AP: Three security guards watched a group of teens punch, kick and rob a 15-year-old girl in the downtown Seattle Metro bus tunnel without intervening. Security video shows the guards call for help on their radios, but they don’t go to the aid of the girl even as she is being kicked in the head. A dispute involving a group of 10 teens apparently started inside a department store the evening of Jan. 28 and moved to the bus tunnel at Westlake Station, where the girl was attacked.
KING-TV reports: The guards are not trained police officers or Metro Transit employees. They’re contract workers from Olympic Security Services out of Tukwila. According to their contract, the guards are to “observe and report” problems, not to get involved. Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond says that policy is now out of date.
I would’ve hoped that somebody, security guard or not, would’ve stopped this. It also shows that you can’t fall for the false sense of security where you have paid guards standing around and that you must always be vigilent and assume responsibility for your own safety.
wow… Active guard or not, the male instinct & human decency should have kicked in to defend a female. Spineless individuals. Reminds me of Kitty Genovese minus the fatality.
It was reported that the security company’s policy is to "observe and report only’. Which is no damn excuse for not helping someone who is getting beat down right in front of them. :mad:
that’s chicken shit. nobody around did anything, they just stood there. wtf? I guess it’s just the mentallity of people up north not to get involved with stuff like that.
My question to that Chicken Shit outfit that provided “SECURITY”.
WTF is “SECURITY” for? If they are not “SECURITY” then get the hell out of there. I guess they have a totally different definition of “SECURITY”. I’ll bet if one of those “SECURITY” nitwits was being attacked in the same manor, one of those spineless aholes would have come to “His” rescue!
If “SECURITY” cannot provide “SECURITY” then there is absolutely NO point in them being there to take up tax payers dollars to provide a false sense of “SECURITY”.
Can anyone tell my black and white world is a little upset at this kind of shit?
“Security” in this situation were unarmed people under contract to observe and report law breaking only. A statement by a Metro spokesman on the issue said the security did exactly what they were supposed to do. This incident got quite a bit of coverage/discussion on local talk radio 770 KTTH on the David Boze show.
The point was made that since “Security” isn’t authorized to do anything to protect somebody being attacked, that their presence actually INCREASED the danger to the girl, who wrongly went to them asking for help instead of running.
As cowardly and sometimes reprehensible as it sounds, it is actually general human nature to not intervene. Part of it is due to a “someone else will do it” mentality. There are many documented incidents of inaction all over the country and the world.
No excuse at all for no getting involved, unless you look at it from the idea that they may be feeding their family and not wanting to get fired. Who is more important, your family, or someone you don’t know?
We can talk all about it being a mans job to protect others, but there is a flip side to it. I’ve got no idea if that is what went through their mind, and I haven’t watched the video, but I have responded to calls as a cop where a security guard was later fired for doing the right thing.
No wonder so much of the world has no respect for us anymore.
“Worthless” doesn’t even begin to describe those so-called security guards. The perp probably could have robbed and stripped them and they would probably still be standing around cluelessly in their shorts.
Disclosure–I lived on the Left Coast (and in the &&^% rain) for too long–so this is not hard to believe.
I agree with Stickman. I have to put my family first and everyone else second. Of course I would approach this from a CCW standpoint and not a paid security job standpoint.
On one hand my goal is to protect myself if I’m alone and my family if they’re with me. Everyone else, including a girl, like that is a distant second. If the security guard got involved he might be fired. If I got involved I might get shot and killed. I don’t fault him.
My goal is get arrive home at the end of everyday and if that means not getting involved to help out a stranger then I guess I’ll have to live with that. It might sound cold but that’s my goal. Family first.
However, I really can’t say how I’d react because I’ve never been in that situation. Maybe I’d realize that my family would want me to help someone and that they’d understand. Maybe I’d think about what I would want someone to do if that was my wife or daughter. I don’t know…
I do know that I’m not going to judge those “security” guards. They made their decision and right or wrong they will have to live with this for a long time.
Slight change of subject; maybe this will wake some people up and they’ll take responsibility for their own safety?
I think this is a rather well articulated way to take the “security” out of security guard. How about we start calling them “radio responders”?
Not trying to be a dick to you, I just wonder where we draw the line sometimes. And yes, becoming a father has surely changed me as well. The incident I had in that parking lot last summer over the rap music blaster gave me a big-time awakening as to how close I came to missing my son grow up as a result of some soulless animal who would have been truly happy to take my life. But they are “security guards”, are they not?
I think the answer is to equip them to do their jobs effectively and safely. Either that or just install cameras everywhere and have a couple officers on stand-by in a small sub-office.
apparently i’m the only one who, after watching the video, wants to strangle the stupid fucking bitch child who had the nerve to not only do this to another person, but do it right in front of security. and her parents, if they’re both still alive and/or know she exists.
cowardly on the security guards parts…? i don’t know. they probably felt like lumps on a log, and are now probably mortified to be on television securing nothing. but they were doing their jobs as proscribed- observe and report. being the sole provider of a family, i find it hard to hold not getting fired against them… had they intervened, this wouldn’t have made the news and they probably would have been fired and possibly sued.
on second though- it might very well have made the news, as the whole rowdy mob of teenagers got involved and someone got hurt and so forth. which would result in the guards’ being publicly chastised FOR intervening with no training or authorization to do so.
i’m not playing devil’s advocate here- i’m quite sure, if i had somehow ended up as a uniformed OAR guard, that i would have jumped in. job be damned, when we’re talking about the defense of a human being… but dont be too hard on these guys.
The “Security” guards were probobly thinking “Oh great, I go help her, end up hurting one of the kids attacking her, the company I work for and myself get sued, I get fired and cant pay rent”
Because you KNOW, that is EXACTLY what would have happend.
I think that having a security guard that cant help is stupid, might as well have cameras and have the camera operator call the police when they see an incident.
Let’s be honest, they only have the title of “security guard” to make people feel secure. We know what the reality is but most people are conditioned to feel safe with that. It’s like being told to call 911. We know that the whole incident could be over (literally) in a matter of seconds and that’s why we take responsibility for our safety. Sadly most people feel that way.
pretty much… things like EAS devices at stores and uniformed OAR guards are no longer “deterrence.” the criminals now know they don’t, by themselves, do anything. better to either give them some training and authority to act, even if just limited, or do away with them to avoid a FALSE sense of “security.”
For some of us, life and limb take priority over office/company rules (the benefit of being young and not supporting a family I guess). A - someone is is getting hurt, and B - I don’t know that the people doing the beating/robbing aren’t trying to kill them. If there’s an opportunity to intervene, I’m gonna. That girl is someone’s daughter.
Three adult men stand and watch a kid get beat and robbed right next to them and do nothing? Unbelievable.