Cornell Police Engaging in Strategic Thinking?
If you saw this sign on the highway, what would you do?
If you’re not smuggling any yams, you’ll probably continue driving as usual. But if you’re driving with a delivery of Big C in your trunk, the best bet might also be to keep driving. The reason is that this kind of blatant advertisement should alert the real criminals to a checkpoint ahead, so they’ll pull off at the next stop where the real checkpoint will be. A higher level “player” in this game theoretic scenario might also pull off in anticipation of the police also anticipating that real drug smugglers are pulling off at the next exit before the checkpoint.
Perhaps I’ve taken one too many game theory courses, but is there something similar going on with the Cornell Police’s new policy of checking the IDs of students crossing the suspension bridge? Sure, even if they don’t ever get to talk to the real perpetrators of the forcible touching incidents, talking to random students could produce some valuable leads. But this article has clearly tipped off any forcible touchers that the suspension bridge is not the best place to go, so they will likely take another route across the gorge. Are the police perhaps stepping up their surveillance at other gorge crossings?
