Phone Call from Valleyfair Last Night-Damage Control

[cmj685]

I had sent a "scorching" email to valleyfair concerning the July 4 incident, and two days later, last night, got a phone call from a "Taylor" from Valleyfair trying to do damage control. Wondering if anyone else who may have contacted them has heard from them in the same way? He was very pleasant and professional, and actually did a really good job of listening (I had plenty to say!), but his purpose was obviously to convince me that there is plenty of security at Valleyfair and there have been absolutely no other incidents to speak of, and that there is absolutely no cause for concern on the part of the public. Thought it was interesting that Valleyfair was taking this incident as a black eye and trying to do a rush PR job on it.
Thanks to those on the forum who have reported on the general security situation out there so that I could make some enthusiastic suggestions as to what they should do.

[ttousi]

share the e-mail addy and hopefully we can send some more suggestions their way. I for one will.

[Aceq2jot]

share the e-mail addy and hopefully we can send some more suggestions their way. I for one will.

Wonderfull more people who dont honestly have a clue on how anything works tying to tell others how to do it. I honestly wonder how many people here go and stand next to the Auto Technician when he is working on thier vehicle and tells them how to do it

[Pinnacle]

How about an open carry day or Permit Holders $10 Discount. Now that would be good PR.

[ttousi]

share the e-mail addy and hopefully we can send some more suggestions their way. I for one will.

Wonderfull more people who dont honestly have a clue on how anything works tying to tell others how to do it. I honestly wonder how many people here go and stand next to the Auto Technician when he is working on thier vehicle and tells them how to do it

well suggestion is probably the wrong word.............how about an e-mail expressing my concern over the fact that whatever system/security they had in place didn't seem to work.

[westberg]

share the e-mail addy and hopefully we can send some more suggestions their way. I for one will.

Wonderfull more people who dont honestly have a clue on how anything works tying to tell others how to do it. I honestly wonder how many people here go and stand next to the Auto Technician when he is working on thier vehicle and tells them how to do it

well suggestion is probably the wrong word.............how about an e-mail expressing my concern over the fact that whatever system/security they had in place didn't seem to work.

Will it sure doesn't take a security specialist, policemen, armored guard or meter maid to know that whatever they are doing to protect their guests did not work for the man in the hospital. There is nothing wrong in letting them know that the general public is concerned about safety if they visit VF. I know for a fact my mechanic doesn't touch my truck until he asks what's wrong with it, I can't afford to let him figure it out by himself without input from me. Ace do you have the answers? Your in the business and all we ever hear is how we don't know anything well enlighten the masses with your knowledge.

[Aceq2jot]

well suggestion is probably the wrong word.............how about an e-mail expressing my concern over the fact that whatever system/security they had in place didn't seem to work.

What security Measures would have worked??

Racial profiling is Illegal.

Judging on peoples style of dressing is profiling, which in turn is a lawsuit.

Restricting styles of clothes could be discrimination.

And it ias not clear if the incident actually happened inside the gates or outside of them as all the report says is that it was when people were leaving at midnight. A place that large with the budget etc guards cannot be every where. Put cameras in place to monitor people and activity through the park and people will scream and jump up and down and claim invasion of privacy

You could ay to look out for large groups of people but at the time he was alone and called his friends.

You could have them get rapid response vehicles but the insurance company wont like it cause some one may get run over

Its like parking at mall. Your chance of the vehicle getting broken into/stolen are high. The mall has Security patrolling but alass they cant be every where at the same time.

The way i read it in the paper that they were probably in the parking lot. They jumped the father ( once on the ground a few stomps and a couple of kicks is under a minute and you times that by 8 in the same amount of time )and when security arrived they had left the property so the police had the description and got them at the bus stop or in a car that was get this "Full of black guys"

From reading responses about people just standing there watching etc etc, something like this does not take very long. It is not har to push some one down then when they are the ground a lot of damage can be down by " laying the boot in " in under a couple of minutes before a crowd begins to gather to see what is going on.

Speaking from memory it does not take very long to make a person unconcious from a couple of kicks to the head and lets face it, the bones that make up the face are not very thick so they are easily broken.

[cmj685]

To email Valleyfair you can go to their website at http://www.valleyfair.com/ and under the "Park Information" tab is a "contact us" which will get you a fillable form. Obviously they read what comes in!
Taylor's main points were that they had plenty of security both in the park and in the parking lot (I might guess not!), that the incident was extremely unlikely and happened much too fast for Valleyfair to do anything about it (well, duh! If you let things go far enough to reach the flash point then you won't likely catch the flash), and that the Shakopee police are to blame for not being a presence in the park. He rejected any suggestion of armed security and kept pointing out that this was the Shakopee police's job and Valleyfair wasn't responsible. Apparently a bunch of high school age kids running around in security guard uniforms is enough of a deterrent (his word) to keep everyone safe.

[Aceq2jot]

Will it sure doesn't take a security specialist, policemen, armored guard or meter maid to know that whatever they are doing to protect their guests did not work for the man in the hospital. There is nothing wrong in letting them know that the general public is concerned about safety if they visit VF. I know for a fact my mechanic doesn't touch my truck until he asks what's wrong with it, I can't afford to let him figure it out by himself without input from me. Ace do you have the answers? Your in the business and all we ever hear is how we don't know anything well enlighten the masses with your knowledge.

This was a isolated incident from all observations, as the police had responded to 2 calls there all year, and that would include any one who was beaten and needed medical attention. So to say there is a Problem there that their security has not covered is a lot of crap. A place that size and two police calls is amazingly good. Phalen beach had 4 in one week and the last one there were 60 youth's ( wont mention skin colour as would be called racist ) getting ready to square off. And the list goes on and on as the summer goes on I was out with Gunny the other day at work and another call came in about a bunch of youths setting in each other, and you know what it happens all the time but what people don't hear about it or see it so it does not happen according to them, but I had Gunny as a witness

So the General public is concerned and people can send them all the emails they want and tell them they need armed guards, so that it makes it an intimidating place for the public to go, because if the guards are armed it must be a bad place

And like I said in my previous post it takes about two minutes of laying the boot and stomping and then you are out of there. There is no time for a crowd to gather or a good response time for security. Or even for the people to figure out what's happening, as the mother and daughter were also hit, so to a bystander it could be construed as a Domestic. And as T.V tells us and we have heard many times, that people who jump in a domestic normally get both people laying into them. And also at midnight the chances of people seeing a guy laying in the parking lot, which was I would believe full of cars. So not knowing all the facts I would have to say he would have probably been hidden from view by cars so anyone who could see could not see him.

So basically it is one of the situations that can happen that is out of anyone's control. And honestly blaming the Guards is out of line. Its kinda like blaming the ambulance for being 2 minutes to late, as response time is response time and it takes people time to observe whats happening, find some oen to report it to and then for them to react. And i will say it again it was probably over in under 2 mins. And honestly if they saw 5 black youth's travelling together what can they do, that wont interfear with their civil rights?? Unless you are the guy who had a crack head forced thier way in their house and held them hostage for many hours, them you would have all the ultimate answers on what to do


Also i would like to remind people that one of the nicest members of this board that i have met is a Securrity Officer at valley fair, and i would not be surprised if they get offended if people keep insulting thier co-workers. I dont care if you want to have a go at me but leave them guys out of it, becasue i have said they are way under paid for what they do and dont deserve any jip.

[ttousi]

My observation would be ...........whatever it was (security) didn't protect the man and his family. Maybe the VF folks should loosen the purse strings and hire off-duty uniformed LEO's to patrol and or have a presence that would act as a deterrent. Similar to the off duty deputies that work the Myth or the LEO's that work the Cub foods.

Sorry, but it was a major holiday weekend and the security and or execution of security fell far short. I have a hard time believing they have not had similar problems in the past.....this one just went beyond. Spend the money to protect or spend the money fighting and losing lawsuits.

.02

ETA

So the General public is concerned and people can send them all the emails they want and tell them they need armed guards, so that it makes it an intimidating place for the public to go, because if the guards are armed it must be a bad place

So that's why the Myth and Cub are so empty of customers.........

[ttousi]

Sent

Based on the 4th of July weekend beating received by one of your guests maybe you should loosen the purse strings and hire a few off duty uniformed Law enforcement. While they may not catch every thing, their presence would be a deterrent to the animals that seem to frequent your operation. I can't believe that this is an isolated incident. The degree maybe, but I'm sure you have had similar problems.

I hope that you pay the price in a lawsuit since you won't spend to protect your customers. You will not see my family spending money with your operation.

Disgusted

Agree or disagree..............It lets them know that people are aware of what's going on. If it were a member of my family my energy would be devoted to sucking every dime I could in a lawsuit.

[Aceq2jot]

My observation would be ...........whatever it was (security) didn't protect the man and his family. Maybe the VF folks should loosen the purse strings and hire off-duty uniformed LEO's to patrol and or have a presence that would act as a deterrent. Similar to the off duty deputies that work the Myth or the LEO's that work the Cub foods.

Your pulling the piss right

Cub down by you has a cop to deter thiefs as it is scumray, and by order of the Property management the security company at Sunray is not to provide any services to Cub. And honestly the clientel what shops there at that mall leaves alot to be desired after 5 pm

As for the Myth, they had enough Police calls there that they were forced by the county to hire an off duty Sheriff, and **** still happens even witht hem there

Plus wednesday night and weekends when the myth lets out the area is swamped by the Patrol, Ramsey and Maplewood as it is ticket heaven. They get a lot of tickets on the cars, warrants and Dui arrests

And as for the bitching yea all are doing, how many of you make one or more trips every year to valley fair???

[justaguy]

You two spend a lot of time at the Myth do you?

[westberg]

My observation would be ...........whatever it was (security) didn't protect the man and his family. Maybe the VF folks should loosen the purse strings and hire off-duty uniformed LEO's to patrol and or have a presence that would act as a deterrent. Similar to the off duty deputies that work the Myth or the LEO's that work the Cub foods.

Your pulling the piss right

Cub down by you has a cop to deter thiefs as it is scumray, and by order of the Property management the security company at Sunray is not to provide any services to Cub. And honestly the clientel what shops there at that mall leaves alot to be desired after 5 pm

As for the Myth, they had enough Police calls there that they were forced by the county to hire an off duty Sheriff, and crap still happens even witht hem there

Plus wednesday night and weekends when the myth lets out the area is swamped by the Patrol, Ramsey and Maplewood as it is ticket heaven. They get a lot of tickets on the cars, warrants and Dui arrests

And as for the bitching yea all are doing, how many of you make one or more trips every year to valley fair???

I'm trying to understand your comparison between Club, Myth and VF. By the way a good friend of mine (but I can't name names) is a loss prevention supervisor within the Club company and hiring off duty LEO's is pretty common for them. So based on your above analogy what is wrong with VF doing the same thing because they have the same problem at given times of business as the Myth and Club?

[ttousi]

As for the Myth, they had enough Police calls there that they were forced by the county to hire an off duty Sheriff, and crap still happens even witht hem there

Don't know how or why the county could force them to hire since it is MW. And it would be deputies (plural) as many as 6-8 off duty sometimes. Just like the club on Rice/Larp (Crystall ?) that has off duty deputies..........deterrence. Sure they still have incidents but how many would there be without them there. Plus there is no long response time when something happens.

Point is, whatever their system is it's not working very well at VF. They could certainly try the uniformed LEO step.

YMMV...................