Home of the free (fwd)

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

I drove through downtown yesterday trying to get to lunch, big mistake. 
The amount of police down there was incredible. As I pulled up to 16th 
street (on Tremont), a small parade of anti-war protesters were marching 
down Tremont (against traffic, it's 1-way) and turned on 16th. Two police 
vehicles, one with 6 riot-geared officers standing on the sides, continued 
to block Tremont for 10 minutes *after* the protestors had turned onto 
16th.

As the group turned down 16th (outdoor 'mall', no private vehicles), the 
parade of police officers that followed was considerably bigger than the 
protest group. First, dozens of police officers, most in riot gear passed. 
Several unmarked vans followed, each full of more riot-geared officers. A 
unit of bicycle officers followed them. Six to ten horse mounted officers 
followed them. Finally, more foot patrol and riot-geared officers.

One of the two police vehicles blocking Tremont finally moved (the other 
stayed), and it took a lot of honking and pointing to convince the car in 
front of me that going through the green light at 16th and going around 
the vehicle was acceptable.

I turned on 15th and only had about 1.5 miles to go to get to lunch. Made 
it maybe halfway before I hit a deadlock. Friends in a car a few blocks up 
couldn't see everything, but said there was a lot of commotion and it 
looked like "someone important arrived". A single unmarked police car lit 
up and turned on the sirens and tried to get through the deadlock, and a 
dozen or more riot-geared officers picked up the pace on the sidewalk to 
head down. I pulled off the road into a parking lot and took Spear Blvd 
behind the convention center to get down to Wazee and left on 15th 
bypassing whatever it was.

In the 20 - 25 minutes I was downtown, I saw police cars from just about 
every county in Colorado. There were as many police as civilians, more on 
some blocks. I imagine that ratio will change this week but it was an 
interesting experience.

I grabbed a few very low quality pics with my phone:

http://attrition.org/~jericho/pix/dated/08-08-24-dnc/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rMslade () shaw ca>
To: funsec () linuxbox org
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:30:18 -0800
Subject: [funsec] Home of the free

"Two U.S. cities will become virtual fortresses during the Democratic and
Republican nominating conventions, protected by airplanes, helicopters, barriers,
fences, and thousands of police officers, National Guard troops, and Secret Service
agents. In Denver, Colorado, where Democrats assemble next week, police are
spending $18 million on equipment alone and will be bolstered by National Guard
troops and hundreds of officers from surrounding suburbs. In St. Paul, Minnesota,
site of the September 1-4 Republican nominating convention, police are calling on
80 law- enforcement agencies to provide 3,000 officers to supplement the city?s
500-person force. The federal money is being spent for security measures such as
fencing and high- tech camera-surveillance systems. More than 1,000 National
Guard troops will help with communication and supplies in Denver, said a
spokesman for the Colorado National Guard. More than 1,000 Minnesota
National Guard troops will help provide security at sites outside the Xcel Center
that are being used by convention participants, said a Guard spokesman. The
North American Aerospace Defense Command, based at Peterson Air Force Base
in Colorado Springs, will also participate. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
plans to use a new version of a computer network that lets all its branch offices
build leads on cases. The Coast Guard will monitor the Mississippi River near the
Xcel Energy Center."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aJgx7Uji1acI&refer=ho
me

======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
Blessed are they who have nothing to say and who cannot be
persuaded to say it.                          - James Russell Lowell
victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/p1/

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