Cedar Point new security checkpoint

^Not that I want to put the whole TSA argument down (because I agree with what the government is doing there)...

There was data recently released that suggested that out of 70 or so undercover agents equipped with contra-ban, 65 or so sneaked past security checkpoints. So yes, maybe their efforts are futile. We won't know until something big happens.

With that being said...

I am more than happy to give up a few of my individual freedoms for the sake of the masses. Yes, waiting in line at checkpoints can be extremely painstaking, but with the likelihood that somebody else standing in the midst of the crowd could be holding the weapon that will kill my family later in the day being very high, I will sacrifice the extra time to expel these individuals from the crowd. The PATRIOT Act seeks to do the same thing. Group over individual. We could certainly abolish such protections, but then it's nearly guaranteed to receive backlash from the public as to why hundreds of innocent people were bludgeoned because of a lack of security. When something as simple as 9/11 comes to mind (sneak a weapon past security and kill the defenseless crew), you can't even say that something like that is NOT preventable. You just have too much to risk in an aircraft and so little to solve the issue without causing death.

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." - Benjamin Franklin

A 9/11 style attack would probably never be possible again because the people on the plane now know the risks. Somebody with a box cutter on a plane isn't going to over power the passengers and crew because everyone knows what could happen if they allow it.

Maybe I just have a death wish.

The name Patriot Act is a joke. There is nothing patriotic about an act that compromises our privacy and legalizes what used to be illegal wire tapping/information gathering.

All you people who are so eager to give up your rights must be young and have no clue what price was paid to secure them in the first place. Go talk to some WWII veterans about the human bloodshed and sacrifices that occurred during that time period to preserve the liberties and values of this country.

magdrag95 said:
Yes, waiting in line at checkpoints can be extremely painstaking, but with the likelihood that somebody else standing in the midst of the crowd could be holding the weapon that will kill my family later in the day being very high

So why would the person waiting in line at a checkpoint bother waiting and trying to sneak a weapon in when all they would need to do is take the weapon and blow everyone away waiting to go through the checkpoint? Acomplishes their mission just as good.

Where there's a will, there's a way. With or without checkpoints, there will always be the possibility of some maniac sneaking something into the park. Being 100% secure from something is an illusion.

TTD6262 said:

You people are insane. Now I can see why people at other forums say what they do about this place.

And yet you're here and posting....

Are you really too stubborn to realize that this is what leads to the attacks in the first place?

What leads to attacks "in the first place" is not Americans protective of their liberties, but terrorists, domestic and otherwise seeking to provoke.

Just look at airports; the stuff they do there is 100x more invasive than a car search, and it's prevented numerous attacks.

Have they? Time after time, year after year, TSA -- the agency tasked with protecting us that was repeatedly hiring people who were not allowed to fly on airplanes to assess whether we could fly on airplanes -- is demonstrably unable to catch weapons being smuggled onto planes when tested. If TSA repeatedly fails tests, why should we think TSA is actually preventing any attacks?

...something so non-invasive as swabbing the inside of your cheek

Sorry. Someone sticking something in my mouth is non-invasive? Um... really? In my mouth? Non-invasive?

If it's past the uvula, then it's invasive. ;)

Captain Hawkeye said:
Has anyone confirmed that there was an ACTUAL threat, as opposed to rumors of a threat? Or just playing it safe b/c it's July 4th weekend?

In cases like this, 'threat' doesn't mean someone called in a bomb threat, it means that information collected by various agencies pointed towards a possibility of a terrorist action towards a specific target or group of targets. This time that included Cedar Point.

I was at Kings Island this weekend and same thing there, although when we walked in around noon on Friday, there was nothing, but when we walked back out later on (and subsequently back in), they had the entrance barricaded and were wanding people.

I hope and suspect this security side show ended last night.

I'd rather deal with the freak chance of something bad happening to me than to deal with a police state. When you can't move about from place to place without showing papers or being searched, you are no longer free.

It's probably impossible to put a dollar figure on what all the fearmongering this weekend cost businesses.

Everybody is assuming the park put this policy in place to prevent a threat from some terrorist group (or crazed mad man or whatever you want to call it), but what if they were just trying to make sure people aren't sneaking in prohibited items?

I came in the resort gate on the 3rd at about 1pm, and though there was a table set up, and a bonded CP officer at the gate, he wasn't checking or wanding anyone. Later, I sat outside the Pavilion, close to the resort gate, and watched for a while. The officer was sporadically checking guests as they walked in; a stroller here, a purse there. The amount of alcohol that he was uncovering was amazing. They had the option to take it back to their room/car or toss it out. Strollers/groups with young kids were the worst offenders. Food wasn't really an issue because of the children. I chatted with the officer for a bit and he informed me that he had found a few hand guns earlier in the day. The gun owners opted to take them back to their car (but they were given the option to put it in the safe at the station). I saw the same goings on at the resort gate on the 4th when I arrived after 6pm.

Do precautions like this help to prevent a large scale attack? Yup. But I don't think that the park is as focused on that as they are making sure the items on their prohibited list are kept out.

It's a private establishment. They are allowed to decide what is allowed in and what is kept out. If we want to enter the private establishment, we have to play by their rules. OR if we don't like it, we let them know with our wallets. It's just like any sporting event. Before you enter into any NFL stadium, your bag and your person is searched and prohibited items are removed if found. If you don't like it, there's the door. There's a huge difference between being wanded when you enter a private establishment and being forced to "show your papers" when you walk down the street.

The security checkpoint was gone on Sunday, at least at the Marina gate.

Willijs3 said:

Everybody is assuming the park put this policy in place to prevent a threat from some terrorist group (or crazed mad man or whatever you want to call it), but what if they were just trying to make sure people aren't sneaking in prohibited items?

Does it make financial sense to employ all those security folks in order to make sure someone isn't sneaking in a granola bar and a coke?

Above I mentioned that food wasn't really an issue. It was the alcohol and weapons (and I assume drugs, but I didn't see any nor did the officer I spoke with). At the end of the day, the parks bottom line is to make a profit. If it wasn't fiscally responsible to pay a few employees for working extra hours on one of the busiest weekends of the year they would not be doing it. I've said before that I don't think the park is being greedy or money hungry and I still stand by that opinion in this case. Business is business.

Safety is another thing. If people are getting drunk on alcohol they brought into the park, fights/arguments/people being a**holes could be more prevalent. Preventing outside alcohol forces people to buy an $8 beer and they will probably think twice about getting another because of the hole it creates in their wallet (MLB/NFL/NBA does the same thing). If some guy has his gun with him in the park, and he somehow accidentally discharges it, think of all of the innocent bystanders that could get hit. Of course, there are always people that slip through; always people who will still get drunk on expensive alcohol because they have money to burn; always people that will cause a problem for others. If paying a few employees extra money on a busy weekend will help prevent some of this, the park will surely do it because it helps on the back end.

I'm very sure this was done because of a suspected terrorist threat on the 4th, not for the reasons you mentioned. And, the security checkpoint was gone on Sunday, business as usual.

Irony of this 'security check' on Saturday, we were not checked at the back gate nor at Soak City.

I agree with Pete since this hasn't been a thing for the 4th other years. There was some type of overall threat and CP met the description of the type of place that should have taken precautions. You don't need metal detectors to find alcohol. I'm sure the number of weapons found were statistically minimal compared to the size of the crowd.

Uh oh, I'm really dumb. I just wanted to apologize for what I said about the boards AND for coming on way too strong about it. I guess you don't realize how dumb you sound until you read back through it, and I made That mistake here. I still disagree with most of you, but the way I went about doing it was totally unacceptable.

Maybe it's because I'm from the south :P

Or maybe they just decided that having extra security measures on one of the busiest days of the season would help reduce certain types of incidents that have occurred in the past.

If this was the park's response to a terrorist threat then perhaps it would be in everyone's best interest to have the moderators remove this thread.

Sure, let's do censorship and limit freedom of speech on a enthusiast website in the name of "safety". CHOKE/GAG!

The top 10 threads here are all an ongoing argument...

Looks like nothing happened at the park. Is the checkpoint gone yet?