Still, the potential for flash mobs to disrupt on-campus and off-campus events, as well as the community in general appears to be greater than ever. It’s extremely difficult for campus public safety officials to manage 30 or 100 or 500 or 1,000 people who show up uninvited and are determined to cause trouble (or, at the very least, are willing to join in when prompted by others). From what I’ve seen in London, Chicago, Philadelphia and Cleveland, it’s obvious that law enforcement is unprepared to handle these situations.
Campus Protection Professionals Are On the Front Line
Since most of the individuals who participate in flash mobs are teens or young adults, Campus Safety readers like you who are responsible for K-12 and college security are on the front lines of this developing criminal trend. K-12 campuses have a little more control of the communication/social media pipeline, according to Safe Havens International Executive Director and CS contributor Michael Dorn.
“Schools with entry point or random surprise metal detection do have a mechanism to keep the numbers of phones down during the academic day if they are willing to broach the subject,” he says. “Even if they allow cell phones on a normal basis, they could institute a temporary ban on them if they begin to experience significant problems. Metal detectors will alert on portable phones.”
That being said, outdoor events that take place after normal school hours where there isn’t much access control could be as problematic for K-12 schools as they are for college campuses.
Curfews like the one enacted on weekends in Philadelphia could help, as could offering after-school activities that keep youths busy.
Monitoring Twitter and Facebook activity is an option currently used by campus public safety that could be expanded, assuming that these efforts don’t abrogate privacy and free speech rights.
The British government is considering preventing communication via social media when they know these sites are being used to plot violence or criminal conduct, according to Yahoo News. As I write this, U.K. officials are planning to meet with executives from Facebook, Twitter and Research in Motion to try to develop some solution.
These developments concern me, however. Although I’m all in favor of law and order, I don’t want to live in a police state. Heaven forbid our government behaves like the former Egyptian dictatorship, which blocked access to Facebook and other mobile Internet services in an unsuccessful attempt to quell the legitimate protests in Cairo this spring. (Note: Just last week, San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit system cut off cell phone service on subway platforms to thwart a demonstration.)
Whatever the outcome of these negotiations, I expect the solutions will be limited in effectiveness because they are reactions to problems that have been caused by a lack of parental oversight of children’s lives, limited resources for education and police, and poverty. Once again, schools, campus public safety and law enforcement in general will be tasked with trying to fix the ills that have been created by others.
Flash Mobs Aren’t Just a Passing Fad
Flash mobs mobilized by social media seem to be a phenomenon that will be with us for quite some time. Your campus and district (and this might even apply to our hospital readers) must be prepared should this type of criminal activity affect your institution.
I’d love to hear from those of you who have had success in this area.
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