Last night I noticed a print version of a personal protection warning that has been airing over the MTA audio system since January 2013. I have quite enjoyed this reminder to us passengers, by the government that protects us, that we are helpless prey. However, I have been lax, not having recorded the message in my simian shorthand, readable only by myself, and pharmacists. Alas, thanks to day dreaming about Miss Murphy in English Class and breaking my right hand seven times, I have something in common with doctors...

The large print poster with the dire warning is about 30 inches high by 17 wide, and is given pride of place behind the driver, where public health ads normally reign supreme. The poster is on black, red and white with a rising left to right layout. The print is embedded in strips of alternating color on the left, with the strips coalescing into a menacing geometric figure to the right—and where else would menace reside in Maryland, but to the right!

I will reproduce the poster below, from top to bottom:

BE AWARE OF

YOUR SURROUNDINGS

IPADS, TABLETS AND

SMART PHONES ARE BEING

TARGETED BY CRIMINALS

KEEP TABS

ON YOUR TABLET!

MTA.Maryland.gov

What type of menacing figure lurks to the right, with one claw-like hand reaching for the government website logo?

The monstrous, creeping thief is a geometric white male cartoon, dressed in black, very much in the manner of the animated TV character Inspector Gadget, if he were a pedophile.

Make what you will of the warning poster. I find it fascinating that the state government is actually admitting an inability to protect us. To me, this is a good dose of realism. No fallacy has done more to enable human predators than the deeply held American belief that citizens cannot protect themselves—indeed should not—this being the province of law enforcement.

On a different scale this also points to the effect video and audio surveillance and posted warnings not to attack bus operators has had on curving the once endemic violent crime on Baltimore area busses. Since the surveillance and deterrence posters have been installed the violence has moved out onto the bus stops. Apparently, however, theft has been on the rise aboard our mass transit coaches.

Graphic Addition

The pamphlet reproduced here uses the same colors as the large poster—including the evil white grasping hand—and echoes some of the audio content piped into the MTA buses. Posters in two sizes, pamphlets, and audio spots? There sure is some money behind this initiative.

Thanks for the heads up Big Brother.