Security at Dragon*Con 2011

[m-cubicle.livejournal.com]

EDIT: With the great response this post is getting, let's try and make something happen here. Send Dragon*con security any ideas you may have in ways to improve security for the 2011 show. Go to the contact security form through the D*Con web page. Get as many people as you can to do the same. Pass the word along. Select "security" from the drop down menu. The hotels and Dragon*con MUST agree to start checking badges or room keys at the hotel entrances  to keep the non-con goers out.  Why should we pay and others not?!

dragoncon.org/dc_contact.php

Since it doesn't seem like anyone has addressed this issue for D*Con 2011 recently, I will go ahead and put it on the table.

As I'm sure many others noticed, last year there were several security concerns during the convention. I remember reading all the different posts of women being accosted and "felt up" by individuals who had no badge and nothing to do with the convention itself. Letters were mailed to the hotel and complaints filed. Since then, it has all gone quiet.... Has anything been done by the hotel or Dragon*Con to alleviate this problem? Or, are the powers that be just hoping we would all forget about it and just deal for next year?

I have noticed every year the convention getting more and more filled with people who have come to the hotels thinking they would be getting a free "freaks on parade" show. Individuals include: Football fans, nearby college students, and random people off the street hoping to get a free good time at the expense of those who paid to be there. It's not the same convention it was 5 years ago, the con is changing and not for the good.

Before I go dumping more hard earned money on a convention that is already getting ridiculously priced, are any of these issues going to be addressed? What is to keep random grabby pervs away from my girlfriend or friends? With everything getting expensive these days, I need some re-assurances that this will be a safe convention and the money will be well spent. I wonder what the ratio is of people who just wander in off the streets is, to those who actually paid for a badge?

Comments

[grimthorn.livejournal.com]

I talked with my wife about this tonight, and I asked her. Is it a good idea in a situation like this to scream bloody murder?

("Situation like this" = You are groped or harassed in a public place but cannot easily avoid the person, such as an escalator or elevator)

I don't have any kind of perspective of being in that situation. I'm not exactly a small guy, and I'm fairly confident I could rip the lungs out of anyone given sufficient provocation. I've never been in a position where I was worried about being physically harassed.

My wife said, and it makes sense to me, that in such a situation, it would be best to yell and attract as much attention as possible. At the very least people would see what was going on and could describe the attacker. At best, most folks would step in to make sure nobody gets hurt.

I cannot imagine Dragon*Con fans remaining passive if a woman, especially one in costume, started yelling "GET YOUR DAMNED HANDS OFF OF ME!" at some drunken frat-boy.

I honestly don't know what "the answer" is, so I'm sharing this in an attempt to gain some perspective.

-Grim

[dianne-the-geek.livejournal.com]

Well, I can tell you, as a woman, that it's easy to say that, but until you're in such a position you've no idea what will happen on the inside of your brain. Me? My mind froze entirely when it happened, as others in this very post have said as well.

Additionally, that doesn't stop it from happening in the first place. Getting the guy to stop or even having some justice is nice, but it won't erase the feelings of shame and humiliation many women face after something like this.

If the only solution is to wait for it to happen and then take action, that's not good enough for me.

[trybutez.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for Grim, but I got the impression he was referring only to those situations where we can't be proactive. Bottlenecks, such as tight entrances to ballrooms, narrow escalators and packed elevators.

Every where else, extra security, Back Up Ribbons, and enforced badge possession will, hopefully, help. But frankly, putting more bodies into those bottleneck situations would only make matters worse.

It's in those cases, and hopefully those alone, where the best we've been able to come up with is what Grim, or rather, Mrs. Grim, suggests. Namely, call out the behaviour and get immediate help from those around you/nearest security.

If you've got a better idea, we're all ears. The only other thing I've got is segregated escalators/elevators/entrances. That, of course would be a pain to enforce and fraught with its own complications, both practical and moral.

[dianne-the-geek.livejournal.com]

It seems obvious to me that these attacks of opportunity are only going to continue, if not increase, unless we get some literal breathing room into the hotel lobbies. Fewer people on an escalator makes it a lot harder to explain why a guy is standing *right* next to the girl in front of him. I don't think that anything will stop this until that happens. As you said, more security in the mix would just make the crowds worse and there's no way they could have their eyes on every person on the floor.

Maybe getting rid of the non-badged/non-room-keyed outsiders will help, we'll have to wait and see. I really don't have a good idea of how big the convention is any more.

Of course there are some places, like coming out of the ballrooms where this won't help. Personally, I leave 5 minutes before the end of every big panel these days to avoid it. I hate missing part of a good panel, but it keeps me out of a bad situation. Short of moving the convention, which I know isn't an option and I don't want it to happen, I don't know what they can do about that. Staggering the ending times of panels in that area maybe, but that creates a schedule-making nightmare, I'm sure.

Beyond all that, I think it's also going to be essential that the Dragon*Con staffers actually have a plan in place to deal with any reports that come their way. Because right now I don't see how taking a badge name or a picture/description to the security offices will do any more than create an extra tally next to the "woman reports she's been groped" category. These sorts of things are almost impossible to prosecute and short of putting the guy's picture up in elevators and dealers' rooms, I don't see how it would do any good. A little staff reassurance in this area would not go amiss.

But now I'm completely rambling away from the point of your reply. I clearly need more coffee this morning.

tl;dr version: until Dragon*Con addresses their crowd flow issues, I see some of these measures as nothing more than a band-aid on a gaping wound. The crowds are becoming far more than just an annoyance for me.