Monaco pictures (theatre, to live, shoppers)

[unlblkrubi]

I would think the business owners would want this stopped. No need what so ever for these thugs to hang around and terrorize people. Curfews for anyone under 18

[LCTMadison]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

The media hyped the event as an "active shooter" situation, and a respected officer effectively creamed the reporting as idiotic.

No one "hyped" the event...they did not know where the shooter was initially and yes, put a warning out that someone with a gun that had shot one person was on the loose in/around Bridgestreet....ie an "active shooter" situation.

We had friends sitting on the outdoor patio at Scene when it happened and the theater quickly ushered them inside and locked it down. That is just simply protecting the public. They heard multiple gunshots and it happened so fast no one knew where the shooter went. A friend's daughter works at a location in BS very close to the Monaco and security immediately told them to lock down as they did not know where the shooter was and/or motive at that time.

I actually think they got info out fairly quickly about the situation. You have to remember media is quick to the scene and often reporting while the police are still arriving and trying to determine exactly what happened.

[zenjenn]

As someone who is well aware of public perception and theatres, the post is pot stirring.

"Just a few years ago..." there was an accident on 565. (Insert fatal accident on 565 here) "now this."

"Just a few years ago..." there was poor food at a church pot luck. (Insert fatal food poisoning here) "now this."

"Just a few years ago..." there was an idiot on the internet. (Insert representative facebook post here) "now this."

I'm not inclined to pejoratives, but "snowflake" comes to mind.

The media hyped the event as an "active shooter" situation, and a respected officer effectively creamed the reporting as idiotic.

In short, the reality of the world briefly was interjected into Bridge Street, even though people with money go there. Poor people with money.

This has NOTHING to do with Monaco Pictures. It might have happened on your front lawn. It might have happened in front of the courthouse. It might (and has) happened around churches.

I want to rep Harry for this post but I repped him recently I guess so it won't let me.

But yes, this. EXACTLY this. Egads, stuff happens everywhere. I was at Bridge Street at the same time just 24 hours earlier with my husband. We had dinner outdoors and walked up and down all of Bridge Street like 4 or 5 times and the whole time it felt safe and wholesome and not a single person was behaving oddly or like a thug or even just obnoxiously.

It's not like it was a gang war. It was a single troubled 15-year-old who got his hands on a gun, shot someone he knew and probably scared himself ****less by what he did and thus turned himself in.

Y'all have got to stop with the observation bias. There have been thousands of incident free evenings at Bridge Street and what, 2 evenings with incidents? Both as far as I know between people who knew each other.

Nothing about this incident deters me from continuing to go to Bridge Street.

[NoleFanHSV]

I go to bridge Street at least once a week for various things. The Court House? It's been years. Comparing bridge Street with every where else is silly. Do churches have youth escort policies like Bridge street? Does Monaco pictures have metal detectors like the courthouse?

[harry chickpea]

I seem to remember a church a bit south of us wanting its own police force. Does crime happen at churches? Yep, just watch the news.

I came down on the OP a little harder than some might expect, because I KNOW how a bad reputation can spiral out of control and take a movie theatre down within a few weeks. Theatres depend upon crowds, and overall the attendant violence is minimal. In 20+ years of being in theatres for entire days, I can count the violent incidents on one hand.

1. Getting robbed at gunpoint late at night in Hoover
2. A kid running through a plate glass door escaping a gang that chased him a few blocks in Charlotte NC
3. Getting cold-c*cked by a drunk at a drive-in in Vermont
4. An ugly situation at a big theatre in North Miami FL playing "Colors," which attracted the gangs. The police handled it well, before it got out of control.

None of these except the last were theatre specific, and could have happened at any business.

Comparing is not silly, and serves to give the incident some perspective.

As far as malls and theatres, they all have life cycles. I remember the huge Eastwood Mall in Birmingham that started out busy, began losing out and turned into a giant parking lot meeting area for teens in the evenings and a gigantic air-conditioned walking track for seniors in the mornings. Even with historical significance and a good location, it died and was razed and re-imagined. Bridge Street will eventually fall out of favor. There is no need to hurry it along.

You can't keep kids locked up until they are 21. Even if you could, all you would do is delay the acting out of those so inclined.

As for Monaco, I had a mild concern that the movie "Detroit" had somehow instigated violence. I question the wisdom of the film-maker reaching back for a story on police violence and then having it released during the hot days of summer. I've been encouraged that the public, and specifically the low-lifes, haven't used it for an excuse to start smashing things. Maybe high ticket prices has a positive effect?

My opinion of the media in these situations is pretty low. In the quest for eyes, minor events get escalated and fueled by unsubstantiated rumors from an uneducated and fearful public. I think that most remember the invisible active shooter at the Arsenal just recently. The fact that he was apparently Casper the Friendly Ghost didn't stop every unsubstantiated rumor getting air time.

I lived in South Florida, where channel seven wrote the instruction manual for "If it bleeds it leads" sensationalist reporting. In Huntsville, much of that has been combined to over-zealous weather reporting. It is sad to see comic book news making inroads.

[NoleFanHSV]

What perspective is that? Crap happens? Sure. But bridge Street has had it's fair share of issues specifically with juveniles and not enforcing their own policies.

I grew up in a much bigger city, and I remember not more than a year after a brand new theater built a kid got shot in the parking lot of a theater. After that on Friday and Saturday nights a police officer or two sat in front of the theater.

It might take more than a rent a cop to make it safe at night around the theater or mall.

[harry chickpea]

I've used off-duty police many times. With "rent-a-cop" staffing, those officers are fully authorized active duty police working to supplement their income. The first difference between that solution and an on-duty officer is that the public foots the bill for the on-duty one. Remember, that this isn't the 1960s where the police can use force and trample rights to keep people in their place. They have rules they have to follow and a chain of command to answer to. The second difference is that a "rent-a-cop" has the authority of the business and landowner to do what is needed to protect property without having to seek authorization to remove an individual for trespass. Short of an arrest for an obvious crime, an on-duty officer ISN'T authorized to enforce that without direct instruction by someone with that authority.

I haven't delved into who Bridge Street uses as private security or the qualifications. However, when a personal altercation goes bad in the space of seconds, with a weapon involved, it ain't going to matter Jack S. who is nearby. The deed will be done, and what is left is to deal with the aftermath. Visible security is a calming presence, and sometimes an intervention can limit a problem, but it is no guarantee.

Our society has gone long enough with visible "protections" and a sense of "nothing bad could ever happen to me" that when the statistically random event does occur, everyone over-reacts - ESPECIALLY if it involves kids, where the usual whinging about their poor judgment and outbursts gets to have a free public outing.

[Mississippi Alabama Line]

Hilarious how many excuses people make for the thuggery. Talk about how rare it is, or it could happen anywhere, or what the cops should do. Nobody ever considers that we should punish the action as severely as possible, and they wouldn't do it anymore.

Shame about Monaco. That was a nice place when I used to go back in 2008-2010 timeframe.

[Coogan]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Nobody ever considers that we should punish the action as severely as possible, and they wouldn't do it anymore.

A trial typically comes before the punishment.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by Mississippi Alabama Line

Hilarious how many excuses people make for the thuggery. Talk about how rare it is, or it could happen anywhere, or what the cops should do. Nobody ever considers that we should punish the action as severely as possible, and they wouldn't do it anymore.

Shame about Monaco. That was a nice place when I used to go back in 2008-2010 timeframe.

As you might have noticed, I am VERY careful with my words. I choose them wisely and they say exactly what I want to say. At NO point was I making excuses for thuggery. If you re-read what I wrote, that will be apparent to you. I really don't care what you think within your mind, but when you claim I am doing something I am not, that is a lie and it is a defamation. I point that out because I think you want to be better than that. Please don't do it again.

As for "we should punish the action as severely as possible, and they wouldn't do it anymore," the example that came to mind was a gubernatorial candidate in another state who committed assault and decked a reporter. If you agree that he should have been treated by that same standard, I don't have a problem with your idea. Those who have the most power, those who have the most education, those who are most in the public trust need to be held to the higher standards, and any punishment be commensurate to those standards.