The con isn’t even over yet and I’m already writing my con report. Why? Oh, where do I begin?

First off I want to say that I have nothing against the FurFright Staff. Hell, I am (read: was) a member of the FurFright staff this year. I enjoy my time at the convention, and usually look forward to it.

That said: This will be my final year attending the convention. The reason for this can be summed up in one, simple word: Dorsai.

What can I say? I’ve hit my wall, I’ve had enough. I’ve worked the professional private security circuit for six years now; handling everything from private events with 3000 in attendance, to emergency response and incident management. I have never, ever -in all these years- seen or even heard of a more unprofessional security “team”.

I say this not after hearing it from third parties, FA, nor twitter. I have personally witnessed several major issues and incidents over the course of this weekend. From putting hands on attendees, to not allowing hotel guests to enter the lobby and even patrolling areas outside of their control and irritating attendees and hotel guests in their own hotel rooms.

On Friday night I had a Dorsai knock on my hotel room to tell us to “keep it down, its quiet time now”. It was 10PM, on Friday, in a section of the hotel reserved for rooms that would be up late. They weren’t hotel security, they were not hotel staff, they weren’t even authorized to do what they were doing. I was willing to brush it off.

Shortly after I made my way to the front Lobby with Dragoneer. We were standing outside the hotel and off to the side of the doors. We were not in the way, we weren’t blocking anything, and we were keeping to ourselves. What happens? We're approached by an asshole in orange (The Dorsai) to tell us we needed to move. When we said that we weren’t in the way of anything and we didn’t want to move? We were told we’d be arrested and banned from the hotel.

That was just Friday.

Saturday comes and I made every attempt to start the day off fresh. I didn’t want Friday to ruin my con experience. I was still irritated over last night, but I figured I’d be ok. Nope! Saturday night rolls around and we were having a bachelor party for Dragoneer. We were a little loud, but not overly so. And again, without authorization, the Dorsai knocked on our door and told us to keep it down as it was “curfew”. As a result we again, ended up at the outside gathering place. When I attempted to reenter the building to obtain a soda from the desk, I was challenged for my con badge.

I was not in convention space. I was in the hotel lobby. I wasn’t in the mood so I showed my con badge and went about my business. However, other people weren’t so nice about it.

A friend challenged them as saying they were guests of the hotel and that they didn’t have to show the Dorsai anything (they requested con badge, room key, and/or state ID card). Upon refusal, they were told by one of the Dorsai (ID’d as “Sgt. Steve”) that he was the hotel manager. They ignored him and continued on. The Dorsai even went as far as to stalk them all the way back to their hotel room.

When asked about this? “Sgt Steve” denies he ever said that, but we know he did. He also said that my friend tried to start a fight and issued a threat, which I know for a fact was untrue. Faced with being confronted about his lies, the Dorsai in question began to backpedal and ended in saying he wasn’t discussing this any further. I brought this to the attention to a FurFright director and I’m currently waiting to hear the outcome.

But finally, the thing that really, really irritated me? After all that we had the hotel Fire Alarm go off at 3AM. It was at this time I got to witness just how unprepared the Dorsai were. They had no idea what they were doing, how to do an evacuation, or even how to control a crowd. It was actually embarrassing to watch. The regional manager for the hotel’s security service arrived and agreed that watching them was embarrassing to do.

Between the harassment, lies, bullshit, and everything else? I will not be attending FurFright again until these guys are out.

I’m told the Dorsai actively search their names on google and twitter for things people are saying about them? Should you guys see this? I want you to know that I, a six year professional, with 500 events personally under my belt, and four years experience in an incident management and response position? You people are an EMBARRASSMENT to the security community and it is the exact attitude that I witness this weekend that is the reason why people are so quick to dismiss security.

Anyone attending FurFright for the first time or even as a first con, I sincerely apologize to you if you were accosted by these bullies in orange. I can assure you that not every convention hires these amateur hour security-wannabe’s for their security staff.

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CLARIFICATION: I quit my staff position there on Sunday morning, after the events on Saturday night. Found my department director as soon as I woke up on Sunday and let him know that I was finished and wouldn’t be returning.

UPDATE: I’m also fairly certain that even if FurFright kicked the Dorsai to the side, I will not be returning. I understand kneejerk reaction to protect your own, but as it stands all I’m seeing is an absolute dismissive attitude and unwillingness to investigate the incidents not only brought to their attention by myself, but by others as well.

UPDATE PART 2: A petition has been started to ask FurFright (and other cons, should they so choose) to stop using the Dorsai in light of these events. If you have had a negitive experience with the Dorsai, I encourage you to sign it. Remember - don’t bash the cons when doing so. The cons are not the problem. The Dorsai are.

You can sign the petition here.