Do they know too much?
Sitting here on the other side of the world it’s easy to forget that London was attacked by suicide bombers just a few weeks ago and remains on alert. (In contrast, the headlines in today’s Southland Times cover controlled fires in Queenstown, and that the eggs in the local BP fuel station cafe’s bacon and egg paninis are cooked in Christchurch, frozen then reheated locally.)
Interesting, then, to read one man’s experience as a suspect in rather tenuous circumstances.
So, basically the Police have decided that wearing a rain jacket, carrying a rucksack with a laptop inside, looking down at the steps while going in a tube station and checking your phone for messages just tick too many checkmarks on their checklist and make you a terrorist suspect. How many other people are not only wrongly detained but wrongly arrested every week in similar circumstances as myself?
What strikes me is the extent of information the security services hold, and how tangental it may be to any security threat.
The officer explains what made them change their mind and arrest me instead of releasing me. It was because of my connection with my employer. Apparently, on August 4th, 2004 there was a firearms incident at the company where I work. (The next day I find out that there had indeed been a hoax call the previous year, apparently from a temp worker claiming there was an armed intruder in one of the buildings.) Also that some staff had been seen photographing tube stations with a camera phone. (Most of my colleagues do have camera phones – also on 2nd June, as part of a team building exercise, new graduates were supposed to photograph landmarks and try to get a picture of themselves with a policeman.)
What else do they know about us? Or, specifically, me?!
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