Guidelines On Who Might Be Suspicious: Too Nervous? Too Calm? Blending In? Standing Out? It's All Suspicious
from the everyone-is-a-suspect dept
The ACLU FOIA'd up some guidelines for Amtrak staff concerning how they judge whether or not passengers are "suspicious" in terms of being "indicative of criminal activity" and the list seems fairly broad:- Unusual nervousness of traveler
- Unusual calmness or straight ahead stare
- Looking around while making telephone call(s)
- Position among passengers disembarking (ahead of, or lagging behind passengers)
- Carrying little or no luggage
- Purchase of tickets in cash
- Purchase tickets immediately prior to boarding
- Being the first person off a plane
- Being the last person off a plane
- Someone authorities believe has tried to blend in to the middle of exiting passengers
- Booking a nonstop flight
- Booking a flight with a layover
- Traveling alone
- Traveling with a companion
- People who appear nervous
- People who appear “too calm”
- Merely flying to or from a city known to be a major thoroughfare in the drug pipeline
Part of the problem is the myth out there that there's a legitimate ability to spot "suspicious" people. Sure, there are some extreme cases where people act strange before committing a criminal act, but the idea that you can scan a group of people and spot the people planning out some sort of criminal activity is a concept greatly exaggerated (often by Hollywood), but it inevitably leads to this situation where law enforcement can more or less pick and choose when they suddenly think you're "acting suspicious."
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Filed Under: behavioral monitoring, criminal activity, guidelines, law enforcement, reasonable suspicion
Companies: amtrak
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The solution is obvious..
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Traveling with a companion"
Why not just have these two reasons? It makes the list easy to remember, and covers everyone.
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And dropping someone off at a location from which they can take public transportation to get to an airport is pretty suspicious. Knowing someone that takes public transportation or travels is suspicious too. Shut-ins that do not travel outside of their homes or know anyone that travels could raise some concerns.
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-Not traveling
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Not traveling makes you suspicious.
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If you have bilateral symmetry you are suspicious.
If you have DNA you are suspicious.
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Traveling without a suitcase.
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Suspicious Activity: Traveling.
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To be: Suspicious.
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/sarc (maybe)
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Meanwhile the Congress sleeps.
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When you need nails....
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If the attempted to do it by car there are license plates scanners and photo recognition software for gas stations.
If they try to go by bus or train or air there is the usual TSA level.
One could try horse and buggy but that would be suspicious especially east of the Mississippi.
One could try farm tractor with bush hog but one would still run out of gas.
One could try bicycle and walking but the carrying of sleeping bags again is suspicious especially east of tthe Mississippi.
Track repair car on a rail line might get you there but that is illegal and suspicious if you do not work for a railroad.
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I'm pretty sure they are prejudice against people without a boat.
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Re: Re: Anonymous US Travel
It's easy to carry luggage in a canoe without drawing attention (especially if you carry it in a cooler so it's waterproof & floats), and you won't need to stop for fuel anywhere.
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- DHS
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License plate scanners have been around awhile; it's only recently that the authorities' use has become an issue.
But what gas stations have photo recognition that's available to the authorities? In my area most gas stations don't want to spend the money for such, software or hardware.
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Never leave the vehicle in a place where there might be cameras (servo's etc), and wear a hat/hoodie to keep your face hidden while the driver stops for fuel in those places.
Always leave the vehicle and catch a new ride in places un-surveiled.
Don't stay with the 1 ride for more than a few hours.
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Reminds me of the Patricia Pulling...
WHO
1. Adolescents from all walks of life.
2. Many from middle to upper middle class families
3. Intelligent
4. Over or Under Achievers
5. Creative/Curious
6. Some are Rebellious
7. Some have low self esteem and are loners
8. Some children have been abused (physically or sexually)
tl;dr Every kid is a pawn of satan.?.
PS: Isn't this the usual hysterical line that the reactionary pull. It's all about the control and has nothing to do with the "issues".
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That one bugs me the most. These days if you don't voluntarily enter yourself into a database, you are suspicious.
Anonymous travel really is dead.
http://philosecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Death-of-Anonymous-Travel-DEFCON-2009-FINAL .pdf
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A conspicuous omission from those lists
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You are afraid of heights
Unusual calmness or straight ahead stare=
You read a book because it is smart when travelling
Looking around while making telephone call(s)=
I am here, where are you?
Position among passengers disembarking (ahead of, or lagging behind passengers)=
You are late or too early at destination
Carrying little or no luggage=
You have book and legally declared bottle of water (because travelling)
Purchase of tickets in cash=
Credit Cards did not work(again)
Purchase tickets immediately prior to boarding=
Phew, You did not miss the plane/train
Always obvious when one thinks for a second...
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Being the first person off a plane?
That's the benefit of being a frequent flyer: I got seat A-1, so I'm the first person off the plane.
Booking a non-stop flight?
Yes, because it's faster and I don't want to risk missing a connecting flight.
Traveling alone?
Oh, the shame of being 35 years old and not married.
Traveling with a companion?
You got me, I'm married and traveling with my wife now.
People who appear nervous?
My wife hates flying so she's always nervous when we travel.
People who appear too calm?
I've been flying since I was a little kid, so it's no big deal.
Wait, did I just admit to being a suspicious person in a public forum? Darn it!
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we are in the kafka-zone, and the point is to make EVERYONE vulnerable to being jacked up by Empire's thugs...
it does that very well...
*cha-ching*
victory number 3879452937734512588 in a row for Empire ! ! !
how *do* they do it ! ! !
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Schrödinger's probability lich of a cat
Actually the radioactives in Schrödinger's hypothetical box were rather small. But it included a detector to determine if a particle was released and, if affirmative, a payload to quietly kill the cat (so that its activation could not be perceived outside the box).
The point was to measure a quantum event and then create resulting event on the macro-scale. It raises a question when that quantum event is a probability event (could be one way or the other), how does that affect the following macro-scale event. When the particle-decay is in a probability state, is our hapless cat as well?
So we're talking a tiny amount of radioactive material. Like a banana.
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the nail that sticks up
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Even many animals instinctively know that the safest place from a pack of hungry predators is in the middle of the herd.
I think the situation might be more a case of someone (who would have been the first person in line) walking slow, getting passed by other travellers, and ending up in the middle of the crowd. That person then becomes a likely target.
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Of course, walking slow while looking at an iPad and you can circumvent security altogether...
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I see that was incorrect. After reading this, it means Thousands Searching Any(body)
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Ex Post Facto justification
That way you can use all the tools at your disposal, then just say, "well, he looked suspicious, and we were right to be suspicious, so you can't really argue it was unreasonable to be suspicious."
This is just another brick in the Parallel Construction wall.
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Suspicious Activity
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???
Using USA legal tender is suspicious. What the fuck?
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Re: ???
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One time I checked the speedometer, realized I'm going well under the speed limit (long trip on an empty highway), so I speed up while passing this speedtrap cop, who immediately comes after me (no ticket, just a lot of questions).
Which taught me that either slowing down or speeding up made me a target (and that cruise control is a wise investment).
Another learned lesson: never pass a cop on the highway who is driving under the speed limit.
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So much for cruise control being a wise investment.
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I've always been suspicious that speed changes near cops would get you unwanted attention, so I've never done it, even when I'm going over the limit (I routinely drive 7 miles over the limit as a compromise. If I drive slower than that, then I'm obstructing traffic and pissing off the other drivers on the road. If I drive faster than that, I'll probably get a ticket. 7 mph over seems to be the sweet spot.)
"never pass a cop on the highway who is driving under the speed limit."
I do this all the time, and have never been stopped as a result. But I do tend to laugh at the fact that a cop car going under the limit tends to pile up traffic behind it from all the people who are too afraid to pass.
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What do you drive, a 1958 Buick? Most cars on US roads today have considerably firmer suspensions than the Detroit-built "floaters" of decades past that would actually bottom-out on minor dips in the road. Cars with soft suspensions (and especially a high center of gravity and forward weight bias) will indeed dive noticeably when brakes are applied. A Porsche or Lamborghini won't.
"But I do tend to laugh at the fact that a cop car going under the limit tends to pile up traffic behind it from all the people who are too afraid to pass."
Maybe because, like me, they've gotten bogus speeding tickets in the past and don't want to get another. My second mistake was pulling over too soon. If I'd gone past the next on-ramp and pulled over next to the speed limit sign, presumably the cop might have changed his mind. (though it can be very risky to keep a cop tailing you with lights flashing for too long)
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And anyway, you haven't contradicted John... just because the front bumper dipping is a giveaway for the car slowing down, doesn't mean that the bumper is guaranteed to dip.
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Once my cop friend pointed this out to me, I started watching -- and it holds true for the majority of cars on the road today. The dip is often only a matter of a couple of inches, but it's not hard to spot. Of course, it depends on how hard the car is braking.
"like me, they've gotten bogus speeding tickets in the past"
The cops in your area write speeding tickets when you aren't exceeding the speed limit? If that's the case, I'm not sure how stopping near a speed limit sign would be of benefit since the cops obvious don't care.
I'd be nervous about passing cops too if they were that corrupt in my area. Or, I might consider investigating if there was some way I could record my speed in a way that acceptable evidence in court, then pass them anyway and hope they write me a ticket so I can dispute it and win. Cops hate having to show up in traffic court.
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*shrug*
I also I completely think this is post justification for why they found somebody suspicious. Just a big CYA that will literally hit as many people as possible.
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Remember Aereo? Compliance with the law is now circumvention. Clearly they were trying to circumvent traffic law by complying with the speed limit.
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TRAVELING BY CAR
best just to stay home..
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Re: TRAVELING BY CAR
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I've seen a car get taken apart at the Detroit border crossing once.
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Not having cash is also suspicious.
Having too much cash is suspicious.
Playing Johnny Cash music is suspicious.
Being deprived of cash by LEO's is totally ok.
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Synchronicity.
At one point I looked into why. One of the things I found was the essay question directive Discuss.
e.g. Discuss the causes of WWI.
There are no consistent rules for what Discuss means as an essay question directive. It may mean comparing and contrasting opposing arguments, it may mean illustrating the common dialogue that occurs when choice experts ask that question. It may mean you should just write some stuff and if the grader likes what you said, you get points. Most study guides will present their own idea, or even suggest asking your instructor who will, in turn, likely give you an ambiguous answer.
Discuss is the most commonly used of all essay question directives. More so than illustrate
In short, if the instructor already likes you he or she has cause to decide in advance that your discussion of the topic was adequate enough, or not, regardless of what you write.
Many miles away, there's a shadow on a door...
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Re: Synchronicity.
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Bleh. Brainfart.
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Re: Bleh. Brainfart.
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Re: Re: Bleh. Brainfart.
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Makes about as much sense!
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I do that even when I'm using a landline. OMG, I'M GUILTY OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY EVERYWHERE I GO!
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Maybe the person is afraid of flying.
Unusual calmness or straight ahead stare
Maybe the person works for the government...
Looking around while making telephone call(s)
Maybe the person wants to know what's happening around...
Position among passengers disembarking (ahead of, or lagging behind passengers)
Maybe the person is in a hurry.
Carrying little or no luggage
Maybe the person doesn't like it or doesn't need it.
Purchase of tickets in cash
Maybe the person only has cash and/or prefers it.
Purchase tickets immediately prior to boarding
Maybe the person likes to keep it simple and fast.
Being the first person off a plane
Maybe the person is in a hurry.
Being the last person off a plane
Maybe the person isn't in a hurry.
Someone authorities believe has tried to blend in to the middle of exiting passengers
Maybe the person likes people.
Booking a nonstop flight
Maybe the person prefers to avoid multiple flights to reduce the probability of a crash.
Booking a flight with a layover
Maybe the person likes to take a pause.
Traveling alone
Maybe the person could only afford one ticket.
Traveling with a companion
Maybe the person could afford two tickets.
People who appear nervous
Maybe the person is afraid of flying.
People who appear “too calm”
Maybe the person works for the government...
Merely flying to or from a city known to be a major thoroughfare in the drug pipeline
Maybe the person can't choose the cities.
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