I noticed something funny about a security traffic stop in NYC

[sangh0]

I work in a building that's across the street from another building that must be considered a potential target. The building is in the Wall Street area of NYC, and the building is built on a bunch of collumns, so you could drive right under it (that is, if there weren't cement barricades in the way).

Anyway, there's also been a traffic stop in front of my building which I can see from my office window. There's a cop car at each end of it with a bunch of orange cones to mark off the area where the cars should stop. This area is covered with what looks like shattered concrete, as if someone took a crumbly deteriorating block of cement and slammed it against ground hard enough to shatter it.

The first day I saw it, I thought it a bit strange, but figured it might just from something that fell of someone's truck. However, today the traffic stop is there again, and there are fresh cement residue, so I'm thinking the police put it there. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this. I suspect it might be something that detects chemicals and/or explosives.

Has anyone else seen anything like this, or is this one time thing?

[Wickerman]

1. Could it absorb explosions?

seems like there is something would do so. A bomb under a car would push down and bounce its force off the concrete. If the pad absorbed it it might reduce "collateral" damage.

:shrug:

[sangh0]

2. No

It's not a pad of concrete. It's just random little piles of pebbles and dust. Each pile is no more than an inch high, and about 2-3 inches across in diameter.

It's looks like someone took chunks of rock salt, and threw them against the ground and shattered.

[Cronus Protagonist]

3. My guess is it's anti-terrorist stuff

Anyone sneaking across it while the cop was distracted would make a crunchy noise and leave tracks.

Cars, bicycles, people, etc. All would get noticed and leave tracks. And it's probably tagged so it can be traced on clothing and shit.

Low-tech but highly effective.

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[sangh0]

4. Maybe, but I dont think so

They didn't seem to care when I walk across it. And they're only stopping vans and trucks, it seems. I could be wrong, but they don't seem interested in pedestrians, and they're not trying to keep anyone away from anywhere. They're just stopping cars.

It's in a pretty busy area, near a tourist stop. There's lots of foot traffic.

Also, the way the stuff is distributed, it seems designed so that the vans and trucks MUST pass over some of it in order to get in and out of the stop area. Pedestrians can walk around it. It's not all over the place.