(Reprint of 2009 "Newsfront" Article)
The other day, while leaving Central Office to go home, I noticed a basketball lying in a grassy area of our parking lot, which is adjacent to SCI Camp Hill's perimeter and several exercise yards. I didn't think much about it and figured some inmate had probably thrown it over the fence.
When I returned to work the next day, the ball was in the same spot. It remained there when I went to lunch later that same day.
I thought to myself, "What a shame it is that the ball was outside the perimeter and that no one had gotten it yet."
Many times, during my years with the department, I have seen a variety of balls caught in the razor wire, but this was probably the first ball I have seen make it over the fence and so far out into the parking lot.
After returning from lunch, I decided to call Camp Hill to have someone get the ball.
The Inmate General Welfare Fund paid for the ball and the inmates should get it back.
I had thought about tossing it back over the fence, but figured that I would hit the fence and set off the alarms (plus, that's not really an appropriate thing to do), but I also wondered... what if the ball had been placed there by someone.
It could have been an alertness drill to see how long it would take for someone to notice it. Or it could have been placed there by someone in the hope that it would be tossed back into the prison without being checked. Believe it or not, the latter
has happened in other jurisdictions, and prison officials found that the ball had been stuffed with drugs.
So, knowing that, I reported the ball. Not long after reporting it, the ball had disappeared from its resting place.
But the situation begs a few questions.
What if that ball had been placed there by an outsider who was trying to get drugs into the prison? What if it had been a briefcase or a package? Aren't we all supposed to be alert to such things and report them? What if it had been a bomb?
Perhaps I over think things. I know I do, but sometimes we have to, especially in the line of work we are in.
As it turns out, in this case this basketball was just a basketball, but it could have been something more.
Sometimes in our careers we become comfortable with our routines. Things go smoothly and there are no problems, but that's when we all tend to relax and let our guard down. I could have continued each day to walk by the ball and not give it another thought, but we all play a role in security ... even if it's something that seems so harmless as a stray basketball.
Remember to be vigilant and observant. If you see something out of place, question it. You shouldn't pick it up, but you should report it.
I'm sure facility staff must have thought I was silly for reporting the ball, but in these post-9/11 years and at a time when drug smuggling is becoming too tricky, was I?