(Source: www.bcdb.com)
The furor over battery-powered boxes promoting the upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie extended to other cities after Chicago police recovered 20 of them from that city's North Side. Unlike the situation in Boston, the boxes were retrieved without incident.
"We had nothing like the unfortunate problems Boston ran into with these," said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications. "We are somewhat appalled that anyone would think placing devices like this in the city in this day and age is a good idea."
Chicago officers went out last evening around 9:30 pm after Turner Broadcasting and Interference Inc. (the marketing company that devised the scheme) gave them 35 locations where the boxes might be found. Police also detained and questioned two young men who were seen removing the devices. The men were let go, without charges, after it was determined that they were Interference employees sent out to retrieve the boxes.
Chicago Police Supt. Philip Cline says it may seek financial compensation from Interference Inc., the company that placed the devices, for time spent hunting them down. However, he was unable to say how much time police had taken to find them.
Speaking at a news conference at Navy Pier, where he had several of the boxes on display, Cline claimed the illuminated signs could have caused "chaos" if they were found during the upcoming Super Bowl weekend.
The boxes had already been placed in various locations around Chicago, Boston, and other major cities for 2 to 3 weeks without any incident.
In Los Angeles, police admitted they had known about the boxes but had never considered them a threat. Many of the L.A. boxes had been placed in businesses that catered to Aqua Teen Hunger Force's prime demographic. There were plans to randomly place them around the city, but no one had ever gotten around to implementing it.
"We don't know whether any of those devices were placed at locations around L.A.," the Los Angeles Times quoted LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon. "We do know they were sent to businesses, like restaurants and nightclubs, that cater to the demographic of people who watch this cartoon. None of these locations were ever intended to be placed at any critical site."
None of the devices had been reported found as of Thursday, Vernon said. If they had been seen, "no one perceived them as a threat."
In Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino said he would hold Turner responsible for what he called "corporate greed" that caused at least $500,000 in extra police expenses.
"It is outrageous, in a post-9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme," Menino said Wednesday. "I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today's incidents."
Boston Assistant Attorney General John Grossman was the subject of much inintended mirth when he claimed it was obvious the devices were designed to resemble a bomb.
"We're not unaware of the fact that the defendants are not at the top of the hierarchy (of responsibility) here," he said at Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky's arraignment. "It's clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location," he said to widespread snickering.
"These devices looked like a bomb," Grossman continued. "When I talked to the bomb squad who responded there... they tell us that what they look for is a power source, which existed here... they look for a circuit and there was a circuit board with wires attached to it. And that wire was running to what to their eye appeared to be a possible explosive material. It was wrapped in duct tape."
Grossman claimed even the devices' locations were suspicious.
"The location was such," he said, "that it was the type of location one would put a bomb if you wanted to interrupt the infrastructure."
Adding to the surreality of the situation, Stevens and Berdovsky decided in a post-arraignment news conference that they would only answer certain questions.
"We are only taking questions on hair," said the dreadlocked Berdovsky. "What we really want to talk about today -- it's kind of important to some people -- it's haircuts of the 1970s."
Questions were also raised about Boston-area media's reactions to the incident. At least one TV station cut its regular programming to go to a continuous live feed after police shut down subway and closed major roads during their investigation. Reporters had speculated endlessly about the possibility of bombs and terrorism. Station owners defended their actions, claiming they had no choice after Boston police had essentially brought all commerce to a standstill.
However, Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, noted, "If you have no evidence that anything bad has happened . . . you shouldn't run the worst-case scenario."
Many people grabbed the boxes for themselves, either for their own amusement or to sell online. Several of the boxes were on sale on Ebay by Thursday afternoon, with bids reaching $500 - $700 with several hours left on the auction.
