I posted this here, because I see it as being about situational awareness. I'm still scratching my head over something I learned yesterday that just amazed me in the sense I would have never thought of it.
This paragraph is just the setup to the story: My brother owns a bar and restaurant in major Northeastern city. It is in a bad part of town, but he does pretty well with it financially. I was in that town yesterday and had dinner there. He said calmly, "We don't have too much trouble on this block, except that a drug dealer got shot to death across the street about a month ago. I just yelled at everyone to get down, away from the windows." I would not classify that as "not too much trouble," but everyone has their own lens.
He told me that there is a McDonald's about three blocks north of him that is a center for drug dealing and prostitution. So I asked, "Why the McDonald's? Is the manager in on it?" He said no. The reason is that McDonald's, being in a high crime area, has an extensive system of high-quality, hi-res security cameras both inside the building and in the parking lot. Now I was really confused. Wouldn't that deter crime? Again, no.
The cameras show people making transactions, but the criminals know that the video doesn't prove anything in court about what was transacted. They can sell drugs or make deals for prostitution with impunity. However, the criminals' biggest fear is an armed rip-off or turf shooting by other bad guys. The video will show that in great detail, the police will examine the video, get clues from it and eventually find the shooters. So the shooters choose not to attack there.
So you have a security system designed to prevent crime that actually protects criminals, as long as they don't get violent. I could not have dreamed up anything like that.
This paragraph is just the setup to the story: My brother owns a bar and restaurant in major Northeastern city. It is in a bad part of town, but he does pretty well with it financially. I was in that town yesterday and had dinner there. He said calmly, "We don't have too much trouble on this block, except that a drug dealer got shot to death across the street about a month ago. I just yelled at everyone to get down, away from the windows." I would not classify that as "not too much trouble," but everyone has their own lens.
He told me that there is a McDonald's about three blocks north of him that is a center for drug dealing and prostitution. So I asked, "Why the McDonald's? Is the manager in on it?" He said no. The reason is that McDonald's, being in a high crime area, has an extensive system of high-quality, hi-res security cameras both inside the building and in the parking lot. Now I was really confused. Wouldn't that deter crime? Again, no.
The cameras show people making transactions, but the criminals know that the video doesn't prove anything in court about what was transacted. They can sell drugs or make deals for prostitution with impunity. However, the criminals' biggest fear is an armed rip-off or turf shooting by other bad guys. The video will show that in great detail, the police will examine the video, get clues from it and eventually find the shooters. So the shooters choose not to attack there.
So you have a security system designed to prevent crime that actually protects criminals, as long as they don't get violent. I could not have dreamed up anything like that.