Federal agents enter wrong Boston hotel room, interrogated man during training

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/revere-hotel-boston-fbi-botched-training-cheryl-fiandaca-wbz/

by acpk • 3 years ago

37 18 3 years ago

lotsofpulp4• 3 years ago

In the age of broadband internet mobile phones, in the most “advanced” country in the world with the most “qualified” people, it took 45min+ to verify if they have illegally detained the right person or not?

A simple call to a supervisor to confirm if the role player is who they are talking should have fixed this in less than 2min.

carlmr• 3 years ago

A simple call to a supervisor to confirm if the role player is who they are talking should have fixed this in less than 2min.

Why would you call your supervisor if you believe the role player is role playing someone you should interrogate?

First you need to have a doubt about that person being the role player, but them denying that they are who they are might seem like the expected response.

At most I could imagine the person in the other room, expecting a "surprise" interrogation might be wondering why nobody has been knocking on their door for 45 minutes. But maybe they don't know when the exact moment should be.

lotsofpulp4• 3 years ago

Because in a non training scenario, if a suspect claims they are not who the authorities think they are, there should be some effort made by the authorities to ensure they are not violating the rights of an innocent person.

Especially when it should be as simple as texting a photo and name of the actual suspect back and forth within seconds. Or maybe in this case, it would be verifying the hotel room number.

Either way, this verification step does not seem like it should take 45min+.

rhaway84773• 3 years ago

I think that just means it took them over 35-40 mins to even realize they might have the wrong person.

Which ironically goes to prove that their interrogation tactics are basically crap, considering it took over 40 mins to realize they got the wrong person.

Which is not surprising at all, because it really does seem US law enforcement agencies seem to base their tactics more on shows like 24 as opposed to what actually works (I’ve had a conversation with a hostage specialist trainer, and the most shocking part to me was when he told me they spend almost no time on de-escalation training).

lotsofpulp4• 3 years ago

The victim is a pilot, it is safe to assume they spoke English and told the agents they are mistaken immediately when they woke him up.

henriquez• 3 years ago

I’m curious as to the details to why the interrogators “put him in the shower?” Are we bringing back waterboarding? Why did EMTs need to respond when it became clear they had the wrong person?

And what hotel would allow loud FBI door-banging “training courses” in the middle of the night? It’s not plausible as the FBI’s in-house training facilities are pretty advanced.

In short this sounds like a cover up, at the very least. But the thing about the shower really is disturbing and warrants more information.

themaninthedark• 3 years ago

I would guess that they called the EMT's to make sure that the pilot was alright both physically and somewhat mentally. If they had not called EMT and then the guy went on to have a heart attack or jumped out the window, everyone would wonder why they did try to verify that he was medically ok.

My guess for the shower is that it is probably a smaller room in the hotel room, without access to the windows or door. Putting someone in there makes them feel more confined.

zomg• 3 years ago

I also found it entirely implausible that this was a "training exercise", conducted at a civilian-occupied hotel in a major city. The real question is: What were the FBI really doing/looking for in that hotel?

And, so what's next? Will Marriott give me the option to stay in a "Water-front, certified non-FBI training room." in the future? </sarcasm>

netsharc• 3 years ago

I've been binge-watching Ozark, it makes me wonder too if "it's a training" is just a cover story.

TV-script-speculation: Maybe they were trying to spook some other pilot who was supposed to be there, but the poor guest in room 1505 had been reassigned to fly the route of the target pilot.

sorokod• 3 years ago

Sounds like the training exercise during the "Ryazan Sugar" incident.

TechBro8615• 3 years ago

Disband the FBI.

rasz• 3 years ago

"FBI and the US Army Special Operations Command" .. "in the shower"

so US citizen detained and waterboarded by US army personnel on US soil. Posse Comitatus Act, Detainee Treatment Act, Eighth Amendment, Section 2340A of Title 18. The list goes on and on.

monkeywork• 3 years ago

Detained yes, waterboarded is a big jump. In most hotels the bathroom is the most secure room, no windows, one point of ingress egress, quick and easy to search for weapons, etc.

I suspect bathroom is likely sop for securing a target.

firstlink• 3 years ago

It reflects very poorly on the hotel that they allow military and paramilitary agents of a rogue third-world government to conduct "training exercises" on guests. I certainly wouldn't stay at the Revere Hotel.

lotsofpulp4• 3 years ago

I would not expect a $20/hour worker to challenge the authority of a group of FBI agents. Nor would I expect them to know the ins and outs of when a warrant is required and when it is not.

https://www.shouselaw.com/ca/blog/warrant/are-police-allowed...

more_corn• 3 years ago

These people obviously failed agent training. Hopefully they washed out and their supervisor with them.

Getting the right hotel room is like thing one. Figuring out you got the wrong guy is thing two.

Basically they’ve proven that they’re not suited to work in the FBI.

Federal agents enter wrong Boston hotel room, interrogated man during training

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