Holy crap!!! BREAKING NEWS: Fatal shooting on the M.I.T campus today. 2 suspects are possibly linked to the Boston Marathon bombings. There was gunfire exchanged and EXPLOSIONS. Report: MIT shooting triggers massive police operation in Boston Video: One Boston Marathon suspect dead, another still on run, officials say - U.S. News
It makes me sick to my stomach. My daughter works at MIT and lives in that area with her husband. This same daughter was at Virginia Tech in 2007, and was in the very next building down from that massacre there at the time it happened.
Only essential personnel were expected to work in Boston on Friday. The entire metropolitan area was locked down, except for police stations, fire departments, hospitals, and ... Dunkin' Donuts. The chief communications officer for Dunkin' Brands has confirmed that they followed orders to stay open: "At the direction of authorities, select Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in the Boston area are open to take care of needs of law enforcement and first responders."
The joke is that an entire city's civil liberties can be negated by law enforcement searching for a single suspect. Worse, none of their expensive technology or heavy-handed methods were effective -- the kid was found by a guy who acted contrary to the lockdown.
The gentleman stayed in his house until the lockdown was called off for his area. The suspect, however, was found 1.5 blocks OUTSIDE the area contained by police. That, I find amazing.
I cannot second guess the Boston Authorities, although from this distance I think they did a very good professional job. The Lockdown did the following: 1. It denied the suspects the opportunity for further killing of civilians, Clearly, hostile conditions existed and innocent people could have got caught in the crossfire; 2. It reduced the ability to access services that are instrumental for escape or escalation of any event; 3. It provided a mechanism that empowered people to protect themselves. People, from my experience are less likely to panic if they are doing something to protect themselves and help the authorities. No experienced Commander would do a lockdown without careful thought because the logistics in doing it are enormous and it takes energy away from the pursuit. There are, however, two competing elements in policing. One is being the shepherd and the other is being the hunter. The shepherd must come first. I suspect that this was the major factor in the decisionmaking. Civil liberties always take a hit when these things occur, but the protection of life is the most fundamental of civil liberties. I think the fact that nobody, other than the police and the suspects, were hurt in the arrests was somewhat remarkable and a great credit to Boston.