Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Life in the Nation's Capitol -- Cont.

A DC metro subway station was closed this morning after Alexandria police spotted "suspicious" packages at a nearby bus stop. According to the Post:

The packages remained undisturbed for two hours after being discovered because Alexandria police do not have a bomb squad and "apparently they couldn't get a hold of anybody from Metro until after 5 a.m.," Bartlett said.


Hello? I thought communication between multiple branches of law enforcement and various city government departments was "streamlined" and "improved" after 9/11. With all the focus the DC Metro system gives to "suspicious packages" you'd think there'd be somebody to call after hours. You can't set foot in the Metro system without seeing or hearing announcements and warnings about "suspicious packages." Like this one I heard yesterday over the Metro's intercom system:

"If you see someone leaving a bag or or a backpack, approach them and say, 'excuse me, is that your package?'"


I'm not making that up (in fact, the person making the announcement had the "I can't believe I'm saying this" tone in his voice). Perhaps the Alexandria police were following the Metro's instructions and spent two hours walking around the station looking for someone to ask, "is that your package?"

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