Police are real stupid

[Conquest10]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_on_re_us/suspicious_devices

These have been up for weeks. This is a shot of one of them from two weeks ago:
http://toddvanderlin.com/blog/2007/01/16/adult-swim-ad/

[adam]

I don't think the police are stupid for this at all, its the producers of that show who are at fault for not clearing this with police first. At night the image is visible but it seems that during the day its just a blank LED panel and a circuitboard on the back. If you look at the slideshow of pictures in your link it does look like it could easily be a bomb.

Here is a picture of the panel at night.


And here it is during the day, and I guess without the LED panel.

[Conquest10]

They have been up for weeks. This is one from Philadelphia from 2 weeks ago.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xjohnpaulx/360279201/in/set-72157594495156125/

[Conquest10]

And here's one from Boston from the 14th. So people have seen them and have been posting photos of them for over two weeks now.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanderlin/358742603/

[adam]

Yeah I think the article says that they have these all over the country and they are creating somewhat of a buzz, as was the intention of course. But I wouldn't expect my local bomb squad division to know anything about it. Why would they? Its not like its common knowledge. This is the first I've heard of it. If I saw this unlit device stuck to a bridge I'd be suspicious too. Funny story though.

[Conquest10]

With all their resources, you'd think someone at least (one person at least) knew about them. They being so secretive about these "packages" didn't help either. They are just boards with lights on them with batteries attached. After they reported that inside the package (whatever that means) there was a light-up Sponge Bob giving an obscene gesture I'm sure that's when people realized what they were so scared of and started calling in to tell them what they actually were.

Yes, they are all over the country. There's some here supposedly but I have not seen them yet. Most likely only on the north side.

[BJ_M]

Boston police said Wednesday night that one person had been arrested, and authorities scheduled a news conference to provide details.

[Conquest10]

I knew it. They're on the north side. Here's a video I found from a fellow Chi-towner that thought it would be cool to photograph one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDa9jyEvXDE

Damn, now I know of at least two spots they're at but most likely won't see them as police will take them down or someone will steal them.

[thecoalman]

I'd have to side with the police, better to be safe than sorry. Consider this, what if terroists made replicas but were really bombs.... The people that placed these devices should have considered this before they did, any "package" or device that is out of place is certainly going to be looked at as suspicious. As far as them not knowing I didn't know what they were until now and you certainly can't blame them for not knowing.

[gadgetguy]

Adult Swim displayed an announcement apologizing and stating that they would all be removed.

[zzyzzx]

I think you would have to be pretty dumb to think it was a bomb.

[gadgetguy]

I think you would have to be pretty dumb to think it was a bomb.

I think you'd have to be pretty dumb not to treat it as such until proven that it's not.

[lordsmurf]

The police did what they thought was best.
This is just sad: "I climb up and grab it....I am selling it on EBAY".

[zzyzzx]

Actually, I doubt that the police spotted it and assumed that it was a bomb. It was probably some dumb passerby that called it is a a bomb to the police.

[ZAPPER]

I say that if they had obtained the required permits and signed lease agreements with the property owners/goverment then all would have been good. But they didn't. This was not some high school prank. This was a multi million/billion dollar company that had a professional plan in place to create just the effect they did. Can I prove it in a court of law? No. But it is reasonable to assume that they should have known better and this alone is grounds for hitting them with the highest fines and penalties that we can. Publicity is after all what they were after, so lets give them some and make them pay out the ass for it.

As far as the bomb scare goes they should be picking up the tab for all the cost that it incurred too. After all what does an IED look like? A cardboard box? A bottle of ketchup? Some electronic circuit board with wires hanging out? Nobody would have freaked out if these were in some storefront window but when you slap one on the side of a public bridge you have a different animal.


I say fine the hell out of the companies and throw the big wigs involved into a cell with a homosexual rapist!


Can you tell that I am in a foul mood today? LOL

[lordsmurf]

I say fine the hell out of the companies and throw the big wigs involved into a cell with a homosexual rapist!

Well, the powers that be are raping what used to be a good channel (Cartoon Network), so maybe the punishment should fit the crime?

[Conquest10]

I see nothing wrong with being cautious. But we have become way too paranoid in this country. Living in Chicago, I have seen something as simple as a cardboard box blown by the wind onto a street completely shut down a square block.

Turner should be made to pay for the costs. A similar thing happened here a couple years ago. IBM hired some guys to spray paint sidewalks with weird logos. IBM denied it at first but eventually admitted it and was forced to pay for the cleanup.

Arrests should not have been made. This was not done to cause a bomb scare. If this is allowed then what next? If I leave my bag on a chair while I walk 20 feet to throw something out and nobody notices me just the bag am I now guilty of causing a terror hoax?

[ZAPPER]

Turner advertising? Like in way back when Teds dad was a sign painter? They know the ins and out of the advertising business, anybody in any kind of business knows that there are laws that cover every move you make. I call BS and say it was a deliberate attempt to get just the results that they got. Oh puleeeeeeeze don't even pretend that you think it could have been an honest mistake. I couldn't care less about it possibly looking like a bomb or that they were planted in what has been called prime locations or that the show or subject of the add is crap. It is the attitude that they have knowing that they will get away with it. Hell put Ted in the cell with a pervert and I promise that those directly responseable will wish they had never been born.

[Ron B]

I see nothing wrong with being cautious. But we have become way too paranoid in this country.

I agree. The police around here blow up a couple empty boxes every week. In an area with 30 million people, there's bound to be a lot of empty boxes. What about trash containers, dumpsters, recycle bins, etc.? Ten years ago, this kind of stunt would have been a novelty and gotten the free publicity it was designed to do, today it is a threat to national security.
I don't know how many terrorists there are in the world, but they must be pretty happy to see 400 million people living in fear every day.
Guess the cops are just doing their job, but I wish they could find some time and resources to shut down the crystal meth shopping center in the liquor store parking lot across the street from my shop. Maybe if I put a box with some wires hanging out of it over there...................

[adam]

I've never heard of bomb squads just blowing up random abandonned cardboard boxes. Packages are destroyed when they are suspicious. Usually this is because there is some visible circuitry, it is ticking, or it is discovered under suspicious circumstances. In the case of these ads, its got 2 out of 3.

The devices clearly have visible circuitry and they were recovered in very suspicious locations. They were attached to the pilings of bridges, sitting out in busy city intersections, in a crowded train station, and one was even found inside a hospital. They received numerous emergency calls from citizens about the devices. Multiple calls about devices in multiple locations and these calls all came within a relatively short period of time. It had to be pretty clear at the time that this was an orchestrated event conducted by a group of people, which it was. This is exactly the type of activity that a bomb squad should be sent to investigate.

[ViRaL1]

There's nothing wrong with caution, but...damn. How long until al-qaeda figures out that lite-brites and batteries are cheaper than C-4 or depleted uranium?