I unfortunately had to ride the Metra trains when I worked at Sears Tower for about six months years ago... nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, the Metra does should EVER have the word "elite" in front of it.
While I agree @ your sentiments re: Metra (I've been riding the Southwest Service for 21 years now...) VIPR is part of the TSA.
I had my own run in with the "elite" VIPR team several years ago at Union Station. They were conducting "random voluntary searches" and attempted to "escort" me to an area to be searched.
By "escort" and "random voluntary" I mean they surrounded me with 4 goons and attempted to intimidate me into "volunteering" for their "random search."
I'm not a small man myself @ just under 6'2" and 230 pounds so not only was I not intimidated, I started yelling at them to get the (several expletives deleted) out of my way and pushed past them. Once past them I cursed them out some more and drew attention to them. Made the crowd of commuters stop and watch as I pointed them out and yelled about the un-Constitutionality of what they were trying to do.
IMO, this whole article was nothing but a "puff piece" designed to condition people into thinking we need morons like this.
The reality is we do not. How convenient that the guy who had the isotope test was a lawyer who could say nothing bad about the TSA VIPR team, and that there was a reporter right there to witness it all?
I mean c'mon. Who are they trying to "condition" here into thinking they're actually prepared for something like a dirty bomb on a train, us or the would-be terrorists?
Are we all supposed to be so stupid to believe that this is the first time in the 6+ years that ONE person in the TENS OF THOUSANDS who commute into the city daily on Metra has had this kind of test?
Really? I had one four years ago when my doctors found a spot on my left hip and thought I had bone cancer. No one from the TSA VIPR team detected any radiation or came through the METRA Train I've been taking Mon-Fri for the last 21 (or 22) years now.
The only logical conclusion IMO is that this PUFF PIECE is designed to condition the masses who are gullible and believe the lame-stream media that "VIPR" is needed.
As for the would-be terrorists that might use a dirty bomb on mass transit somewhere, they've gotta be laughing their asses off at this article thinking "how dumb are those American's anyway?!"