Police Investigating Mysterious White Flags On Brooklyn Bridge

[hrmjustin]

?w=620&h=349&crop=1

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Police are investigating after someone replaced two American flags on the Brooklyn Bridge with what appears to be white or faded versions of Old Glory.

The flags were seen fluttering in the wind Tuesday morning on top of the towers that hold the cables above the bridge. In video from the scene, a hint of stars and stripes can be seen on the white flags.

Around 11 a.m., at least four officers were seen scaling the bridge to the towers and lowering one of the flags.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/07/22/police-investigating-mysterious-white-flags-on-brooklyn-bridge/

[In_The_Wind]

1. Wow

Not funny

[hrmjustin]

2. Agreed! I am surprised no one noticed this.

I guess the bridge is not watched like they say it is.

[In_The_Wind]

4. It's all on a tape somewhere.

[hrmjustin]

7. Supposedly. I walked over the brifge a few weeks ago and I saw no police.

[In_The_Wind]

9. Yup. Where are they when you need 'em?

[hrmjustin]

10. Imagine if that was a terrorist with a bomb.

[In_The_Wind]

11. Priorities should be reassessed.

[hrmjustin]

12. I wonder what the piint of the flag was. No one will admit it because they will go to jail.

Could have been a paid operation by the NYPD to see how vulnerable the bridge is.

[In_The_Wind]

13. It's crystal clear that we aren't as safe as we should be.

Any white flag would have sufficed if they were running a test.

[hrmjustin]

14. That is a good ooint.

I would be petrified to climb that bridge. I would live to stand on top of the tower though.

[alsame]

3. Very strange. I wonder if

this has anything to do with the immigration debate, there were all kinds of anti-immigration protests scheduled for this week.

[hrmjustin]

5. Could be. I think the police better rethink their surveillance of the bridge.

[alsame]

6. Absolutely! nt

[hrmjustin]

8. I walked over the bridge a few weeks ago and I saw no police.

[ret5hd]

28. We heard you.

[hrmjustin]

15. Abc source.

http://7online.com/news/white-flags-mysteriously-appear-on-brooklyn-bridge/208154/

[alsame]

16. Brooklyn Bridge Mystery Deepens

Brooklyn Bridge White Flag Mystery Deepens: Cops Don't Know Who Did It

<snip>

Police officials said this afternoon that they have surveillance video of a group of four or five individuals walking onto the bridge shortly after 3 a.m.

Authorities said that at around 3:30 a.m., the lights that illuminate the U.S. flags on either side of the bridge could be seen flickering and then going out completely. At 5:30 a.m., construction workers noticed that two seemingly-white flags had replaced the American flags, police said.

<snip>

Miller said authorities think the perpetrators may have had some experience "climbing in construction or bridgework" or have previously been up to the flag platforms on the Brooklyn Bridge.

"When [the NYPD's] Emergency Services went up this morning, the gates were still up and locked," he said. "For someone to go around it and go up to the tower and have right size cover to put over the light, there’s some indication of pre-operational planning."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/mystery-deepens-white-flags-flying-brooklyn-bridge/story?id=24662426

[hrmjustin]

17. Thanks for the link.

Looks like bridge security is not doing its job.

[alsame]

18. Yep and this is

frightening. It could have been worse than switching flags.

[hrmjustin]

19. I saw no cops on the bridge a few weeks ago when I was walking over it.

Scary stuff.

[alsame]

20. Well, at least that will

change now, but I wonder what other areas are being left unguarded. Stay safe

[hrmjustin]

21. The Manhattan bridge has no cops and less people because of the trains.

That one is more at risk. thanks.

[ret5hd]

29. We heard you.

[hrmjustin]

30. Excuse me?

[hrmjustin]

23. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS WERE FOOLED BY A PARODY TWITTER ACCOUNT

http://www.onthemedia.org/story/associated-press-and-new-york-daily-news-were-fooled-parody-twitter-account/

[hrmjustin]

24. NYPD: Brooklyn Bridge Flags Appear to Be Stars and Stripes Bleached White

http://observer.com/2014/07/nypd-brooklyn-bridge-flags-appear-to-be-stars-and-stripes-bleached-white/

[hrmjustin]

25. White Flags Atop Brooklyn Bridge Do Not Amuse Brooklyn Borough Prez

http://observer.com/2014/07/white-flags-atop-brooklyn-bridge-does-not-amuse-brooklyn-borough-prez/

[Politicalboi]

26. So we the people still have to take our shoes off at airports

And NY can't afford or doesn't care to put surveillance cameras on the bridge. I know they have some footage, but why don't they have footage on top of the bridge? There should be a shit load of cameras all over that bridge.

[hrmjustin]

27. Apparently so. Scary stuff.

[MADem]

31. Could someone have bleach bombed the existing flags?

Get a super soaker and hit the things with concentrated bleach.

They have suspects, at any rate:

Police say they're looking for a group of 4 to 5 people in connection with the mysterious appearance of two white flags atop the Brooklyn Bridge Tuesday morning.

They were found fluttering early Tuesday from poles perched on the stone supports where two American flags are normally positioned. Police removed both white flags before noon.

Deputy Commissioner John Miller said in a news conference that there is video showing a group of people crossing the bridge in the overnight hours, and that police want to talk to them as part of their investigation.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/White-Flags-Brooklyn-Bridge-American-268110482.html

[hrmjustin]

32. it would have taken a bit of time.

My guess is they had flags ready to go.

[MADem]

33. That concentrated bleach is something. It's way stronger than the supermarket stuff.

Fill a few super soakers with those, get up close, and give 'em the old Blasteroo!

[hrmjustin]

34. Could be. If it was a prank then it is likely then.

[MADem]

35. I think it was a political act, but it still could have been done using those supersoakers...! nt

[hrmjustin]

36. Anti-immigration likely if it was political.

[MADem]

37. Maybe....! nt

[hrmjustin]

38. Securityis clearly lacking there.

[MADem]

39. Maybe...or maybe they don't want to reveal where ALL the cameras are...

Because that would make it easier for a serious "terrist" to deactivate them.

Not all cameras are overt:

http://wcfcourier.com/news/breaking_news/cameras-to-monitor-madison-county-bridges/article_dba63cef-7bc0-5ff3-9d89-f2b80ed732d7.html

Hidden surveillance cameras will monitor activity at all six bridges around the clock to discourage arson fires that destroyed one bridge and damaged another during the past five years.

"We have to do everything we can to protect the bridges. We don't want to lose another one," said Todd Hagan, a county engineering and president of the Madison County Bridge Preservation Association.

Bob Weeks, a county supervisor, said details of how the surveillance system works are being kept under wraps.

A 2002 fire destroyed the Cedar Bridge. A replica was built in its place. A fire in 2003 damaged the Hogback bridge. A month after that, a fire caused heavy damage to the farmhouse known as "Francesca's house" in the movie....

[hrmjustin]

40. You make a good point.

[Rhiannon12866]

41. More: Mysterious white flags replace U.S. stars and stripes on Brooklyn Bridge

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers awoke to find two white flags hung in place of the American flags that traditionally flutter atop the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday morning, baffling city officials, police and onlookers.

Two U.S. flags usually decorate the towers of the iconic bridge, which opened in 1883, but on Tuesday morning on they had been replaced with stark white flags that, on closer inspection, appeared to be the stars and stripes with all the color bleached out, police said.

<snip>

Video camera footage shows several people, including some four or five people in a group, crossing the bridge at about 3:30 a.m., Miller said. A few minutes later, the light illuminating the flag on the bridge's Brooklyn tower flickers and then goes out. Soon after, the sequence repeats atop the Manhattan tower.

Construction workers arriving a couple of hours later discovered the minimalist flags, which appeared to be commercially made and measured about 20 feet by 11 feet (6 meters by 3 meters). Investigators also found aluminum pans that had been affixed over the flags' lights, Miller said, suggesting some careful planning had gone into the effort.


More: http://news.msn.com/us/mysterious-white-flags-replace-us-stars-and-stripes-on-brooklyn-bridge?ocid=ansnews11



A white flag flies on the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 22, 2014.

[hrmjustin]

42. Just very weird!

[hrmjustin]

43. Eric Adams Invokes 9/11 a Day After White Flags Fly on Brooklyn Bridge

http://observer.com/2014/07/eric-adams-invokes-911-a-day-after-white-flags-fly-on-brooklyn-bridge/

[MADem]

44. Inside job????

NYPD Thinks Brooklyn Bridge White-Flag Stunt Was an Inside Job

The NYPD doesn't think that the placement of two white American flags on top of the Brooklyn Bridge last night has anything to do with terrorism, but it's definitely not thrilled about yet another stunt involving a security breach at a New York landmark. "Needless to say, no matter what the motive was, it is a matter of concern," Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said at a press conference on Tuesday. "I am not particularly happy about the event." Officials said surveillance footage shows a group of about five people walking over the bridge just after 5 a.m. A short time later, the lights on each tower went out and the usual flags were replaced with 20-foot-by-11-foot American flags that had been bleached white. "This may be somebody’s art project, or it may be an attempt at making some kind of statement — but at this point it’s not clear what that statement is," said Deputy Commissioner John Miller.

Police didn't announce any suspects, but they said the group caught on surveillance footage is of "particular interest." Miller said they're pursuing an "insider angle," as the climbers managed to get past a locked gate, and covered the lights using zip ties and aluminum roasting pans that were just the right size. "There’s some indication of some good deal of pre-operation planning, perhaps some indication that they have experience climbing in construction or in bridgework, or that they have actually been up there before looking at the dimensions," Miller said.

In previous incidents, the culprits have given themselves up by boasting about their crimes on social media, and police may luck out again. According to Gothamist, the Instagram user "Last Suspect" said the flags were bleached before the NYPD released that information, and he briefly used an image of an all-white American flag as his profile photo. In since-deleted tweets, Last Suspect said "NYPD can't stop shit," and commented "2 see last nights adventure in detail look at @mattdoscher feed" under a shot of the white flags. A photo of the underside of the Manhattan Bridge with the caption "Someone replaced the flags on the Brooklyn bridge🙇 ◻️◻️◻️hmmm..." is still up: .... Both Last Suspect and Matt Doscher's Instagram accounts are filled with photos of buildings and bridges around New York, and they each have more than 10,000 followers. In an interview with SCHWICITY posted last month, Doscher said of his photography, "My biggest inspiration is simply the fun of going out exploring with friends. I love finding new locations and taking unique perspectives." ...

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/nypd-brooklyn-bridge-flags-inside-job.html

[hrmjustin]

45. I wonder if this was an attempt to probe what the surveillance was like.

[MADem]

46. Skateboarding teen agers.....five of them

They obviously knew just what to do...

Be interesting to see what they were wearing; were they masked at all?

Apparently there WERE cops in the area; they just missed it! There are more cameras as well. Maybe they're parkour freaks or something...

Skateboarder, friends sought by cops in Brooklyn Bridge flag switch: source
The five suspects wanted for questioning were described as in their late teens or early 20s, a police source told the Daily News. The video isn't clear enough to use facial recognition technology, and cops were checking other bridge cameras in hopes of identifying the quintet, the source said.

A skateboarder and four young pals emerged Wednesday as the unlikely suspects who eluded around-the-clock NYPD security to scale the venerable Brooklyn Bridge and raise two white flags.

While cops had no real leads in the second day of their probe, the five youths wanted for questioning were described as in their late teens or early 20s, a source told the Daily News.
.
There’s still no explanation for the removal of two U.S. flags or the bizarre substitution of two bleached-white American flags left flying above the bridge’s two towers Tuesday.

New Yorkers on the bridge amid ramped-up security Wednesday were still wondering how anyone could reach the top of the two towers on the 131-year-old landmark without detection.

“It’s crazy that someone was able to do this when there are all these cops around,” said Kristen Ames, 30, who walks across the bridge to work every day....

[hrmjustin]

47. Wow! So much for bridge security.

[MADem]

48. What do you want to bet that some of those cops in those cruisers at either end of the bridge were

sleeping?

I'll bet anyone pulling that duty is going to have to be wide awake from here on out!

[hrmjustin]

49. It has to be a mind numbing job.

[MADem]

51. It's "presence" and it's probably overkill.

They could cut that detail in half and put one car at either end, and put the money into quality surveillance equipment that is ACTIVELY monitored by an alert, awake human, to better result!

[hrmjustin]

52. But they won't because that makes too much sense.

[MADem]

53. They're determined to figure out who it is...they're collecting DNA...

http://www.news4jax.com/news/whos-behind-white-flags-on-brooklyn-bridge/27169212

[hrmjustin]

54. Yes I saw. They must be embarrased.

[MADem]

55. They are making the po-po walk the beat and ride bikes now--I'm sure they're pissed! nt

[hrmjustin]

56. Their own fault.

[hrmjustin]

50. kicking.