Cedar Point new security checkpoint

Top_Thrill_Tyler said:
Why must you resort to name calling?

Savage.

I don't feel safer with these checkpoints. If a criminal wants to do something, they will find a way. I hope those of you who encountered these checkpoints visited guest services or emailed the park. If I run into these, I will be giving the park my negative opinion.

Thabto said:

If a criminal wants to do something, they will find a way.

That applies to almost any situation. Might as well build an impenetrable fortress that you lock yourself in and live in for the rest of your life.

Living at cedar point for the rest of my life sounds good to me.

topthrilldragster4lyf said:

No... A valid analogy would be taking a metal detector wand to the UPS delivery guy before you'll sign for your package or taking the wand to the contractor that your electrical utility has hired to remove your old refrigerator for recycling.

We really don't need to get into semantics here. Because I could just as easily say you're wrong because it would really be about 'wanding the UPS guy, before he enters your home.' Generally speaking there are steps taken to protect your own property and there's a difference between the steps taken to protect your home and steps Cedar Point takes to protect their property.

And the incidents that I'm referring to are only the ones that have made their way to the forums. A couple of years ago someone witnessed a pretty large fight at the park and posted about it. As someone else pointed out, Cedar Point won't make those incidents public.

Were there any weapons in that fight? If there weren't the security checkpoints would've done nothing to stop it from happening.

MichaelB said:

Since you feel like bringing up the Constitution, I will too. THE FIRST AMENDEMENT I'm entitled to an opinion and don't give a damn what a loser like you says.

Over dramatic much?

Thabto said:

Were there any weapons in that fight? If there weren't the security checkpoints would've done nothing to stop it from happening.

I don't know if there were weapons, but would you rather wait until a knife or gun shows up in the park and then react? Once a knife is pulled in the middle of a fight it would be a little late to wand them, wouldn't it?

Again, I only call it a deterrent. Others, including yourself, have alluded that a true criminal would find a way to get a weapon into the park. I agree with that. This inconvenience is nothing more than to show people that they are going to attempt to filter out those items from getting into the park. it's not going to be 100% bulletproof, but I'd rather take the 99% filter than 0%.

~Rob

Locking your doors at night won't stop your house from being broken into by someone who is truly determined to get inside. Installing fences around rides won't keep people from accessing low zones in an attempt to retrieve lost items. Security checkpoints won't prevent a weapon from being brought into the park.

These are all deterrents and if Cedar Poimt chooses to perform "security theater" in an effort to create the illusion that they are trying to maintain a safe environment for their guests then that is a business decision that they are free to make. Just as all of us are free to decide whether or not we want to voluntarily subject ourselves to their procedures.

HeyIsntThatRob? said:

Cedar Point is a private business. They have every right to protect their property as much as you do protecting your home. It would be the same as you installing a security system in your home or installing video surveillance. Is that taking away someone else's personal liberties? Or are you protecting your property?

Yes, but... I don't open the door to my house and charge people a fee to enter. I'm not sure it's exactly the same, but is something to mull over.

I've said elsewhere that Cedar Point -- or any business -- gets to set the rules. We get to decide if such rules are acceptable or onerous.

The park needs to do their due diligence to protect their property and the other guests.

Absolutely. I'd just rather that Cedar Point -- or any business -- (and certainly that monument to incompetence, the TSA) protect their property (or us, in the case of the TSA) with proactive, smart policing, not reactive, scattershot policing.

MichaelB said:Since you feel like bringing up the Constitution, I will too. THE FIRST AMENDEMENT I'm entitled to an opinion and don't give a damn what a loser like you says.

Before you start spouting off, you probably should know what the first amendment actually protects.

Hint: it has nothing to do with this private forum.

We don't allow backpacks or large bags into the theater, but we don't restrict purses. I am quite positive this helps more with perception than protection. Crazy people will be crazy regardless of the rules.

^ "What? It's not a bag! It's a purse! You don't get to look inside of it."

Theater indeed.

noggin said:

Absolutely. I'd just rather that Cedar Point -- or any business with proactive, smart policing, not reactive, scattershot policing.

So define all that. What do you define as smart policing? What's proactive?

And why would I want to pay money to enter your home? ;)

And again, I completely get that we have a right to not be subjected to be wanding by the security outside of Cedar Point by not attending the park. But me personally, I'm willing to trade that (heck I'll take a feelsky from a female guard as well!) to go enjoy my favorite rides. I'm coming from a different point of view. The majority of my visits include taking my boys who's age range is 4-9. My view is going to be completely different from a couple of women who are there to take selfies, or a single guy who wants to shove people out of the way to get that coveted open single seat on MF, or a thug who is looking to seek revenge on some homey that smudged his shoes.

Yeah, and don't get me started on people with tattoos.

HeyIsntThatRob? said:

So define all that. What do you define as smart policing? What's proactive?

Focusing on people acting in an unusual way. Monitoring security cameras for, for example, someone huddled over a backpack for a long while. Moving police/security personnel into positions close to groups of people who are acting in an unusual manner. Police work, not theatre.

And spending less time making sure none of the grandmothers on PMVs have shivs tucked in their purses.

And why would I want to pay money to enter your home? ;)

I can't come up with an answer that isn't completely vulgar. :-p

...I completely get that we have a right to not be subjected to be wanding by the security outside of Cedar Point by not attending the park.

Absolutely. Do I go places where I have to brave Security Theater to get in? Sure. Do I like it? No.

...(heck I'll take a feelsky from a female guard as well!)...

If the male guard is handsome enough, I might even ask for it. If he's Channing Tatum and his security uniform is a Speedo and a badge, I might even pay for it. :-)

MichaelB said:

...and don't give a damn what a loser like you says.

I didn't know we were still in high school; grow up please.

Maybe take your own advice?

Top_Thrill_Tyler, referring to Ripcord, said:

...send Noggin a PM.... No one cares if you don't like his method of posting.

Least of all, me.You don't like my method of posting, scroll on past my posts. It's not rocket science.

In case the case for security theatre wasn't crystal clear, I walked back into the park via the resort gate at about 10:25 Saturday night with a couple thousand other patrons after the Pointfest concert ended. As usual, wrist stamps were not checked. Too many people. And the Tenable security folks quietly stepped aside while hoards of people carried in all manner of chairs, wagons, coolers, etc. If one did have nefarious intentions, entering the park after Pointfest would serve as perfect cover. I could have rolled a cannon and a couple goats through there, unnoticed.

^That there. Security Theater, at an amusement park (or sports arena, or IMAX theater, or Blue Man Group show, or what have you) can only come close to working as a deterrent if every last person, guest or employee, is invasively searched each and every time they enter the premises.