Sleepy George Washington Bridge Guards Fired

After a bicyclist caught two George Washington Bridge guards sleeping on the job multiple times—and sent the pictures to Cliffview Pilot which published them yesterday—the Port Authority announced the two men were fired, "The two guards have been fired by the security contractor, FJC Security. The Port Authority takes the safety of its passengers and facilities very serious and has spent more than $4 billion dollars on security since 9/11. The Port Authority welcomes the public's vigilance on matters of safety and security and we encourage our customers to contact us if they encounter anything out of the ordinary." Another bicyclist told the Daily News, "Normally, they are not sleeping. But I guess you should be attentive at this job, especially after 9/11."

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By Jen Chung in News on September 1, 2009 8:25 AM

Comments [rss]

hotstepper

they look pretty vigilant to me, like rattlesnakes in attack mode ready to pounce at the first hint of danger.

jchez

$4 billion? How?

Take the covers for the hanging cables. Those things are supposed to prevent someone from cutting through. Oh, I see, Mustafa is seen carrying his acetyle torch on the sidewalk and then spends the next three hours trying to cut through without anybody doing anything. That's why we need those billion dollar covers.

I predict that we will discover that somebody got very wealthy, probably through illegal favoritism, by selling super expensive covers and the installation services for a bridge that only needed security cameras and wide awake guards.

And you wonder why the bridge and tunnels are $8?

mocanlagunas

"The Port Authority welcomes the public's vigilance..."

So, it is OK or not to take pictures of bridges, tunnels, buildings, etc?!? Can't you make a f**cking decision?!?

RevWaldo

Falling asleep on the job is usually more about boredom than laziness. They should probably have better rotation, say, two hours sitting in the booth, two hours foot patrol, two hours back in the booth, etc. Otherwise the new guards will fall asleep too.

grandzu

Please, $4 billion spent and two guys who probably make less than $10/hour get fired. Big deal. Security theater at our expense.

fishfryin

i bet the guy who took those photos is glad his name was published in all the stories. he's responsible for two people losing what amounts to one of those "$50,000 a year for life!" lottery games