[Noisebridge-discuss] getting sleepers to leave without calling police

[Al Sweigart]

I remember there was a time a woman had come into the space who had
literally escaped (though not dramatically) from SF General Hospital (she
still had her wrist bracelet on). She was rambling, distressed, but kept to
herself at one of the public computers unless someone walked by.

After a while, it was clear that something had to be done. Quinn (someone
I'd hardly call pro-government law enforcement) called the police, met them
at the gate, explained that the woman wasn't violent but she did had to
leave and had the hospital bracelet on. Four officers came into the space,
they did not escalate the situation, and took her back to the hospital.

I remember Quinn turning around to people in the space after the cops left
and saying in a half-joking-half-serious way, "Okay, who's going to yell at
me?"

This is a concrete example of a time the police came to Noisebridge and
professionally handled a situation without escalating it.

The don't-call-the-cops culture at Noisebridge is irresponsible at best.
I'm quick to heap criticism on the police, but this is a situation where
using the police to remove uncooperative and potentially dangerous people
is much better than trying to do it yourself.

-Al


On Mon, Dec 2, 2013 at 8:13 AM, Garrett Smith <dhtmlkitchen at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 1, 2013 at 3:00 PM, Hannah Grimm <dharlette at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I agree with Al; I personally feel incredibly unsafe participating in the
>> "three or more people stand shoulder-to-shoulder" thing.
>>
>
>
> I understand that there is no expectation to stand up to someone; that
> asserting boundaries would be on a voluntary basis.
>
> Anyone can be dangerous at any time.
>  --
> Garrett
> @xkit
> ChordCycles.com
> garretts.github.io
>
>
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