BP Hires Mercs to Block Oily Beaches

[Doc Holliday]

BP, in a move destined to go down as one of the bestest public relations moves ever, has apparently hired a private security company to help to keep pesky reporters from covering the unfolding catastrophe on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. The report comes via New Orleans' 6WDSU reporter Scott Walker, who last week ran into representatives of a "Talon Security" trying to block him from interviewing cleanup workers on a local beach. Just which of the various companies named "Talon Security" is storming the (public) beaches for BP, however, remains unclear.

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time a private security firm made an appearance in a Gulf disaster. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the Department of Homeland Security and a number of private firms, fearful of reported widespread violence and chaos, turned to private security contractors like Blackwater and ArmorGroup International to protect their property.

So take heart, Blackwater. BP may have opted rent the services of a rival instead of purchasing you wholesale, but disasters are fairly regular occurrences and there seems to be no shortage of companies willing to make ill-considered PR moves in their midst.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06 ... z0qvj9xeZw

[Christopher Marlowe]

I don't believe that a private security firm would have the legal right to prevent reporters from public areas. If the assertion is made that the reporters are interfering with the clean up operation, the burden would be on BP, which I don't think they could show.

Someone with cajones should take it to the private security firm and force the firm to make an arrest. Then we could take it to court and see what the law is.