Cop Free Zone at Burning Man?

[TomServo]

I'd camp next to pot heads, just like I'd camp next to visiting Nuns. It's interesting to see how, even at Burning Man, we have NIMBY's!

It's everyone's playground. Even (maybe, especially) the cop's. Deal with it, hippies.

[CornMan]

I'd camp next to pot heads, just like I'd camp next to visiting Nuns. It's interesting to see how, even at Burning Man, we have NIMBY's!

It's everyone's playground. Even (maybe, especially) the cop's. Deal with it, hippies.

My next door neighbor is a nice guy and a good friend. If he started spying into my yard/house with infrared spy goggles, my opinion of him would change.

[BurnerBunny]

anyone who isnt glad that theres a shitload of police and official types at burning man is a fuckin dumb ass.

anyone who is glad there are a shitload of pigs at burning man is a fucking dumb ass.

now that we have all the bases covered, let's focus on the real issue at hand, namely how to increase the amount of bacon available during the burn.

[TomServo]

I'd camp next to pot heads, just like I'd camp next to visiting Nuns. It's interesting to see how, even at Burning Man, we have NIMBY's!

It's everyone's playground. Even (maybe, especially) the cop's. Deal with it, hippies.

My next door neighbor is a nice guy and a good friend. If he started spying into my yard/house with infrared spy goggles, my opinion of him would change.

You can't control what everyone does. especially cops..on federal land. but that shouldn't stop you from being creative. night vision goggles are easily remedied with proper application of high power lights.

[TT120]

I personally don't have a problem with uniformed cops being there. They are kind of a necessary evil as they do perform a service to the community.
I DO have a problem with all the undercover cops with their night vision goggles and other expensive equipment out there trying to catch you smoking a joint. They actively try to entrap anyone they think has some money they can steal. On top of that, they're trying to make BMORG pay extra for it. Am I really hurting anyone by hiding in my tent and smokin a bowl?

I think what I really don't like is that they are lying about it. They say it's for public safety but really, it's just a money grab. Maybe if they just came out and said "We're broke just like everyone else and we want a piece of the BM cash cow" I could at least understand that.

[BurnerBunny]

They are kind of a necessary evil as they do perform a service to the community.

if you take out the necessary part then I totally agree. The community can and does address all of it's needs, without the use of force, violence, coercion, lies, and extortion.

ask me how I really feel about the cops

[tatonka]

I was a M.P. and did not continue after I got out cause it wasnt me.

[BBadger]

No cops = no thanks... actually I mean just no. I don't think the general population can regulate itself without some sort of authority to keep order. The playa isn't made up just of burners; there are also all kinds of degenerates who buy tickets and go to Burning Man. Worse, I don't want to see the type of authority that is conjured up by the masses. Most of this cop animosity comes from the fact that there is an active attempt by law enforcement to fill their coffers.

Authority figures naturally form in power vacuums. What will that authority act like? Some sort of mob rule? Strongmen? I don't expect it would be any better in the cop-free zone, as the natural authority figures exert their own control. We might as well have the cops; at least they're bound by the greater society, not just the whims of Burners.

Rangers as the cops = no thanks. To be honest, Burners are the last people I want having high-handed authority on the playa. Not only would the change in operational procedures taint them, but I also don't want a bunch of rent-a-cop imitators strutting around with greater authority than to mediate. On the other end of the spectrum, many people can't even exert authority over their own children, or their own lives for that matter, let alone adults. I don't think most rangers are prepared to "ruin" someone's burn with arrests, or other kinds of drastic measures. For one, are they ready to kill someone else if they're a threat to others? It can happen.

[theCryptofishist]

When there was a sexual assault in one of my camps, I had a somewhat less than abstract view of bm authority, and they were glad to have cops to work as part of the team. They = rangers and esd crises team.

[theCryptofishist]

Of course, there are absolutely vile law enforcement officers, and, of course, they are used as weapons against those not favored by society, and, of course, they are invested in maintaining the status quo rather than becoming the forces of change (all this on average, as I hope you know), and, of course, I'd love to see us develop institutions that managed large groups of humans better than the ones we have now; however, they are necessary at the event.

[ygmir]

No cops = no thanks... actually I mean just no. I don't think the general population can regulate itself without some sort of authority to keep order. The playa isn't made up just of burners; there are also all kinds of degenerates who buy tickets and go to Burning Man. Worse, I don't want to see the type of authority that is conjured up by the masses. Most of this cop animosity comes from the fact that there is an active attempt by law enforcement to fill their coffers.

Authority figures naturally form in power vacuums. What will that authority act like? Some sort of mob rule? Strongmen? I don't expect it would be any better in the cop-free zone, as the natural authority figures exert their own control. We might as well have the cops; at least they're bound by the greater society, not just the whims of Burners.

Rangers as the cops = no thanks. To be honest, Burners are the last people I want having high-handed authority on the playa. Not only would the change in operational procedures taint them, but I also don't want a bunch of rent-a-cop imitators strutting around with greater authority than to mediate. On the other end of the spectrum, many people can't even exert authority over their own children, or their own lives for that matter, let alone adults. I don't think most rangers are prepared to "ruin" someone's burn with arrests, or other kinds of drastic measures. For one, are they ready to kill someone else if they're a threat to others? It can happen.

Again, I'm with ya here. well said.

[CornMan]

No cops = no thanks... actually I mean just no. I don't think the general population can regulate itself without some sort of authority to keep order. The playa isn't made up just of burners; there are also all kinds of degenerates who buy tickets and go to Burning Man. Worse, I don't want to see the type of authority that is conjured up by the masses. Most of this cop animosity comes from the fact that there is an active attempt by law enforcement to fill their coffers.

Authority figures naturally form in power vacuums. What will that authority act like? Some sort of mob rule? Strongmen? I don't expect it would be any better in the cop-free zone, as the natural authority figures exert their own control. We might as well have the cops; at least they're bound by the greater society, not just the whims of Burners.

Rangers as the cops = no thanks. To be honest, Burners are the last people I want having high-handed authority on the playa. Not only would the change in operational procedures taint them, but I also don't want a bunch of rent-a-cop imitators strutting around with greater authority than to mediate. On the other end of the spectrum, many people can't even exert authority over their own children, or their own lives for that matter, let alone adults. I don't think most rangers are prepared to "ruin" someone's burn with arrests, or other kinds of drastic measures. For one, are they ready to kill someone else if they're a threat to others? It can happen.

Again, I'm with ya here. well said.

I was kind of thinking the cops would be there in their sub stations ready and alert. The way it's been, they'd never catch a theft or rape in action. They're too distracted.

[lemur]

burning man is probably one of the worst places to commit a heinous crime...


not many places out there with radar and patrols..... and remoteness .. like burning man.

[MikeGyver]

Sure id believe they may have gotten a little out of hand with the under cover stuff, but as has been said many times before, Don't be an idiot and you wont have any problems. I treat Burning man the same as anywhere else for Illegal stuff. Would you walk down the street at home smoking a bowl? Probably not so don't walk around BM smoking one. They could be a little less stringent on whats going on in peoples camps and worry more about public spaces but you don't get everything you want. I have never had any personal experience with Rangers or BLM Police so I cant have much of an opinion on them but I would rather them be there than not be there.

[ygmir]

No cops = no thanks... actually I mean just no. I don't think the general population can regulate itself without some sort of authority to keep order. The playa isn't made up just of burners; there are also all kinds of degenerates who buy tickets and go to Burning Man. Worse, I don't want to see the type of authority that is conjured up by the masses. Most of this cop animosity comes from the fact that there is an active attempt by law enforcement to fill their coffers.

Authority figures naturally form in power vacuums. What will that authority act like? Some sort of mob rule? Strongmen? I don't expect it would be any better in the cop-free zone, as the natural authority figures exert their own control. We might as well have the cops; at least they're bound by the greater society, not just the whims of Burners.

Rangers as the cops = no thanks. To be honest, Burners are the last people I want having high-handed authority on the playa. Not only would the change in operational procedures taint them, but I also don't want a bunch of rent-a-cop imitators strutting around with greater authority than to mediate. On the other end of the spectrum, many people can't even exert authority over their own children, or their own lives for that matter, let alone adults. I don't think most rangers are prepared to "ruin" someone's burn with arrests, or other kinds of drastic measures. For one, are they ready to kill someone else if they're a threat to others? It can happen.

Again, I'm with ya here. well said.

I was kind of thinking the cops would be there in their sub stations ready and alert. The way it's been, they'd never catch a theft or rape in action. They're too distracted.

I'd submit rarely, do police anywhere catch a theft or rape in action.....it's usually "after the fact".......I would say BRC has more chance of "citizen action" to stop such a thing, though. But, I would say that BRC has a ratio of LE/Rangers/PGE to citizens, and procedures in place, to lock down the city and find perps better than most.

[Box Burner]

Typical Russian. So busy looking down (paying attention to the short term) that he doesn't see that he's about to plow into barbed-wire (the looming long term).


I've always wondered if those helmets work as parachutes?

East German. pretty sure he's trying to escape the looming long term.

They sell those helemts for about $10 at surplus stores. I was thinking frisbees.

The Berlin Wall went up in August of 1961. The picture was taken August 13, 1961, an East German border guard escaping to the West