Lukas Mikelionis: how a City security guard attacked me because I forgot my ID card
“Police state! Police state! All coppers are bastards!” you hear these zit-faced, overweight teenagers chirping. Nowadays, everybody believes that everything is a sign of ‘the police state’: smoking bans, anti-public drinking regulations, nudity laws — and, of course, those prohibiting deliberate attacks against police.
But I’m absolutely convinced that we aren’t living in a police state. Our rights aren’t being curbed in the name of David Cameron’s contempt towards youth. There might be a few improper arrests at student protests, but I don’t blame them — illiteracy in economics should be punished severely after all.
But maybe I think like that because I had a good life — ‘white privilege’ as they call it today. And to understand the hardships of people living on £9,000 maintenance loans and grants, staying in revolting accommodation in Farringdon and Old Street, I must experience the terrible oppression of the state at least once.
And it finally happened. But I wasn’t oppressed by the Metropolitan Police in front of a pub. I was a victim of much greater subversion and an attempt to restrain my civil rights. It took place at the only place where I previously felt safe — City University.
This all unfolded when I was late to a lecture inside the Social Sciences Building. I was obeying the law of smoking five metres away from the premises, as any good citizen would, before having to rush inside. But I was stuck. The Berlin Wall of card gates was stopping me from entering the free world. I dashed with my comrade together through the gates without personally swiping my student card. Then a wild, Stasi-like arm stopped me. I was guilty of a security breach.
My crime? Not swiping my card – even though I had it in my pocket and showed it to the guard without hesitation during a conversation that could have resulted in me being water-boarded in the leaky new accommodation. Nonetheless, my student card details were taken and put into the system. I’m anxious of people taking my details, because I know what they’re up to.
If I breach security again, I will be expelled from the university for up to seven days. Next week you’ll probably be reading about my seven-day holiday in Portugal following expulsion. I’m a walking target now.
I’ve tried to get a comment from the security board about how exactly this is a security breach, especially since neither of the other entrances – in the College, Centenary or University buildings – have any significant security measures. Does this actually mean every time I have a lecture or seminar there, I’m a first-world Malala who risks his own life for education?
No-one seems to know who sets the rules regarding trespassing – I only found an answer regarding library card gates. Is this one of those instances where the university allows capricious security officers to make up new rules as they go? Perhaps airport security-like rules will soon be implemented at City.
It wouldn’t be huge a problem if the university were targeting me and other fellow students consistently – and with proper rules in place. What we have now is a laughably incoherent security policy that I had to find about through my own experience.
This truly was a Kafkaesque crime. Nobody actually breached the security, as the student card was shown to the officer. The only thing that was violated was my right not to be oppressed by some power-hungry future nightclub bouncer. Who knew that the phrase ‘police state’ might one day actually make sense?
The headline isn’t remotely representative of the article. You didn’t forget your card at all.
Yet another sensationalist, self indulgent article. It’s fairly obvious that you broke rules, shouldn’t have been so lazy and the security guard did the right thing in repremanding you.
I can understand what you want to write a hyperbolic piece and get it ‘published’ in your pursuit of a career in journalism or a spot on Big Brother or whatever, but spare a thought for our poor security personnel who have to spend their days putting up with crap from obnoxious students who should be grown up enough to know better.
Well said
I don’t even know where to start with this laughable piece of “journalism”. Yet you don’t report about the three journalism students opening selling drugs to students within the dept area. I see them everyday doing it openly and nobody says a word. You give all us students a bad name. Is real reporting too much hassle for you? If security were everywhere, you’d only bang on about the campus being a Police state! Have some self respect and report on REAL issues on campus.
This is journalism on steroids. It’s almost as if you have eaten a thesaurus and vomited some words, even some that not even you understand or are using correctly, on to this article. Ultimately the fault is with you; if you and your “comrade” hadn’t have of “dashed” through the “Berlin wall of card gates” then there wouldn’t have been a problem. However if you were to run in to an airport like that, no doubt a few people to say the least would become uncomfortable. In this case however the security’s job is to keep the place secure, regardless of who entered and how they entered, and seeing as you have clearly admitted to running through the gates because they happened to be open, shows that you took an unnecessary risk. This isn’t an issue with the university’s security [policy] but more of an issue with the university’s students.