[Noisebridge-discuss] Noisebridge must police itself

[Jake]

I have read the posts about Jay ruining Kaylas computer, after violating 
her space, and misusing noisebridge as a place to get drunk.

I am appalled that after that happened, he was allowed to remain in the 
space.  If it had been only Kayla and her friend, and they chose to leave 
rather than forcing Jay to leave first, I would understand.

Jay should have been immediately removed from the space.  If people who 
were at the space (including Alex) objected to allowing the police inside, 
it was then THEIR obligation to take care of business.  The fact that the 
police refused to come inside is besides the point.

I find it IMPOSSIBLE to believe that Alex, Ramon, Rolf and Duncan could 
not remove Jay from the space.  The only explanation I can think of is 
that they were unwilling to get as physical as it would have been 
necessary to do so.

A few months ago a thief came to noisebridge, around 7 or 8pm, and was 
spotted by Rayc taking his wallet.  A chase ensued and the thief tried to 
run out of noisebridge.  He was counting on people being unwilling to 
physically stop him, which I am SURE is the case 99.99% of the time.

Instead he was physically stopped, football-style, and detained by the 
hands of at least three fully-involved people.  He was not allowed to 
leave before all his pockets were checked, and the smartphone belonging to 
a person who was at the space was recovered in this process.  We then 
allowed him to leave, perhaps because he had not used any violence other 
than relentless attempts to escape.

Days later, a person having a mental breakdown was found in possession of 
(random) items not belonging to him and acting strange - and the police 
were called.  It might have been an overreaction but vigilance is the 
price of liberty.

If Alex and others objected to the police coming inside, or objected to 
using their own force to eject this person, they should have remained at 
the space dealing with the problem until it was solved.  Options included 
outsmarting the crazy person, convincing them that the police would arrest 
them IF they refused to leave, or the good old fashioned rope trick.

A friend of mine works in a low income clinic and says that when a person 
is being problematic and has to leave, all the workers stop what they're 
doing and stand shoulder to shoulder, forming a human wall that causes the 
person to move toward the exit.  This usually does the trick with no 
touching necessary.  It is important to remember that a person acting 
irrational may be able to be convinced that leaving is less scary than 
staying, and they will choose to do so forthwith.

Either way, if we don't deal with problems like this when we have the 
opportunity, we forfeit and will become defined by them.

In the future i feel that when (not if) this sort of thing happens, the 
offender needs to be immediately and directly removed from the space as 
soon as possible.

-jake