It used to be when I was a kid that my local bank down the street had a nice, jolly old guy as the bank security guard, who also doubled as the organ player’s page-turner and as the fat guy responsible for handing out lolly pops and dressing up in the Santa suit. he would always have his trust .38 Special which hadn’t been unholstered or fired for ages. Also, when I used to go into my neighborhood book store, it was usually a quiet, mellow place where the biggest problem was people chewing bubble gum and giggling too loudly.
Well, those days are obviously long gone. I don’t know whether the rest of you have noticed, but many NYC merchants and banks are going one step further than private security guards and inviting New York Police Department officers to stand guard inside their storefronts. Last year, I started to resent having to walk past stern-faced police officers in my local Commerce Bank branches, who would also open doors for me, greet me as I walked in and exited, and even walk up to me inside the bank and make attempts at friendly conversations and small talk. Finally, I called the bank’s customer service line several times, left some heated messages, and had some interesting discussions with Commerce Bank executives. I basically explained to them that I regarded NYC police as oppressors who routinely harrass and arrest innocent residents and enforce evil things like victim disarmament (gun control), child kidnapping through ACS, and breaking down people’s doors for smoking or injesting certain plants–Oh, and also cracking down on Walking While Black or Driving While Latino, doing stop-and-frisks in "blighted neighborhoods", and enforcing eminent domain seizures. I also told the executives that for the officers to stand in the background of branches was perhaps more tolerable, but having the police stand right by the entrances, where we had to pas under their steely glare, and having them approach us and talk to us and try to be our friends, when we just wanted to do our private banking business, was really crossing the line.
Anyway, shortly after I spoke to Commerce, the Sean Bell 50 Shot Murder Massacre occurred, and suddenly I saw a lot less police in Commerce branches. The executives had asked me which branches I used regularly, implying they would investigate what was happening in those. But even now, in some Commerce branches there are regularly cops standing guard, while in others there are none.
Recently, as a regular customer of Barnes & Noble bookstores, I’ve noticed that NYPD police officers are hanging out in those too, and even stalking up and down the aisles of books. Now, when I complained to Commerce about them getting obvious corporate welfare and subsidized security from the taxpayers, they explained to me that the officers in their branches are hired and paid by the bank even though they’re wearing their NYPD uniforms. However, they are obviously still subsidized IMO in the sense that their radios, back-up, ammunition, and original training were paid for by taxpayers. Also, I told them that as a consumer and their customer, I want to avoid the NYPD as much as I can. I consider them offensive, brutish, and disrespectful of our Constitutional Rights, and I’ve had plenty of personal examples of that to know.
If these businesses want better security and protection so much, why don’t they just hire security guards who are armed? Well, I don’t know about the armed gun aspect, but apparently these merchants ALSO do hire private security, and the police are IN ADDITION to that. In the photo above you can see clearly that not only is the NYPD officer there, but also one of several Barnes & Noble security guards.
I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but I’m sure there are plenty of other New Yorkers who are sick of all this pushy and intrusive security. Indeed, here in New York City if you’re unfortunate enough to be born into a lower class family and you can’t afford private schools or home-schooling (because of high taxes and regulation, of course), your children will inevitably be exposed to this aggressive security from the very first day they go to school, and for years afterwards; in NYC public schools, they will be searched for weapons, drugs, cellphones, makeup, too much money, illegal food and drinks, etc., and if necessary they will be sniffed by police attack dogs and have their lockers examined (or they may be body-strip searched by perverted school safety officers if they don’t cooperate, or sent to a NYC school psychiatrist for medicated behavior modification).
Personally, I’m sick of this shit, where we’re all treated like potential criminals and continuously threatened and intimidated by uniformed goons. That’s why when I go to businesses who have hired NYPD mercenaries, I always tell the manager that I don’t appreciate feeling threatened when I visit their store, I find it upsetting, demeaning, and it most likely discourages me from patronizing their store more regularly in the future. I feel if more concerned citizens did the same thing and spoke up, maybe we could pressure the city and our local businesses to tone down on these storefront SWAT teams.
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