I’ve been on the phone and the people of Watertown and surrounding area are getting more and more peeved.
An unprecedented show of force. Yet a a covered boat in a backyard about a half mile away was not searched during the “manhunt”. The citizen who discovered him after law enforcement’s retreat could have easily been killed.
If you gave a classroom of fourth graders a google earth picture of a mile radius and ask them where they should look what do you think they would say?
Now suppose you are the guy next door to the boat owner and, although told not to, your young kids have climed on and around that boat. Suppoose there are kids always playing in that yard. Now you’re sitting at home watching law enforcement perform oral sex with each other and the media willingly jumping in to this orgy how angry do you think you will become?
“You bastards” is what he’s thinking. Right now that sentiment is percolating through Watertown.
All that bullshit and they didn’t check a covered boat on a trailer in a backyard. In full view of helicopters.
What could have been?
The legislature’s post audit committee, the one with subpoena power, should get them all up there (state and local officials I mean) and make them explain their bloated budgets, their equipment, and how they were used to capture this guy today. How much money in manpower, how much in all the tanks etc. You know? An audit.
Heads should roll.
After major events like this the different agencies involved usually do an extensive and often expensive review for future training etc. This one should be one sentence and cost ten cents to produce.
“If the suspect is on foot than check the covered boats in the backyards near where he ran. If not many civilians could die unnecessarily.”
No need to focus on how they lost him last night. Grey area. But who can defend them not checking the boat.
These people work for us. No different than the MBTA or MWRA. Demand Answers!!
because this is one of your posts that’s completely divorced from reality.
How could they have not checked the boat a half mile away.
They were lucky nobody was killed tonight.
I’ll recant if I am missing something.
I’m going to guess they didn’t check the boat because no matter how many people on the ground we had there, Watertown’s still a big place and they had to focus on an area. Unfortunately, the boat he hid in fell just outside where they were doing the most detailed searches.
Have you ever been to the Arsenal area? I’m there all the time. Lots of nooks and crannies to hide. I think it’s inappropriate to be an armchair quarterback here, especially when their general strategy of locking down Watertown and keeping security high worked, even if they didn’t have that boat in the area they made the detailed door-to-door search.
Extremely bad guess. It seems intellectual discussion goes out the window because we never question cops?
Really Ryan, I expect more from you.
I don’t see much of an example of that in your post or in any of your responses.
It is definitely reasonable to ask why they didn’t search one block further, but you go two steps past that into any angry rant.
when it was arsenal. Please don’t ever question my local geographic knowledge.
and since you apparently think it’s such a breeze to sweep through it and the neighborhoods surrounding it, I am questioning your geographical knowledge. Or at least your sensibilities.
and yes ryan it would have been a breeze.
Ryan i don’t understand why you think it was too difficult for them to search that boat during the day?
How much we spend on all these k-9s.
God damn trail of blood leading to the boat.
The dogs couldn’t sniff him out? The guy escaped on foot, remember?
We all know law enforcement has much show without substance.
Today went well beyond the acceptable bullshit quotient.
are you really going to squabble over the cost?
In any event, the President declared a state of emergency, so it’s moot. The feds pay for most of everything, and the rest is a small price to pay to know we don’t have a bomber running around blowing up entire families.
all the toys and all the bullshit and all the manpower and they didn’t check obvious hiding place?
Question: Is the glass half-empty, or half-full?
EBIIIs’ answer: da gingah hoo poord it gave me a funny look. Meanwhile, fukkin eastah bunnies’ about to be indicted fah humpin da tanksgibben turkey. Oh look! a groop of fifth graders, ‘scoose me while I go tell ’em sanna claws died in a horrible accident involving prostitutes and black mahket Ikea gear…
Unlike your “sources”, mine are real people that live and worked in Watertown with my ma, they were all incredibly happy and proud of the police and law enforcement. Did you even watch the news reports, or did you decide to go straight to BMG to piss and moan and make yourself feel better at how much reaction you cause?
There was a veritable slow clap about 3 miles deep down Mt. Auburn street as they took the suspect back to Boston. I saw it in Chicago on six different national news programs, and had friends in the area confirm it. Friends near Fenway tell me its the world series over there, the streets are flooded with people celebrating. But no, at this rare moment of unity Ernie has to be the drunk uncle in the back of the room hoping to get more attention for himself.
The authorities sure missed the boat (!) when they forgot to consult noted expert fka-ernie. They should now hire him to train their dogs.
a half mile from where the terrorist fled. Visible from the air by the many helicopters.
Are we not allowed to ask this?
It’s wrong. There are.
Good questions that should be answered.
…about whether the lock down was over kill or not enough. In situations like this, there will always be second guessing. Both Tom and Ernie have good points…but they didn’t have to make the tough calls, they just get to sit back and tell us how they would have done it better.
As for Tom’s position that this was over kill, well if your the folks in charge, do you make decisions that open you up to Tom’s (legitimate) criticism and implement a lock down, or do you let people go about their day and open yourself to the opposite criticism if someone dies?
In terms of Ernie’s point, judgements are made as to where to draw a line. Yes, the line was not drawn wide enough for house-to-house; yard-to-yard searches. But security on Franklin street was certainly strong enough that the terrorist couldn’t just walk away…he had to hide in a boat. If the best you can do is say they should have had a wider search area…ok, but that is a fairly weak level of criticism.
If we want to dissect the decisions public safety officials made, I think the big decisions about whether and when to release the pictures was the critical decision they made. I won’t second guess them, I’m sure they knew the risks better than I. But did the release of the pictures prompt the brothers to arm up and go out in a blaze of glory? I’m sure the officials knew that was a possibility, but felt they had to take that risk, because the brothers could have been in Canada by then and not 2 miles away in Central Square.
Sure, there needs to be lessons learned from this ordeal. There were problems. But right now it looks like these two were one of our worst nightmares. Two “average” Americanized individuals who were not on anybodies radar screen (yes, this may be proven wrong), who by current accounts never acted suspicious and no one ever thought they had the capability to kill.
Yet within 5 days we got them. How long did it take us to get Saddam Hussein, Bin Laden or Whitey Bulger for that matter. So Ernie, you can continue to spew your opinions, it only reenforces the opinion many have about you.
i’m not saying the lock down was “over kill or not enough”.
It’s unacceptable that a covered boat in a backyard a half mile from where the terrorist ran on foot was not checked especially considering the resources used to hunt the culprit after he ran speaks for itself.
INHO
anyone deny that?
…you said “overkill or not enough” but that choice represents the opposite arguments of you and Tom. You specifically represent the “not enough” part of the equation. You felt they should have done more–expanded their search. That is your position, is it not?
My basic point is opinions are like a specific part of the anatomy–everyone has one. All your doing is second guessing one of many, many decisions people have to make in the last 5 days. Hell, your point was brought up with my friends last night. But WE understand the fog of ware and that in these situations, nothing will be perfect. You either are to stupid to understand that, or your an egomaniac that loves to get attention by making stupid points.
Hypothetical.
What if one of those law enforcement helicopters flying around yesterday ran out of gas, fell to the ground. All because the cop/pilot forgot to gas up.
Is that a fog of war unanswered question? Or is it the pilot fucked up big time?
What if the helicopter happened to land on the suspect who happened to come to be where it crashed. Would that make a pilot a hero?
Not a fog of war issue here my friend.
…that was a fast surrender Ernie. Of course you continue to ignore my basic point: There were lots of decisions made in the last 5 days and some were wrong. But to focus on one questionable decision and raise hell about it demonstrates either ignorance or egomania.
Nothing hypothetical about that Ernie…so which is it?
wait, one more time. If you owned a business and hired a security and paid them tons of money to watch your warehouse. They helicopters and visdeo cams, and fences,and all sorts of stuff.
Woud you be mad if they left the door unlocked and for some reason weren’t paying attention when someone walked in and stole everything?
Well that’s what almost happened in Watertown. Only someone noticed the guy before he left with the goods. After he broke through all the expensive safety nets because of pure unadulterated negligence he happened to be seen by chance.
whitey bulger, hussein, and bin laden weren’t hiding in a boat under their eyes.
Ernie, as a resident of East Watertown, I would just like to say: “Fuck You.”
You don’t speak for me or any of my neighbors whoI’ve talked to, nor any of them who were outside cheering the responding officers & agents last night along Mt. Auburn St.
They failed Watertown. You are relieved today but no thanks to the cops.
Lucky you or a neighbor isn’t dead today because the cops did a ship poor search.
Happy the guy is caught but really sco.
Soon Ill put google maps up showing the locations.
Really sco, if you and your neighbors are that gullible then the hell with you. But if I lived near there (west newton too) I would be extremely angry wondering why a boat one street away from the arbitrary parameter, less than half a mile from where the internationally know terrorist fled on foot, was not checked by anyone during the show of all shows yesterday.
Really sco, i never realized Watertown was full naive pussies who are afraid to question authority when authority unnecessarily puts its people in severe danger. Like when an armed terrorist with a death wish, armed with guns and bombs most likely, and having already killed people including a police officer, is allowed to hide in a backyard covered boat half a mile from where he fled on foot while thousands of law enforcement searched the area but not the boat then gives more or an “all clear” to the residents on which and near the property where the hide-out boat is.
If that’s acceptable;e for the people of Watertown than that’s a place I wouldn’t want to live, or educate my kids in.
I mean really, no critical thinking in Watertown.
Yeah sco, on behalf of my Watertown friends and others who were put in danger because of this incompetence I say FUVK YOU back!
Tough shit.
but not this fool:
BTW Ryan, I Knew the Arsenal Mall…
when it was arsenal. Please don’t ever question my local geographic knowledge.
Apparently Mr. Streetsmart doesn’t know Watertown nearly as well as he claims or he would have noticed the crowds of Watertownites (-ians, um, folks) in the “streets,” cheering!
Meanwhile, the jihadist chat rooms are ebullient over the idea that we are spending all this money to find this guy; and people are ordered into their homes to cower in fear, blah, blah.
Sounds alot like this jackass EB3
n/t