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"War On Terror" Board Game Confiscated In UK

Posted by kdawson on from the security-theater-as-low-comedy dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The board game The War On Terror is a satirical game in which George Bush's 'Axis of Evil' is reduced to a spinner in the middle of the board, which determines which player is designated a terrorist state. That person then has to wear a balaclava (included in the box set) with the word 'Evil' stitched onto it. Kent police said they had confiscated the game because the balaclava 'could be used to conceal someone's identity or could be used in the course of a criminal act.' Balaclavas are freely sold all over the place in the area." Schneier has blogged this stupidity, of course.

26 of 598 comments (clear)

  1. Police thugs by mlwmohawk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All too often Police confuse "fighting crime" and "protecting the peace" with authoritarian "because I said so and I have a gun" mentality.

    I refrain from a rant, but the more police I meet, the more I hate the police.

    1. Re:Police thugs by Bryansix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree with you there. Sometimes Police take matters in their own hands when they should be busy enforcing the actual laws on the books. In addition many police just act above the law when off duty simply because they are police during the day. Really the police should be policed more rigorously then the general public.

    2. Re:Police thugs by pilgrim23 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I am older, and was raised to always trust a policeman.
      As an adult, I rarely say this: My parents were wrong.
      The Republic is now an Empire.. with the centurions carrying assault rifles
      Rei Publicae Scutum no longer...

      --
      - Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
    3. Re:Police thugs by mlwmohawk · · Score: 5, Interesting

      it's just not a good enough reason to "hate the police."

      I'm not going to go on my typical police rant, but this is not an isolated incident, but a general pattern of behavior seemingly for police everywhere.

      I know a LOT of police. I have a step brother who is head of a police union. I have plenty of stories.

      The police almost NEVER come to your door to "help" you. Even if they save your life, keep your mouth shut. In Boston the last few years we've had fairly peaceful celebrations after some sports wins, and the police are leading the homicide and injury count.

      In dorchester and southie (Boston, MA) under-achievers became criminals or cops. The cops are worse.

    4. Re:Police thugs by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I am older, and was raised to always trust a policeman.
      As an adult, I rarely say this: My parents were wrong.
      The Republic is now an Empire.. with the centurions carrying assault rifles

      when I traveled to the UK, many years ago, I ran into the same sentiment - that 'ask a friendly policeman on the corner' if you need help or have a question. nice friendly guys (....)

      that ship has sailed. now, the current wisdom is to never talk to cops (2) never talk to cops (1)

      this is BOTH a copy AND a lawyer giving this advice!

      clearly, they are not anymore representing 'the will of the people'. they are anti-freedom and you would be best advised to consider the huge risk by even talking to them, even if you are innoncent. a slip of a casual word CAN be used against you and there is never ever 'off the record' when you talk to cops.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    5. Re:Police thugs by damburger · · Score: 5, Informative

      Since when did our police not have guns? The unarmed bobby on a bicycle toting a whistle is very much a thing of the past.

      As one unfortunate Brazillian man found out, our police have guns and they are all too happy to use them.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    6. Re:Police thugs by Atheil · · Score: 5, Informative

      According to the article "The satirical board game was confiscated along with knives, chisels and bolt cutters, from climate protesters during a series of raids near Kingsnorth power station, in Kent, last week." So they actually just grabbed a ton of stuff. It's not like the only thing they took was the board game. I agree that they probably should have been more selective, but generally they prefer to be on the thorough side, versus the nicer side.

    7. Re:Police thugs by Atheil · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't disagree with this, they should be policed more rigorously than the general public, and they usually are. If a cop comes under investigation for a crime, it is a lot more likely to make it to Court than if it is a private citizen, at least in Canada anyways. The best solution to this problem is to allocate more money to police budget so that you have more people wanting to become police officers (since now you'll have an actual benefit to the amount of work they have to do) and can be pickier with who you choose.

    8. Re:Police thugs by sm62704 · · Score: 5, Informative

      I refrain from a rant, but the more police I meet, the more I hate the police.

      I don't. Refrain, I mean; here's my rant from January- Police State: In USSA, cops hassle YOU! The police ought to serve a good purpose, protecting us from robbers, thieves, rapists, murderers, etc. But all too often the police themselves are the villians. The last link is about a cop here in central Illinois who was charged with 49 felonies including one count of obstructing justice, three counts of criminal sexual abuse, seven counts of criminal sexual assault, seven counts of armed violence, 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, and 21 counts of official misconduct. He plead guilty to TWO MISDEMEANORS and got off. Anybody else would have been behind bars for the rest of their lives.

      --
      mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
    9. Re:Police thugs by damburger · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Furthermore, some have suggested that the ridiculously gung-ho attitude displayed by the police on that day may in part be a result of having received counter-terrorism training from the Israelis, hardly renowned for respecting the civil rights of those they consider enemies of the state.

      Of course, that hardly exonerates the officers in question, any more than 'we were obeying orders' exonerated Nazis.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    10. Re:Police thugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Though, I do worry a bit about the highly trained specialist Firearms Unit shooting *eleven* dumdum bullets at the guy on a busy subway train. Three of the bullets actually missed at close range.

      It doesn't sound like the work of a trained marksman, it's the sort of behaviour I would expect of a scared lunatic.

    11. Re:Police thugs by damburger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      OK then you racist, authoritarian tosser, let me tear apart your idiotic rambling

      1. His overstaying his visa has nothing to do with it. The punishment for that is not summary execution, outside your right-wing fantasies.

      2. He was never given a warning to stop, you are simply lying. If you think otherwise, provide a credible claim for this source of stop pissing on the poor mans grave.

      3. The idea that he ran in response to the presence of the police is absurd because the police who were tailing him were in plain clothes. He had no idea what was going on until they entered the carriage and murdered him. I challenge you to prove otherwise.

      4. Shut the fuck up you BNP loving organ of the police state, and have some respect for an innocent victim of extreme police brutality.

      Scum like you make me ashamed of Britian.

      --
      If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
    12. Re:Police thugs by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I disagree. The GP makes a valid point about how the police need to be policed more rigorously than other citizens. When a 'normal' citizen steps out of line, that's one thing. When someone with the power of arrest and considerable other powers steps out of line, that's a very serious matter. Nothing undermines society more than corrupt officials who should be enforcing the rules.

      --
      Drill baby drill - on Mars
    13. Re:Police thugs by EchaniDrgn · · Score: 5, Informative

      Case in point: I sold a car (on a trailer) to an off duty police officer. When I said I'd tow the car to his place because the registration wasn't current he said he could just drive it home. I pointed out the expired tags and he said, "It's OK, if I get pulled over I'll just Badge 'em."

      I wish I were lying.

    14. Re:Police thugs by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Informative

      Even the police's official stance is actually that he was wearing a light demin jacket and jeans, walked the whole time, used his Oyster card to enter the station, walked down the steps, then ran across the platform to board the train before it left, and at no point did they identify themselves. Surprisingly this version didn't get nearly as much press coverage as the "parka-wearing lunatic dives across ticket barriers as armed police yell at him to stop" version. Guess the media are too busy to run corrections?

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    15. Re:Police thugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      In Canada recently a women's car was hit from behind by an off-duty cop in the wee hours of the morning, after being pulled over by an on duty cop.

      The off duty cop was returning from a cop party, he was not given a sobriety test and all the cops who were asked to testify as to his soberness declared that they could not recall.

      This is just one example from many.

      I totally distrust the police. The only attitude to take is us vs them. We are expected to testify against offenders but the police will *never* testify against their own.

    16. Re:Police thugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I'm curious how closely you've dealt with the Military. I used to work loss prevention for AAFES and I've gotten a pretty good glimpse into Military Justice. I'd say that if anything the majority of the time the Military is harder on their people than civilians. On top of all the punishments that come at a soldier from civilian court they face further discipline up to and including loss of their career for their actions.

      If crimes are committed on post they may be relegated to the command to handle and commanders can issue punishments including loss of rank, loss of pay, confinement and separation from the military. If the crimes occur off post the civilian courts get first crack followed by the commanders.

      I have to disagree that it's likely to be dismissed out of hand.

      Thanks
      Eric

    17. Re:Police thugs by ozamosi · · Score: 5, Funny

      We'll use the slashdot moderation system and let the public police the police that police the police.

      What's great about this is that we already have a metamoderation system, so we can police the public that police the police that police the police.

    18. Re:Police thugs by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I was born here. I have every right to be here without consenting to any agreement whatsoever.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  2. They need another card. by BitterOldGUy · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Terrorists can use special cards such as "suicide bomber", "plane hijack" and "WMDs" to advance themselves.

    They need the "Police in free country crack down on their own people for idiotic reasons and abusing their authority thereby turning free country into a less-free country thereby aiding the terrorists" card.

    1. Re:They need another card. by blueg3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      They need the "Police in free country crack down on their own people for idiotic reasons and abusing their authority thereby turning free country into a less-free country thereby aiding the terrorists" card.

      Actually, that's how the terrorist player wins the game.

    2. Re:They need another card. by T.E.D. · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's kinda long-winded. How about an "Idiots Elected" card instead?

  3. I don't understand? by UberHoser · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why would you wear a dessert on your head? I mean I can see it if the game was like "Spin the bottle" or something of that ilk...

    --
    Guns are for wimps... Use a crossbow.. this way you can pin them to their chair when you go postal.
  4. fashion statement by Chief_Wiggum · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because when I think 'hijacking an airplane', I think about wearing a balaclava with the word EVIL stitched to my head.

  5. Context, context by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Informative

    This was a raid (of uncertain provenance) on a protest outside a power station. The other items seized are "knives, chisels and bolt cutters". It seems to me that the police took the balaclava under the quite reasonable assumption that someone was going to put it on and break into the station using some of the tools. That it was part of a board game is entirely incidental.

    If the police seize a pack of ladies' stockings from your home, that's absurd. If they seize a crate of ladies' stockings, bank plans, and a toy gun from your car outside a bank, that's reasonable.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  6. Bloody pigs by damburger · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The UK police are a serious threat to liberty, and I say this as someone who used to work for them.

    They are monumentally petty, generally taking the view that who they arrest should be based on who they don't like the look of rather than who has done something wrong, and then sort out the crime they are to be charged with later.

    A common method is to approach people whose appearance suggests poverty (normally written down as "looking suspicious), and intimidating them until they do something that could be construed as resisting arrest or assaulting the officer, then haul them away and throw them in a cell.

    They then whinge about having to do loads of 'paperwork' which basically translates to 'its difficult to pin crimes on everybody we haul in'. Having been on the paperwork end of policing I can safely say that if someone has be caught for a specific crime (rather than hauled in for wearing a tracksuit and leaned on) then it isn't hard to get them convicted.

    The majority of policing in the city I worked in (where I saw every file that went through the local magistrates court, albeit briefly in most cases) consisted of protecting the property of city businesses, banging up drunks, and bullying chavs.

    --
    If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?