Perhaps someone can explain this bit of security theater to me . . .

[markpkessinger]

I work at Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street; the building is on the west side of Fifth Avenue. The subway I use to commute to work stops directly beneath the building I work in. The subway station has two exits on the Fifth Avenue end of the station, one of which comes up under my building, and the other across the street on the east side of Fifth Avenue.

So, here's the thing. Whenever the President is at the U.N., 53rd Street is the route the motorcade takes whenever he leaves the U.N. And, whenever that is expected, there are barricades, and plenty of police officers, on hand to keep people well back on the sidewalk. The President's motorcade must be expected through any minute, because just now, as I arrived for work, the barricades were up and people were lining the street, obviously hoping to catch a glimpse of the President. Here's what I don't get: as I came out of the subway, and began to take the stairs that come up to the street just below my building, two police officers stopped me and told me I couldn't exit there, and would have to use the exit on the east side of Fifth Avenue instead. Fine, no big deal. So I go underground to the opposite side of Fifth Avenue and exit the station, and then cross Fifth Avenue, walking parallel to 53rd Street, to get to the entrance of my building, which is about six feet from the subway entrance the police barred me from using. So my question is this: what was actually accomplished by way of increasing security for the President's motorcade by this little diversion?

[Warpy]

1. That entrance might be on the side of the street he will be traveling

and the subway exit and area around it are blocked off to prevent any assassin from leaving the scene that way.

It seems a little on the silly side to me, too. Are you being prevented from getting to work?

[markpkessinger]

6. His motorcade will travel along 53rd Street . . .

. . . and both entrances were on the same side (south side) of 53rd Street, but on opposite sides of Fifth Avenue. The motorcade will pass both exits.

[Warpy]

14. Then yes, it's really strange

and sounds pretty stupid. It's DHS, though, so I guess calling it arbitrary and stupid might be redundancy since it's so expected.

[markpkessinger]

15. True that! n/t

[GeorgeGist]

2. Are you self-employed?

[markpkessinger]

4. Why do you ask, and what does the answer have to do with the OP? n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. The point of theater is to give an impression, to evoke feelings, not to actually

accomplish anything. Watching the show gives the unthinking a warm fuzzy, just like TV.

[MineralMan]

5. It's probably to keep someone from showing up on the subway,

armed, and then heading up to attack the President's motorcade. By blocking that exit from underground, they don't have to do extensive checks on subway riders who are heading that way. A lot simpler for them, albeit a bit inconvenient for you.

That would be my guess as to the reason for it, anyhow.

[markpkessinger]

7. But there were no checkpoints stopping people at either exit . . .

. . . that's why I don't really get it. As for the inconvenience, it was minor, so I don't really care about that. It's just that I often see tactics employed by the NYPD that seem to make little actual sense.

[MineralMan]

10. I though they wouldn't let you use your normal exit.

No checkpoints required. You just couldn't leave that way. So, you had to cross and leave from the other exit. They're not trying to catch armed people...just keep any random armed person from getting to the street where the motorcade would travel from the subway.

It's actually a low level of security. If they were really concerned, they'd have simply stopped any trains from reaching that station until the motorcade had passed. That would be more inconvenient for the public, and the risk assessment doesn't indicate a high risk, so they just stopped people from exiting onto the street there, briefly. The other exit wasn't on the route of the motorcade, so people leaving by that exit weren't an immediate threat.

Again, it seems like a good working solution that caused the least inconvenience, while preventing any armed person from reaching the street while the motorcade passed. It just meant a longer walk for you from that stop, since you had to exit on another street.

I wouldn't call that theater...just a sensible approach to one possibility, without too much inconvenience for the public.

[markpkessinger]

11. But the motorcade will pass by BOTH exits . . .

. . . and both exits are equidistant from the street.

[MineralMan]

13. I dunno, exactly, then.

I do know that when the President shows up in Minneapolis St. Paul and lands at MSP, it's a real PITA for drivers. They pretty much shut down three freeways for a short time to allow the motorcade to take its unannounced route to wherever it's going. It's no fun at all for people who need to get somewhere.

We don't have subways here. So everyone is pretty much screwed for a while. I just plan not to go anywhere when he's in town.

[Glassunion]

8. Simple

Because they can.

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. Short answer?

Not a god damned thing.


Slightly longer answer;


It allowed the police person who told you to go the other way to fulfill his minute to minute requirement to boss citizens around,

[zipplewrath]

12. Something near that exit

It's probably underground, but something is near that exit. A gas line, a hollow space, a major structural support of the street the president will transverse, a communication line, a high voltage substation. I dunno what it is but they are keeping you from transiting through that space so you can't threaten it. From the surface it is "safe" (and there are solid blast dynamics for such an assumption).

That'd be my guess. Of course there is always just the "because it seemed like we should" excuse.