Ok, this was a long time ago, long before 9/11 but:
I was a bike messenger in Baltimore, MD one summer. The city courthouse had metal detectors at the front door, naturally. A bike messenger carries oodles of metal: Bike lock, keys, various buckles, change for the payphone (remember those?) so we set off the detector every time.
The guards just let all the bike messengers go through unchallenged. Imagine the piles of shotguns, explosives and whatnot that you could fit into one of those huge messenger bags?
But get this: we were all required to leave our bike helmets at the front desk, because it was against some rule to wear a helmet in the building.
So, any observant crook would just have to dress up as a bike messenger, load up with weapons, and just make sure to leave that pesky helmet at the desk!
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, this was a long time ago, long before 9/11 but: I was a bike messenger in Baltimore, MD one summer. The city courthouse had metal detectors at the front door, naturally. A bike messenger carries oodles of metal: Bike lock, keys, various buckles, change for the payphone (remember those?) so we set off the detector every time. The guards just let all the bike messengers go through unchallenged. Imagine the piles of shotguns, explosives and whatnot that you could fit into one of those huge messenger bags? But get this: we were all required to leave our bike helmets at the front desk, because it was against some rule to wear a helmet in the building. So, any observant crook would just have to dress up as a bike messenger, load up with weapons, and just make sure to leave that pesky helmet at the desk!