The news this morning was a bit startling in a sort of, “Oh, by the way, guess what happened at the movies this weekend!” way. They announced that a 37-year-old man was arrested without incident after they searched his backpack and found guns and knives as he sat waiting for “Dark Knight Rises” to begin. Now this is my local theater, where I used to sit in the lobby for hours assembling displays. And where Lillith Fair dragged me to multiple showings of “Pride and Prejudice” And where I had my first real date after my divorce (“Die Hard:With a Vengeance” if you must know). So, a bit unnerving.
But this prompts a question that came to mind after the Aurora shooting: Every theater I worked in doing assembly work had one or more off-duty cops in the lobby. Every one. They had a lot of fun watching this overweight arthritc middle-aged woman crawl around on the floor assembling things, let me tell you! From the fancy-pants theater referenced above in a quiet, affluent suburb to the gritty run-down theaters in the lower-income areas of Cleveland, they all had cops in the lobby, especially on weekend nights and especially when a new hot movie premiered and the crowds were big. But I didn’t hear any mention of off-duty cops being at the Aurora theater. Did they not have any? Did I just miss the mention?