Why does the fed need/get its own special police force?

Some comments:
1. The security here is ridiculously tight. I'm afraid if I go on Poly during work hours I'll be arrested by one of the numerous Federal Reserve Police officers wielding UMP submachine guns. I had to get fingerprinted and get a background check done. I had to present two different forms of picture ID, one of which had to be state, the other federal (I used my driver's license and my passport). Some jobs require security clearances (Seriously? It's a BANK, not the CIA!).
2. This security applies to computers as well, though the security policy for computers isn't so much about criminal activity as they don't want someone tarnishing the Fed's image by putting a moustache on Ben Bernanke's picture on the website.
3. Because of several bomb threats by what I suppose are Ron Paul supporters, the Fed buildings have had numerous evacuations. I get the feeling that, in terms of Bayesian probability, the knowledge of there being a bomb threat does not change the prior probability of there actually being a bomb; after all, if you want to bomb folks, why warn them?
4. Due to these numerous evacuations, all Fed employees are issued blue fanny packs to be kept at our desks which contain a space blanket, a poncho, an emergency whistle, and some first-aid kit which I presume consists of nothing more than some rubbing alcohol and a band-aid judging by its size. It is our "emergency evacuation kit" for use in "disaster scenarios," although I have been told that the real "disaster scenario" is someone issued a phony bomb threat and you might be standing out in the rain and/or cold for forever with no ride because your money and car are still inside the building.
5. Jesus Christ, nothing is more annoying than hearing the economist interns yap about their PhD theses during lunch. "Oh I'm studying a new model of Keynesian interpretation of monetary policy." I'M PAYING YOU *******S MY TAX MONEY, IT'S JUST A THUMB IN THE EYE TO BRAG ABOUT HOW YOU THINK YOU KNOW HOW TO SPEND IT BETTER THAN I DO. Also, there is a totally not shocking lack of support for the idea that there should be less banking regulation among the people in the BS&R (Banking Supervision and Regulation) department.
Last edited by regexcellent; June 6, 2012 at 18:26.
I come from the land of the ice and snow
From the rust belt where industry won't go

Why does the fed need/get its own special police force?
Last edited by Hauldren Collider; June 6, 2012 at 18:28.
If there is no sound in space, how come you can hear the lasers?
:(){ :|:& };:

I don't know. It seems every department has a police force. I walked past the State Department building a couple days ago and they had dudes with M4s in front. They're more paramilitary than police as far as I can tell; they do more guarding than real law enforcement.
I come from the land of the ice and snow
From the rust belt where industry won't go

You're not in Rochester, New York, are you?![]()

I'll be back there in the fall.
I come from the land of the ice and snow
From the rust belt where industry won't go

When I worked at the air force most of the security retardation was about wireless security, as in we couldn't have a standalone wireless network because the people who certified standalone wireless networks (the network security people) were not the same people who tested the building's emissions security (as in, if the EMSEC people detected wifi or bluetooth or whatever within range of the building them somebody was going to get in trouble). There was absolutely no reasoning with the EMSEC people. We would have had to put all of the wireless research in a TEMPEST room (big Faraday cage), which would have put us way over budget, so in the end we wound up doing all of our testing at a local Panera bread since they had free wifi.

...and that, friends, is government security in a nutshell. So secure it's unsecure.
"We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work...After eight years of this Administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started... And an enormous debt to boot!" — Henry Morgenthau, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Treasury secretary, 1941.

You only have "End the Fed" whackos to blame for this one.1. The security here is ridiculously tight. I'm afraid if I go on Poly during work hours I'll be arrested by one of the numerous Federal Reserve Police officers wielding UMP submachine guns. I had to get fingerprinted and get a background check done. I had to present two different forms of picture ID, one of which had to be state, the other federal (I used my driver's license and my passport). Some jobs require security clearances (Seriously? It's a BANK, not the CIA!).
"I hope I get to punch you in the face one day" - MRT144, Imran Siddiqui
'I'm fairly certain that a ban on me punching you in the face is not a "right" worth respecting." - loinburger

I come from the land of the ice and snow
From the rust belt where industry won't go

There were also heightened concerns of right-wing extremist attacking government facilities.
“As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”
"Capitalism ho!"
So how soon is the fed going to start NGDPLT?
Quendelie axan!

I'm an IT intern. I'm not in any of the economics departments. And if I were, I wouldn't be at liberty to say anyway.
I come from the land of the ice and snow
From the rust belt where industry won't go

I love Ron Paul for his stances on guns and dope, but the Federal Reserve business never made sense to me. If we lose the Fed and go to the gold standard, it would be gold mining firms like Barrick Gold that cause inflation. Would anybody prefer a foreign corporation to have control over our money supply?
Do not take anything I say seriously. It's just the Internet. It's not real life.

Just don't end the Fed while I'm working there, please.
I come from the land of the ice and snow
From the rust belt where industry won't go

Have the public tours resumed yet?
I came upon a barroom full of bad Salon pictures in which men with hats on the backs of their heads were wolfing food from a counter. It was the institution of the "free lunch" I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts. ~ Rudyard Kipling, 1891

God, no! Visitors have to be escorted by personnel and be individually invited. The FRB police out front have papers with names of all of the authorized visitors. Visitors come up and present photo ID. Then the person signing for you has to come and get you and let you in.
I can't really say anything else about the security without getting into confidential stuff.
I come from the land of the ice and snow
From the rust belt where industry won't go

In the past my driver's license and birth certificate were enough.
I come from the land of the ice and snow
From the rust belt where industry won't go

"Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
"I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

i can honestly say i've never been fingerprinted or had to show ID for any job i've ever had.
"The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.
"The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

"Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
"I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi

people have always taken me at my word. i must have an honest face...![]()
"The Christian way has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found to be hard and left untried" - GK Chesterton.
"The most obvious predicition about the future is that it will be mostly like the past" - Alain de Botton

"Flutie was better than Kelly, Elway, Esiason and Cunningham." - Ben Kenobi
"I have nothing against Wilson, but he's nowhere near the same calibre of QB as Flutie. Flutie threw for 5k+ yards in the CFL." -Ben Kenobi
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