BAD BOYS BAD BOYS!! Undercover Security

[Lesley]

Interesting stories! I've got a few, both with having attention very quickly and with not being able to find help.

My middle child (older dd) used to have a lot of difficulty with inflexibility/explosiveness. She has lots of sensory issues and especially when she was younger could go from fine to "completely freakin' lost it" in a matter of seconds, and it wasn't often predictable what would set her off. One evening at the MK when she was 4 or 5, for whatever reason (I can't even remember what it was), she just started screaming that she wanted to go back to the hotel. We were trying to leave the park, but she was so distraught we could not move from where we were- outside the restrooms next to The Plaza. So we did the only thing we could do- sat there with our screaming child waiting for it to pass. We'd been through this at home many times. It was definitely not long before a non-uniformed CM approached us offering help. We explained that sometimes she just does this, and that we couldn't really move her without her becoming even more distraught (flailing, kicking- dangerous for all involved and not an option in a crowd). We were offered a back way out of the park, as we were waiting for her to calm down so we could leave. We had to pass simply because we couldn't move her. So the CM just stayed with us until she calmed down and then left- at that point we were able to head back to our hotel.

Another time the same dd got a button/pin stuck in her knee- I think she was about 6yo then. We had just entered Turtle Talk at Epcot and she had been on my dh's shoulders. He was wearing this DVC button on his sweatshirt and somehow when he lowered our dd, the pin got stuck in her leg. The CM's were extremely fast to respond, got us right out of there and escorted us to First Aid. The CM told me repeatedly not to try to remove it from her leg, but when I got her into our stroller (my dd is tall and solid- hard to carry for any distance even at 3-4yo), I noticed that it wasn't the long part of the pin stuck in her leg, it was just about 2-3mm of the hook end caught on her skin, and it popped right out- luckily it wasn't deep at all, not the scary deep puncture wound we were concerned about. Even then we were escorted to first aid, where we signed the book and got a bandaid and antibiotic ointment. And the whole time my dd was incredibly calm and quiet- and the CM gave her one of the light up necklaces a vendor was selling as we crossed the park.

My last story still bothers me- even more now that I spent last semester doing nursing clinicals in a long term care facility with geriatric residents. This is the one where I wasn't able to find help. We were about to get dinner at the Yakitori House in Japan in Epcot. My dh was getting our food, I was waiting out in the garden sitting area and my girls had gone into the restroom there. An older woman who was sort of shuffling and looked a bit confused walked out of the restaurant, came right up to me and began speaking very desperately to me in a fairly quiet voice- telling me that she wanted to get away from her companion, that she was scared, that she left her wheelchair while he wasn't looking, and she wasn't sure where she was. I wanted to help her and was looking around for anyone I could flag down, hopefully a CM, so that they could help her. The woman obviously didn't want to go back into the restaurant. Had my girls not been in the restroom, I would have likely walked with her out to the promenade, where there are usually uniformed security- but they were still small enough that I was keeping an ear out for them (if you've never been back there, it's a really small 2 stall restroom) and couldn't just walk off. As it happened a man came out of the restaurant looking for the woman with her wheelchair, telling me that this was his mother and that she was confused and disoriented. She went with him willingly and they disappeared. I've never felt good about it, and after last semester and learning how common elder abuse is and how hard it is for those with dementia I wish I would have found someone, even after the fact, to report this to, as unlikely as it might be that they would be found and questioned. After reading this thread, I think now I'd be more likely to create a confrontation or be loud simply to get the attention of security so they could investigate the situation. Of course, the son may have been the best caregiver ever, but even a dementia patient's allegations need to be investigated. She truly looked scared when she approached me and I wish I could have done more for her.

[cm8]

Originally Posted by Missytara

I was the original one that posted on the thread that I met what turned out to be an undercover security officer in line on his day off.

He had been trained as an undercover cop in the NYPD, so he had extensive experience in "blending in." When he did work, he said they dressed like tourists.

I had two experiences; one was a family shoving each other trying to get on the bus at DTD. You just turned around they were gone.

The second was just outside Germany at Epcot. A girl came out in a tinfoil hat, pretending to be working a video camera and a second girl wearing a silver space cap with flaps going on about how Disney takes over your brain and diminishes your capacity for creativity. Poof, they were gone. Either security got them, or the mother ship came back to pick them up - either way, they were gone in a split second.

, you almost made me wake the baby!

[Missytara]

Originally Posted by cm8

, you almost made me wake the baby!

That has always been one of my favorite stories.

You just cannot make this stuff up!

[lbklyn]

Originally Posted by Mickey's Best Girl

In April of '06 my DD14 and I were at Pop... her very first trip to the world and to this day, 5 trips later, her most memorable because of this:

We were on our way out to the Pop bus stops when I realized the battery in my camera would not last through the rest of the day so I asked my DD to get the backup from out room. This is the only time in the week and half we were seperated, and I thank goodness we were!

I sat myself on one of the benches while I waited for my DD to return. I got looking around and suddenly thought to myself, where is everyone? This is Disney, there should be people everywhere but there was only myself, a couple on a bench near the DTD stop and a single guy about 2 benches to my left. No movement in the parking lot or anything. I looked around again and saw a very large man walking in our direction, coming from the main building..... next thing I know, he has a gun drawn on the single man on the bench about 2 away from me and is ordering him on the ground!!!!!! My immediate thought was I'm going to die, well, at least I'm at Disney World. I began to reach for my wallet figuring this was a good old fashioned robbery.

All of the sudden there are "tourists" everywhere with police badges hanging out of the golf shirts (and some carrying Disney bags, you can see it in the photos I posted below). Turns out the bad dude was the guy on the bench and the gun dude was a cop thank god!

Cops and security and guns, oh my! And my DD missed it all, which is good or we would have been on the next plane home and I would be paying for her therapy for a long time!

And like the good little tourist I am, I took photos, on the sly of course. The man in the blue shirt was the scary gun guy. Enjoy!

Did not read all the posts but from the ones I did this is hands down the scariest! Especially the beginning when wondering WHERE everybody was!

[Kaewin]

These are great stories, when we go back in Sept I am going to play spot the guards.

[knieriem]

In March I took my friend to Disney while she was visiting me. We were waiting for the parade to start at night and this little girls walks by crying and asking if people had seen her parents. No one and I mean no one was acknowledging her. I got up from my seat and walked over to ask her if she was okay. I looked around and there was no CM in site. So I saw a photopass photographer and walked her over to him. I told him she was lost he looked and me and said I'm busy. I could have smacked him!! I looked at him and said I"m sorry but what am I supposed to do? There was a mom and her two daughters getting their picture taken and they yelled at me telling me to pretty much leave the guy alone so he could take their picture. I was appalled. I mean seriously? This little girl was bawling. Finally a CM walked over and told me she'd help find the girls parents.

About 30 minutes later we saw the little girl walking with her mom and her mom was screaming at her. I felt so bad for the little girl. She told me that her mom was walking in front of her and pushed through a crowd and therefore she got lost. Sounds to me like the mom should have watched her daughter a little bit more carefully.

[natnelliesmom]

We were sitting outside the gate at MK one afternoon waiting for my Mom to arrive with our daughter. While sitting on one of the benches I noticed a man sitting by himself on the bench next to us. He was dressed like anyone else- khakis and a polo shirt, sneakers and holding a MK map in his hands. He was just sitting back and people watching.
After a few mins- I nudged my DH and said that he must be an undercover security officer.
Sure enough... about 20 mins later, a woman in denim shorts, plain t-shirt and sandals walked towards the man. As she approached, he got up and walked away, and she sat down. It was seamless- and if you weren't watching for any length of time it would not be noticeable that they were even there.
Neither of them ever took their eyes off the crowds- constantly scanning.
It was cool to see.

[Kaewin]

I wonder how you get that job anyways.

[disneycruising]

Wow, I am amazed by all your stories.

We have been to WDW many times and I have never noticed any undercover security. I will be looking for them next time.

[jtopp]

One trip, we witnessed disney security at thier best. In front of POTC, as viewed by us from the taco stand, a family of three had a domestic dispute. Two teen males were argueing, and close to blows, and thier mother was between them, getting the worse of the deal, both physically and verbally. Out of nowhere, the males were separated, and disappeared. the mother was gently escorted away, all taking place in under a minute. The most amazing part of this-- not the speed in which they responded, but the fact they were able to do it, because the family was brazilian, and spoke portugese. Yet, disney security witnessed, reacted, and diffused a difficult situation in seconds, even overcoming a language barrier. Bravo to security

[dsneygirl]

Originally Posted by lovetoscrap

I searched back to get my experience from my Trip Report back in 2008 when I went with some other DISers. Too lazy to retype the story.

This was at the Starring Rolls Cafe in MGM when we stopped to get some breakfast on our way to Toy Story. Leaving out the introductory details that won't make sense unless you read the report.




I was out first and got to try to find us a table. It was COLD—in fact I heard on the news that Florida had a record cold that night. This is what happens to me, I go to Florida and they have a record cold spell. So I was looking for a table in the sun so we could have a bit of warmth. I found one but there was a backpack on one of the chairs. I asked the large group at the table next to me if it belonged to them. They said no, and it had been there a while with no one there. So I sat. Disney rules, you leave your stuff there for too long and no one is sitting then the table is up for grabs! A woman that looked like a supervisor/manager type (she wasn't wearing a funny costume!) walked by and I pointed out the chair with the backpack and told her it was there when we sat down and had lost it's owner. I was concerned that it would be stolen. Naturally I assumed that she would pick it up and take it in the back to be sent off to lost and found. I was dead wrong!

She took the entire chair and scooted it off about 30 yards away. Then she stood there in a guarding position and got on her walkie talkie. Security began showing up.

First one.

Then another.

And another.

Then 2 carrying ropes.

And we a few more around the perimeter of the area.

The ones with ropes roped off an area around the chair.



In the meantime a CM that was cleaning in the area came over to watch and to talk with us. He was also not in a funny costume and he told us he was a Trainer and was just helping out for a bit. He stayed with us chatting and watching what was going on. Also the large group at the table next to us took off. They were also interested in the action but said they had to move on. After they left a man came over and plopped himself at their now empty table. He seemed to be talking to himself but I figured he was on a bluetooth talking to his family telling them he got a table. He was also watching the security action. He leaned over to us and said “ Hey, did that thing start over here or where it is now?”. I figured he was just curious like we all were so of course I started telling him the story. He started talking into his coat again, but this time I heard “10-4” and “affirmative” and decided that he wasn't talking to his family!

We were all still talking and the Training CM said that they were going to bring out the dog. DOG??? We were really floored! I had even considered opening the backpack when we sat down to see if there was any ID in it. And here they were calling in a dog! Phors' son is with K9 in the military and had just lost his dog so this was certainly very interesting news to us. Phors said something about getting pictures of the dog to show her son. This is when the strange tourist next to us looked over and quietly said “We would prefer you didn't mam” We all looked at him and the CM said “OH! I didn't ever recognize you sitting there!” And he proceeded to introduce us to the Head of Studios Security ::cop: (undercover )! He was extremely nice but said that they try to bring the dog out, have him do his job and get him back without drawing a crowd. If people start taking photos then it draws a crowd and they may have to confiscate cameras and review the pics and get witness statements. We completely understood and had a nice chat while waiting for the dog. There was no way were leaving our seats until this was over!

When he got word on the radio the dog was on it's way out he walked by and told us that we could get pics but just stay in our seats and be discreet. We were able to get several good pictures. Because the Head of Security works undercover I have removed him from these pics to protect his identity.












Of course the dog came out, sniffed the bag, laid down and looked up as if to say “You woke me up for that???”








Quicker than it had happened, the dog and his handler disappeared backstage, the ropes were rolled up and one of the security guys picked up the bag and opened it and they all walked off. We never did find out if there was even anything in it!



We did learn that Disney has several full time K9 units and they do this for any abandoned bag. I would have thought that would have meant many times a day, it would seem that people would be constantly leaving things. But in reality security said it really doesn't happen all that often.

So the excitement was over. We had promised a good run it with security and it doesn't get much better than this! About 10 Security officers, the HEAD of security and a K9 Unit! As we walked off a few things did cross our minds:

Phors was thinking maybe that was just one of their Streetmosphere shows and wondered if we were supposed to applaud at the end!

And I was thinking that if they REALLY thought it could have been a bomb, shouldn't they have moved it a little further away, okay A LOT further away from us???

And when I told DH about it later he said he was so glad to see that we were smart enough to move ourselves out of danger when a bomb was suspected.


Tiramasu: $4.00
Fruit Tart: $4.00
Eclair: $4.00
Coffee: $3.00
Meeting the Head of Security and the K9 and NOT being arrested. . . Priceless!

I have to be honest I have witnessed this scenario several times at WDW and it bugs the crap out of me. Around the corner outside the Playhouse Disney theatre you will see about 300 strollers all "abandoned" all loaded down the crap. The dogs never come and sniff those.

Over by Pixar Place and TSM another 100 strollers some with large bags, coolers etc. I think it is a bit of hysteria.

I always notice the plain clothes security now. Usually out in front by bag check you will see one or 2 men standing all alone. Dressed like a tourist (ball cap and sunglasses) but you can clearly see their earpieces.

[teedisney]

I have two stories.

We were sitting just outside of frontierland having a snack and we saw an elderly man take a nasty tumble. Before we could check on him, Disney suits came from behind the wall and took care of him.

I had went early to AK to ride EE and went back towards the entrance to wait for my family to arrive. I noticed 3 touristy guys huddled together outside the entrance. I was waiting for a while and then I noticed ear pieces. They were watching the people unload the busses.

[cindym]

A few years ago we were on the Monorail heading to Epcot. When we arrived we were not allowed to get off. We were surrounded by security who walked the length of the train looking inside. After they let us off, they congregated at one of the turns on the ramp as you go down. They then stopped a middle aged man carrying a bag from a shop and surrounded him. We never did find out what had happened, but it must have been serious for there were several security officers involved.

[Craftsman Revival]

I have two stories - one about Disney security being awesome, one about another park security being, well, not so awesome.

I've posted the Disney security story on another thread, but will re-post it here...

Originally Posted by Craftsman Revival

Reading about this has jarred my memory of something that happened while hubby and I were staying at DLR a few years back. It was a very interesting look at Disney Security in action and left us both impressed and with a huge amount of respect for how they do their jobs.

One morning we were walking through DD on the way to the parks (from the Disneyland Hotel). DD was EMPTY because it was early morning, mid-week. We'd just picked up coffee, and were still clearing out the cobwebs.

There was only one other person, a man, walking ahead of us, and we were commenting on how empty it was at DD. As we kept walking, we noticed some unusual activity in the "wings" (i.e., in the corners behind some of the stores and near the DD entrance to GC hotel). We quickly realized there was literally an entire "SWAT" team of Disney security, watching the man in front of us.

Most of these security guys were wearing all-dark outfits, and were watching the man from the shadows/sidelines.

We realized that the man in front of us was dressed (somewhat) like a homeless man, or at least strangely. We didn't even notice at first that he seemed a bit out of place in squeaky clean DD, because it's common to see eccentric types walking thru downtown in San Diego, where we're from.

We wondered why a team of security was following and tracking this homeless man (with walkie-talkies and everything!). We were joking to each other about Disney bringing out the full SWAT team to rid the property of its 'undesirables' before the guests woke up and saw something out of place.

I think, because we were still foggy-brained, it didn't even occurr to us that the man might be dangerous. As we got closer to him, we saw that he had a long, flowing beard, and what looked like dreadlocks piled up under (and sticking out of) a large hat. He was wearing a green Army jacket and dark, saggy clothes.

For an older, perhaps homeless man, he was certainly fit or at least excited, because he was walking at a very fast clip.

I STILL don't know why we were not worried. Instead we picked up the pace, because we wanted to see what was going to happen!

At this point, we were near the World of Disney store, walking towards the security checkpoint.

Suddenly, from the left side (near the tram drop-off) we saw a friendly, grandpa-type security guard in full Disney blues. He ambled up to the mysterious man with a big grin on his face. The older security guard was acting more like a WalMart greeter than a member of the tense security team waiting in the wings. At this point, we were in front of the bakery right near the security checkpoint.

He strolled towards the man and said "Good morning," to him and the man jumped a bit. He asked the man a question or two, and complimented him on his hat, and (I swear) I heard him say "Nice weather we're having!" and then he strolled away.

At this point, the man was obviously spooked and he turned right towards us and scrambled past. We got a good close-up look at his face. He was clearly a young, scrawny clean-cut kid wearing some kind of weird "homeless guy" or "potential terrorist" disguise of his own making.

The long flowing beard was fake. The hair, also fake. He barely fit into the baggy clothes. You could see from his eyes that he was terrified, and that he had lost his nerve for whatever he was about to try. He was getting out of there as quick as he could speed-walk.

What the hell? We decided he was probably a college kid doing some kind of social experiment on how Disney would handle "a situation" on its property. Either it was an experiment for a class, or else he was pulling some kind of a prank on his own.

But as soon as the kind old man security guard approached him, it was enough to spook him into turning and leaving. And the security guard was able to tell - in mere seconds - that the boy was not a threat, but a prankster instead. The kid never saw the entire security team following him through DD - he only saw the friendly security guard who said 'hello' to him.

But we were provided with a front row seat to the entire experience. It was wild. We didn't stop talking about it for the rest of the day! That friendly grandpa-type security guard was obviously a pro, and probably a profiler.

The whole thing was pretty impressive.

[Craftsman Revival]

Now its time for "The Bad."

This happened around 2002 at a park that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent (but it starts with a "Sea" and ends with a "World" ).

I was visiting the park that day with my son (age 11 at the time). We were near the back of the park, exiting the "Pirates in 4D" movie theatre.

In this back corner of the park there are typically almost no people. The only thing there was a Cotton Candy vendor and some planters and benches with vegetation.

Leaving the theatre, we had to walk right past the cotton candy vendor. There was a handful of people (maybe 4-5 people) waiting while the vendor spun more candy to sell. We got in 'line' with the group.

Right that this moment, a woman walked right past the crowd waiting and up to the vendor counter, i.e., she cut in line.

From the waiting group, another woman (this one with a teenaged son and daughter), loudly says "What's wrong, you fat b-----? Are you so fat that you can't wait in line for candy like everyone else?"

The line-cutting woman turned around, saw her and said "F--- YOU, you fat b------!"

(Yes, they were both calling each other the same name, repeatedly. It was bizarre.)

The vendor kept spinning the cotton candy, probably hoping the situation would resolve itself.

At this point, both ladies were in each other's faces, pointing fingers into the other person's chest, calling each other names.

At that point, the pointing fingers turned to a bit of shoving, and the line-cutting lady shoved the mom and the mom's arm/elbow actually struck her own daughter (behind her) in the face.

I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing and - I've never done this before! - I reflexively grabbed my son and covered his eyes.

That was it. The mom started screaming "LOOK what you DID, you fat b-----! You hurt my daughter! etc. etc." with the girl crying "OW! Moooooommmm!"

At this point I looked around - where the HELL was security? NOwhere, that's where. This altercation had been building for a good 3-4 minutes and so far the only park employee we'd seen was the candy vendor. He just kept spinning cotton candy, didn't call security, etc.

By this time these two ladies were full-on wrestling (still standing) and pushing each other.

Suddenely a short, elderly man, who was half the size of both women, broke up the fight. He'd been standing in line for candy too. And he jumped in between them and yelled "Ladies, LADIES!! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!! There are children present!" He was standing in between the two women with a 'wide stance' with both his arms outstreched, to put more distance in between them. It was pretty impressive.

They both finally looked at the 2nd lady's kids, who were of course mortified, and at the small crowd that had gathered to watch them, and the first woman sulked off, cursing under her breath the entire way.

Still no security. I was floored.