Bohn Hall Snipers (And What Went Wrong With MSU's Big Lockdown Yesterday)

(I'm confused. Sounds like Mr. McCullough is on one hand criticizing the show of force, but then claiming it wasn't enough...)

This will always be a losing situation for any school: folks freak out over a strong police presence, but then work to point out the "holes*" in security. And when nothing happens, they claim the whole thing was an over reaction.

(*As if it were possible to seal off a University.)

As for his "brilliant pictorial essay"...

Has "brilliant" been so downgraded that these haphazard and asthetically unpleasing pictures warrant the use of the word?

Really, these pix look like anyone could have taken them. But that he took them does not make them brilliant. First. Yes. Brilliant. No.

(This has set me off... Can you tell?)

From his blog:

"I hope the cops don?t think my gym shorts are deadly weapons."

This snarky comment for something as serious as this shows he either 1) believes there are no threats or, 2) any police response is inappropriate or wrong.

For me, he seems like a dumb kid who is out of touch with the world we live in because ( from reading his blog) he's WAY TOO into his own world.

(And if something were to happen, he'd be the first one saying that the campus should have had a strong police presence in light of the threat.)

A man catches a ball with hand and helmet, freakishly and haphazardly holds to make a touchdown-brilliant -they say. I say lucky.

I guess if he was holding a gun instead of a camera things might have panned out differently.

Well, he captured the whole mood and the spirit on the campus yesterday. He also found many of the chinks in the armor.

You will learn more about what went on from his blog than you will from any other source.

And the truth is, what is the point of waving kids in because they flash an ID card -- when the perpetrators of campus violence are always students with ID cards?

I'm sorry, but I agree. These are the worst photos I've seen in a long time - definitely not brilliant, unless by brilliant, you mean completely and totally overexposed. I'm glad there were some photos to capture the happenings, but please don't describe them with hyperbole.

Kid's got to learn how to white-balance his shots, every one is over-exposed.

Debbie,

I objected to the hyperbole of "brilliant." That he was there is great. That his blog tells a story. Fine. (Although he openly and wrongly downplays the threat.)

As for the security measures, in a free society short of strip searches there is NO way to insure safety.

This was meant, I imagine to discourage someone. That's all.

That's typically what a show of force is: a showing to give someone pause so they might reconsider (and choose another location...). I don't think anyone said this showing was in place to prevent a crime.

And in this gun-fearing area, any cop with a big gun gives us snarky folks who claim that they felt 1) like a suspect and, 2) MORE fearful.

Both dumb responses in no way based on anything other than an irrational fear of guns some have.

In case you haven't seen it, here's the elephant in the living room. It comes in many forms. This week it was the Florida cheerleader beating. The month before that it was our own Montclair HS students abusing a young girl. It is teachers getting abused (http://www.endteacherabuse.org/)

It is our children bullying each other, subtly or out right. And, most tragically what we are seeing at MSU, more school shootings. As if Columbine and all the rest of the kids who have been killed, wounded and emotionally scarred were not enough for us to be very alarmed.

How many students, families and educators do we need to threaten, abuse or kill before we see that something is terribly wrong with our social skills and our conduct?

What are you doing to take action?

I'm taking polit classes with Lisa. That's the action I'm taking.

While I suppose your comment was rhetorical, it came after mine-- so I will comment (as if I needed a reason...)

I wonder if there is more abuse/misconduct or more reporting of it (remember all the shark attack stories?)

So while I agree that there is something wrong with our social skills and conduct is it really on the rise?

If not, than perhaps what we are seeing is just plain old human nature (and a scary lack of parenting).

Prof,

Well put.

These students would learn alot if they earned some credits in your class.

As I posted yesterday, it is much too easy and commonplace for people to criticize someone who MAKES a decision. If these critics want to provide an alternate solution to what they see, then people may listen.
I've seen some politicians criticize others but never actually provide an alternate solution. Hmmm...

I think Matthew has demonstrated that anyone that was bent on embarking on a killing spree could have easily done it yesterday at MSU.

What a 'circus'!

I hope everyone was entertained!

Mellon,

Did you really need Mathhew's "brilliant" work to tell you that?

Likewise, your "I hope everyone was entertained!" shows your utter lack of understanding or unwillingness to acknowledge that we live in a dangerous world and decisions made by officials are very difficult.

-in a world where a 12 year old screams "I hate you daddy" and goes to her room only to be found an hour later hanging in her closet dead (all because she wasn't allowed to go out with her friends)----

in a world where your preschool children find their parents stash and bring to school for show and tell---

in a world where your dark, depressed child utters internet musings about killing the bullies who hurt him everyday but does not have the means to commit the crime...

in a world where you send your child into a bathroom by themselves and they never come out...

in a world where guns, lasers, and knives are a part of every toy store's inventory and incorporated in most games...

in a world where divorce sometimes means murder, unplanned pregnancies, a motive for the missing, and a mere I can't see you anymore, a strangling...

in a world of words that mean something to some, yet nothing to another--it is hard to tell credible from the incredulous-
and surely a difficult dilemma for even the most astute, educated, loving parent, let alone a police department.

Mellonbrush-the first to provide a motive and manner...

(Ummm.......)

Is this the new tag for Superman?

... in a world where.....

Only one man can save us...

(Or an Obama ad? He's gonna save us.)

If someone wants to go on a killing spree and is willing to forfeit their own life in the process, there is little one can do to stop them from being successful to some degree. The show of force is exactly that, a show a force. Sadly, it is not designed with the hope of actually preventing the event (unless they get lucky), it is designed to limit the damage. Going back a few posts I have a question for Lisa who detailed all of the problems in society today. What is it you are suggesting needs to be done?

Obama who?

And no I will not capitalize if I don't want to!

I have been proud of America more than once!

Cheese you are right and if Sheriff Spezial had his hand in this...it is saying we will stand for no threat big or small. We are here and listening.

He is a carry a big stick sort of Sheriff. And someone that I'd go through a door with anytime.

"Brilliant pictoral essay?" More like point-and-shoot with snarky commentary.

What's worse, he scrutenizes the level of protection then, in the same breath, seems to criticize the overreaction to the shooting threat.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

or scrutinize, even!

MSU had a very good Photo dept. when I was there. Might I suggest Matthew take a few courses with Klaus Schnitzer and learn how to set his camera up properly and realize there should be more then one focal length lens in his "arsenal".

Getting back on track ... lets consider the show of force a response from school administrators who wish to prevent Virginia Tech-like events ... and considering the state school status, maybe commando-style security is less expensive than secret service-style invisible presence security ...

All this blog demonstrates is a complete lack of understanding on the basic use of a camera. I can't stand artsy kids like this that are more concerned with being seen and heard than what they're saying.

I think it's time this kid put whatever fancy camera he's using on Ebay and bought a simple point-and-shoot.

I'm a student at Montclair State, and I was on campus all day yesterday. The police presence was definitely felt and I 100% appreciated it. I understand that as humans it's nearly impossible to prevent the future, but you take what you can with the knowledge you're given and go with it. As I discussed with fellow students, I would rather have a million officers on campus and have absolutely nothing happen, then to have some selfish 20 year old with access to a gun waltz on to campus when there's only 10-20 montclair state officers to handle the damage. In the long run the school needs to cover their "behinds" and if it means I have to stop for a moment to hand over my ID, then so be it. The problem with people is they all have opinions and will spout them to whoever will listen (or won't). This blogger is just another example of egotistical know-it-alls who think they have the answer for everything. How can it be possible to keep everyone out, when some of the students don't have the respect to just go with the flow and not TRY to find a flaw in the system.

"In a world"... where campus shootings is so new, the development of protocol has to start somewhere. Thank you Montclair State. Shame on you Baristanet.

Well put Violet.

.. trouble is, it's too expensive to mount this kind of anti-psycho interdiction on a daily basis. it is comforting to see this kind of reaction to a perceived threat, but that comfort is a self-induced illusion. Not that illusions are bad, we all need our comforts and fictions, otherwise we'd all go mad.

Mellon, a "self-induced illusion"?

I'd love to see you tell that to the guy with the big gun...

Prof,

After being covered in acrid, stinging dust on 9/11 and then running for my life my views on things changed a little bit.

And why the f' would I want to go talk to some m'fer with a big gun. Shit man, I try to stay as far away from those guys as possible.

The problem with people is they all have opinions and will spout them to whoever will listen (or won't).

Busted!

The show-of-force theory presupposes rationality on the part of the would-be shooter. The Virginia Tech shooter was far from rational; he was apparently quite mentally ill. Of course, he provided no warning; they never do.

There's an interesting article on CNN.com today about a young man who almost went on this type of shooting spree, and is probably just one or two meds away from doing it.

I cannot help but wonder if the type of response we saw at MSU yesterday would really deter someone so mentally unstable, or if it would actually provoke someone quite literally hell-bent on going out in a hail of bullets.

I hate to say "I told you all so" on this one. But I will. (I'll even try to enjoy it.) I told you all so, although I did not foresee "snipers" on the roof.

And I am speaking in particular to you, profwilliams. Again, prof, if you're a bona fide, cogitating academic, even a retired one of some sort, I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.

(Ugh, cathar. You're beginning to bore even me- a fan of yours with your constant desire to link a (possibly) made-up name of a poster on an anonymous blog to something real.

You probably really think there is a beastly marsupial named walleroo living under Liz' porch...)

And remind us again what your tea reading told you yesterday that has you crowing "I told you so"?

That nothing would happen? Snipers on Bohn Hall? Lasers in the jungle? "Brilliant" being downgraded?

What?

Violet - well said.

If I, or my kid was going to MSU, I'd be glad for the police presence.

On a related note, I was a bit un-nerved at first by the swat-style, "Hercules Teams" that NYC began deploying in various public places after 9-11. But I got over it pretty quickly, and I'm glad they're there. Will they 100% stop all threats? No...but at least it keeps the creeps and nut-jobs guessing, and maybe they will think twice. Personally, I think we're safer for it.

Prof, I don't "need" you as a fan. So the guilt trip won't work.

And of course there's a marsupial named walleroo who yearns to get his belly muddy neath Liz's porch, don't be silly. (I even believe there's a 100 Acre Wood somewhere where Winnie the Pooh still frolicks.)

What's interesting to me is that, when I suggested over-reaction by law enforcement and administrators alike yesterday at "the second largest university in New Jersey" (to borrow Susan Cole's own phrasing, which hints of a distinct sense of inferiority compared to William Paterson and Glassboro, let alone against Princeton), the usual gang of idiots attempted to pillory me for my skepticism.

Today, however, the student version of such chariness is congratulated by none other than the head Barista. Plus ca change, plus la memme chose, eh, prof?

But you know you "want" me as a friend.

Admit it. You want to send me an invite to be your facebook friend, huh?

C'mon....

Or are you a myspace boy? Or girl (since it's, you know anonymous).

(No idea what your last sentence means....)

... Searching from yesterday, I realized you were fearful of another "Amidou Diallo [or] Sean Bell."

But remind me, how is what we saw yesterday similar to Diallo or Bell other than both involved cops)?

No. This is typical of "show of force" operations. A lot of show and little substance. You see this in the city. The 20 patrol cars that parade around midtown on weeknight evenings, lights and sirens. For what? Wouldn't those officers be better utilized actually patroling somewhere rather than riding around 2 to a car impressing tourists?
As for the Passaic Cty Sheriff's Dept, they have to justify the millions in equipment somehow don't they? Is that a RINGWOOD police dept trailer in that one photo? What does RINGWOOD need a mobile police command station for?
Keep everyone in fear and keep the dollars coming for fun new toys for the mishmosh of local, county and state law enforcement in this state.
No one is saying these guys don't do good work or that we needed to see increased security in response to a threat. It's just that the complete lack of strategy and the overblown response bourne of the misdirected funding and priorities since 2001 are seen here just as much as they are overseas.

This guy has a good camera, so why are all of his shots so blown out? Oh well, love how he was able to get on campus without an id check by the Newman Center.

cathar, "furrin'" languages are lost on the prof -- even those phrases which any literate person (particularly an academic) should know.
But that's OK, because it is great fun to throw a few out there and then imagine him in a sweat, poring through his vast research library (otherwise known as google) trying to figure out what was said, and then fashioning what is in his own eyes a witty riposte.
Great fun for a slow Friday.
As for our dear prof,well, antiquis temporibus, nati tibi similes in rupibus ventosissimis exponebantur ad necem.

Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam.

You said it, brother.

Belle, you forget the "catapultam habeo".
Makes more sense that way, n'est pas?

You know, we RCs have made a few mistakes along the way (ask the Hurons), but as someone said, show me the Zulu Shakespeare.

Bene, cum Latine nescias, nolo manus meas in te maculare.

Carpe diem, before the glaciers melt!