Cedar Point new security checkpoint

The parks have their reasons for doing this, we aren't privvy to all reasons, just throwing those above as examples.

I'd never expect an amusement park to stop a dirty bomb. That's what we have federal agencies for.

The security is to deter small local threats and prevent an idiot from trying to do something stupid.

djDaemon said:
Anyone who thinks the world is a dangerous place watches way too much cable news.

Quote of the day right here. Hahaha!

https://www.statista.com/statistics/191219/reported-violent-crime-r...ince-1990/

https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/americas-faulty-perception-crime-rates

http://www.factcheck.org/2016/07/dueling-claims-on-crime-trend/

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/427758/careful-panic-violent-c...-c-w-cooke

thedevariouseffect said:
The parks have their reasons for doing this, we aren't privvy to all reasons, just throwing those above as examples.

I'd never expect an amusement park to stop a dirty bomb. That's what we have federal agencies for.

The security is to deter small local threats and prevent an idiot from trying to do something stupid.

Okay, but how could security theater at the gate prevent "an idiot" from trying something "stupid"? Assuming they'd be able to catch a gun or a bomb in the first place, they'd have to stand aside and wait for the police to arrive, while the perpetrator runs either into the park or back into the parking lot and does what they set out to do.

And remind me ... exactly how many people have security theaters found intending harm in the past decade and a half....

thedevariouseffect said:
I think people here miss the point.

Yes the TSA does suck, they aren't catching threats as they happen, and they have a much more vital role in security.

So yes, they may miss this and that, but the visual deterrence is enough for me.

So let me see if I've got this straight. TSA isn't catching threats as they happen, but missing "this and that" is good enough for you. An agency that fails 95% of the time is an agency you put your faith in. And you think I should trust near- minimum wage employees in security costumes at amusement parks to keep me safe....

Put another way, we as a society should blindly give in to being searched for a ~5% chance of stopping an incredibly unlikely event?

That is not the America I want to live in.

Very well put, that in a nutshell is why I hate security theater.

Personally I like the extra security. With the huge threat of ISIS... I won't say anymore. I am just glad that if someone was going to try something there is a much higher chance of catching them with metal detectors and searching bags than letting them walk into the park and trying to stop them after they have already started... It makes me feel safer and I am sure those with children appreciate the security too. It doesn't take long at all and I believe that anyone who has such an issue with being searched and scanned which takes ~1 minute must have something to hide.

Oh dear... where do I even begin? Well, first of all, stop watching cable news.

ValravnCP said:

Personally I like the extra security. With the huge threat of ISIS...

What "huge" threat? You are statistically more than 400 times more likely to die in your car on the way to the park than at the hands of a foreign-born terrorist. Just for some perspective.

...letting them walk into the park and trying to stop them after they have already started...

Why go through all the trouble of walking into the park when they can just mow down the hundreds of men, women, and children that are waiting to have their bags checked outside the gate? Still feel safer?

...I am sure those with children appreciate the security too.

Speak for yourself. My being a parent has not compromised my critical thinking ability.

...anyone who has such an issue with being searched... must have something to hide.

Oh... oh dear. Wow. There is so, so much wrong with this argument.

"If you think privacy is unimportant for you because you have nothing to hide, you might as well say free speech is unimportant for you because you have nothing useful to say." - Snowden

ValravnCP said:

Personally I like the extra security. With the huge threat of ISIS...

Really? You feel safer having your bags searched because ISIS? Turn off the TV man.

To be honest, if I put security theater in context of ISIS and really think it through, it makes me feel LESS safe knowing that I'll be forced to stand in a big, concentrated line of people outside the front gate every morning around the same time - an easy target for someone in a big bus or van to just mow through, inflicting gruesome mass casualties at the entrance to an iconic amusement park. And they don't even have to pay admission or get anything whatsoever into the park in order to accomplish this.

MDOmnis said:
To be honest, if I put security theater in context of ISIS and really think it through, it makes me feel LESS safe knowing that I'll be forced to stand in a big, concentrated line of people outside the front gate every morning around the same time - an easy target for someone in a big bus or van to just mow through, inflicting gruesome mass casualties at the entrance to an iconic amusement park. And they don't even have to pay admission or get anything whatsoever into the park in order to accomplish this.

Firstly, there are poles all along the area to prevent cars from even going through. Second, there are so many cases of radical Islamists yelling "Alluh Akbar" or whatever the damn phrase is, and opening fire. A huge one happened at a gay club in Orlando last year. Maybe you should turn ON your TV. Ignorance is not bliss.

ValravnCP said:

Ignorance is not bliss.

And we thank you for the demonstration of this concept.

Picture this. Say I'm a terrorist, right? I walk up and see a line to get in the gate. Guess what?

ALLAH AKBAR

Second scenario, there's no security theatre. I walk up to a large line for, say Millennium or Maverick. Guess what?

ALLAH AKBAR

It's the same result either way. Personally, I would rather be killed inside of the park I love, then just outside of it, with the incredibly small chance of it happening. (Aka it will never happen)

In the words of Benjamin Franklin (my favorite of the Founding Fathers)-

"Those who are willing to sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither. "

allahu akbar*

Also, lets be real here, the park wouldn't just put in security just to put in security. They just spent thousands of dollars to purchase additional equipment, not alone the increased cost that has to be allocated towards payroll to keep people stationed at the front (assuming interior security presence hasn't dropped, which I'd doubt).

Plus yes, I don't think this is a stop a terrorist attack kind of setup, I think my original stopping pocket knives, booze, etc. is a valid response. I mean, a terrorist isn't going to look at Cedar Point. There's a much more prominent target some 20 miles west of the park.

Wash...Rinse...Repeat... like the rest of the thread.

Reasonable people can agree to disagree.

thedevariouseffect said:

...I think my original stopping pocket knives, booze, etc. is a valid response.

Yes, I remember in the mid-90's (when violent crime was significantly more prominent than it is now) just how dangerous it was in the park. People were getting shanked by drunk hooligans left and right! It's a miracle any of us survived.

Ah, the sweet smell of Hyperbole in the early afternoon...

XS NightClub said:

Reasonable people can agree to disagree.

I agree with you which is why I have kept pretty quiet until now. But when someone said metal detectors and bag checks at the front gate of Cedar Point are going to save us from ISIS, I had to say something. :)

Yeah, I'm agreeing that their are valid points on each side of this. And, I also think the park management knows what it's doing with its own private property.
So, it is what it is, no matter what we all think we know.