the box.

I saw BART police officers straight ahead. The man with the pink box walked right past them, and the officers didn't even look twice.

Obviously nothing happened with the box, otherwise, we would have heard by now, but still, as an officer, I would have at least looked carefully for a second at this out-of-ordinary carry on.

I didn't think this was a huge concern but the box did raise some eyebrows. Just glad it's nothing bad-- maybe the man was just carrying books in the box??

10 comments:

Erik said...

Sounds like it may be time to up the meds.

Anonymous said...

Given your concerns, wouldn't it have made sense to touch base with the BART police officer, who may not have seen the same thing you did?

If you did speak with the officer regarding your observation, what was the response?

Erik said...

When is the last time that BART had a problem instigated by someone carrying an unusual box?

Erik said...

Or for that matter anything that could conceivably go in an unusual box but not in a more normal-looking bag or backpack?

Anonymous said...

homeland security theatre is just tghat a shadow play. BART PD are clearly not very effective with quality of life issues, why would we expect better for real issues?

Brian H. said...

Erik, one of the last times I was on BART a clearly homeless man brought a box filled with what smelled like human waste onto the car with him. The smell was so bad that people had to leave the train car and eventually BART Police had to come on the train to escort him off.

Erik said...

That was a box filled with shit, which is an entirely different issue. This post was about boxes that someone thinks look funny.

Erik said...

Just so we're clear, I'm all for BART employees and riders calling out people carrying passengers carrying boxes that are clearly filled with shit. People carrying boxes that are not clearly filled with shit should be let alone.

Unknown said...

Erik = butthurt BART union employee trolling this blog because it called him and his fellow ATU members out on their greed during the union negotiations.

Erik said...

Well here's something I've never been accused of before.