I've noticed a number of active posters in the New York City area, so I thought I'd throw this out for discussion:

News reports suggest that a verdict will be handed down in the "Sean Bell" case this Friday. Without getting into the politics surrounding the case, it seems to me that there is at least a potential for civil unrest in parts of the city, depending on the verdict.

While we all hope for the best in people, we're here because we also prepare for the worst. What do people think the actual potential for civil disturbance is, and how would you prepare before leaving to go to work on Friday?

Best regards, and needless to say, I hope we all have a very calm day on Friday.

Mayhaps, you should calculate the various routes that you can travel from work to home in the event of civil disturbances based on what areas you would expect civil unrest to occur.

Mayhaps, you should calculate what supplemental equipment & supplies that you can carry, without raising eyebrows of those people that matter to you, that would assist you in getting home in the event of civil unrest in areas along your possible routes from work to home.

Mayhaps, you and your family should take an early vacation out of the city, Thursday night????

I think that the Sean Bell verdict is not that likely to result in civil unrest (i.e. a race riot). In contrast to L.A. in 1992, there is no nationally televised video of the incident. Furthermore, the Dialo and Louima cases from a few years ago did not result in civil unrest.

But, I do think you'll see a spike in various forms of crime during the coming months, as a result of the poor economy (banking and the Street appear to be circling the drain) and the onset of warm weather.

Ah, New York in the summertime. No place else on earth smells quite like it, that noxious blend of rotten fish, human waste, diesel exhaust, the best pizza in the world, hot dogs boiling on the corner, and fresh ground coffee. You just can't get that aroma anyplace else.

You've spent too much time around the Battery and Fulton Street. I had many good days around there as well.

All along Broadway, from Midtown south along the 2/3 route.

Oh, the humanity of it all.

I was in living in a townhouse in a really nice neighborhood during the LA "Rodney King" riots. One of the units was very rarely occupied as the owner lived elsewhere and kept it as a place to sleep when he was in town. Suddenly that townhouse had a family living in it, relatives of the owner who needed to get out of LA. They stayed 'til the "all clear" sounded (is it ever all clear in LA?). I have no idea how they fared after returning to LA.

I don't know your situation or who Sean Bell is, but if it really is a concern today would be a good day to make sure you have what you need to "bug-in" at home, or you can preemptively bug-out to another place outside the hot zone. Watch this one develop and fizzle from afar. Spend the weekend in Atlantic City

Scariest moment of my life was in 1995. Wife and I spent a weekend in San Francisco (49ers game, Phantom of the Opera). On Monday morning we drove to Oakland for the morning before headind across the Bay to the San Francisco Airport for an afternoon flight. While in Oakland, I realized that I still had the hotel room key (it was an actual key, prior to the days of the small credit card type access). We headed to the airport a little earlier than we had intended so that we could drop by the hotel and return the key. Just as we came off the Bay Bridge, the radio announced that the jury had reached a decision in the O.J. Simpson case. Fear immediately came over me as O.J. Simpson is from San Francisco and I feared that a guilty verdict might make the LA riots of '92 look mild. Fortunately, the next thing the announcer on the radio said was that the verdict would be announced the following morning, long after I had returned home to Salt Lake where I had little fear of race riots regardless of the verdict.

I'm hoping for the best in people in New York but be careful.

Oh calm down.
I hear from so many people who don't ever come here freaked out about NYC and the potential for this and that and the other thing.

I still feel safer here than off in the woods where I live.

Posted from 25th St & 7th Ave, NY NY.

I can't wait. I'll be in Upstate (for good) in July. I will probably make a pilgrimage to Yankee Stadium in August. Oh!! The boundless joy of it all!!!

i used to be in that crowd until we spent 4 days in the city. had a great time, no problems. lots of law enforcement, but made me feel safe.

can't wait to go back.

amazing how close we live to a major tear in the fabric of our society.

good luck to new york.

I live in NYC - Out in Queens, the county where the shooting took place. (but well north of where it happened)

MY biggest worry? Getting a headache from having to listen to Al Sharpton on the radio/TV for hours on end - heck, that's already started, so I'm well on my way to the headache

I'm afraid that no amount of preparation can protect you from political grand-standing. May I suggest a stiff drink, or five?

I live in Long Island and work all over NYC. I am not getting a bad feeling from the Bell situation. While some aspects of his case are questionable, he was far from a saint and assaulted a detective with an SUV. Judging from what I have gathered, force was justified, it is just a question of how much and whether the involved officers properly ID'd themselves. My sympathy meter for Mr. Bell is not registering strongly. I don't anticipate trouble, but hey, you never know.

Little late but that's because I was busy (sort of related to that)... We got issued no "prewarning" but the minute that verdict went down we were told to keep the armor handy. Nothing happened yet and weekend was uneverntful besides a lot of "sick" personel who didnt come to work so I was stuck covering shifts.

I found that 1010 wins has always the best coverage of NYC related problems (radio is fast, web site updates are slow, text alerts are fast as well)... If you dont have a minature radio get the text alerts from them (sign up on their website)... As far as for the future reference: not much you can do to prepare for such a thing except to have plan for alternate routes home, staying informed maybe extra bottle of water, some extra snacks, comfortable shoes and less flashy clothes/jewerly. I don't belive city wide rioting would take place so isolated incidents confided to certain neighborhoods is what we would get. Random acts of violence and spontanious protests can't be predicted so short of staying at home there is not much you can do to avoid that. If you are asking how to defend yourself? That's hard since defense against mob is a strength in numbers and organization. Crowd offers feeling of anonimity/security and crimes commited in crowd usually go unpunished. Got few close calls during Caribbean/Indian day parade (day with the highest number of stabbings and shots) with mob trying to storm ambulances and pd cars when you working people.