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

Re: Expectations need to be managed.

[glasscannon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, honestly I don't see the point of beer carts in a slow-moving line, overcrowded, hot line anyway. But it's legal, and if the demand is there why wouldn't the hotel respond to the demand? That said, I'm *really* hoping that the new barcode system this year will eliminate the several hour waits, and thus cut down on the demand for beer sales in line.

One of the best things about Dragon*Con is how much there is to see and do, for all different sorts of interests. Of course the other side of that coin is that there will often be things going on that someone doesn't like, whether it's drunken debauchery or panels/guests that aren't "genre" enough or whatever. I just tend to think that with an event this big, it's best to look for ways to work around what you don't like, rather than trying to get the con to change to what you do like. Yes, speaking out in threads like this ahead of time is important (and hopefully helpful, but that's up to the Powers That Be), but in the end you need to look out for yourself. If that means changing the time at which you usually do something -- whether that's when you go through pre-reg or how late you stay out in the evening or anything else -- or organizing a group of like-minded people to hang out with, or whatever it takes. The con is large enough for people to forge their own little pockets of what they want to do, without it affecting anyone else.

Anyhow, I agree with you about the beer in the registration line. For me it just seems easier to adjust myself than to try to adjust 40,000+ other people.