Land of soft targets
Two nights ago a stern, uniformed man with a gun stopped me at the entrance to our media village to check my credentials. That's a good thing and I am all in favor of it. What's a bad thing is that we've been here two weeks and that's the first time it's happened.
Security for us media types has been relaxed to say the least, at least measured against previous games. In Athens we had to get off the bus at the end of the driveway into our housing area, present our credentials and walk to the front door where we passed through a "mag and bag" security screening. Every bus coming into the driveway, dropping off or picking up passengers, was checked for bombs by a security crew with roll-under mirrors...
Here in Torino the media buses pull off a public street and park right in front of the three towers which make up our village. I don't know about the other media housing areas, but it wouldn't take much more than a determined person with a bad idea and the right materials to bring down a whole lot of building and focus a whole lot of attention on a whole lot of misery.
During our first few nights here, being a bit of a space-head I forgot my room number. At the front desk I asked for the wrong key. The clerked checked the box and said there was no key there. I tried another number and he gave me THAT key. Which turned out to be the key to a neighbor's room, not mine. I went back and asked for the correct key (remember, the THIRD different room key I've asked for) and he gave it to me without comment. And without once asking to see my Olympic credentials which I realized only later were tucked inside my jacket, not visible, during the whole transaction.
Our live platforms where we do most of our news are protected from an ajoining park and a bust boulevard by a meatl mesh fence. About six feet high and climbable by anybody over about age 8. About 50 feet from where we do our shows is an impressive metal gate, huge and heavy that blocks off an unused driveway that opens onto the public street. That's very comforting. What not comforting is the place where the gate meets the fence itself. There is a gap there big enough for Jay Buhner, or, say, Abu Musaab Al Zarqawi to fit through. I guess our hired security company didn't bother to walk the perimiter.
It doesn't make me feel very secure. Or maybe there are hidden machine gun emplacements and other precautions in place which we can't see.
Comments
This is likely a cultural issue.
yes, I noticed that everyone in Italy was more relaxed than in the US while I was in Torino last week - especially among the ticket-takers and the security at the entrance to the Sponsor Village at Piazza Solferino.
Italians are more relaxed and realistic that although they have had far more terrorist incidents than us, they enjoy a much lower crime rate. they just figure that the chance of something happening is more likely to take place in Piazza San Carlo or at an event venue. Who'd want to hurt the foreign press?
I would expect Vancouver to be tighter security.
Posted by: M | February 26, 2006 1:12 AM