Posted on 07/23/2005 6:57:04 PM PDT by toaster
These Wacky Bag Searches in New York City
Am I the only one that gets this?
New York police will conduct random searches of bags at New York City subway stations. But here is the key point as reported by the New York Times:
At some of the busiest of the city's 468 stations, riders will be asked to open their bags for a visual check before they go through the turnstiles. Those who refuse will not be permitted to bring the package into the subway but will be able to leave the station without further questioning, officials said.
From another Times story, reporting the program in action:
The presence of officers seemed to vary widely among the 468 subway stations. At 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, a sergeant used a bullhorn to tell passengers, "If you do not agree to inspection, you must exit the system."
So if I am a terrorist and I walk into a station where there is random bag checking, I just walk away and go to another entrance?
(Excerpt) Read more at menrohm.com ...
Otherwise, it would be a "seizure" under the Fourth Amendment - it's just one little clue that they know that what they're doing is wrong and unsupportable under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
Or, start yelling and make a BIG scene. When a large crowd gathers to watch, blow yourself up. The complete idiocy of this whole thing is beyond belief.
So the bombers will switch from carrying explosives in external backpacks/packages to wearing the stuff - under clothes, in sneakers, or internally.
In terms of actually finding anything in the searches, this is probably ineffective. However, it does put more cops in the subway, and while they are there, they have to have something to do. So searching bags keeps the cops busy, and it helps the politicians to appear to be taking action.
I already know the argument the ACLU will make to try to shut these searches down. But I won't bore you with that. Not even a Clinton judge will, I think, be stupid enough to strike down the searches. And if he/she does, the Circuit Court will promptly reverse.
Congressman Billybob
So they've converted public-funded transportation systems into a "privelege," just like everything else.
"If you don't want to be searched, just take a six-mile hike uptown in 90-degree weather, or pay ten times as much for a cab."
Some "choice."
The random searches will prevent some bombers from doing what they seek. It will also make general crime go down in the subways generally. Do you remember Bernard Goetz, who shot some muggers in the NY subway? Crime went down on the subway for a year after that one event.
Bottom line: the authorities are making a rational and constitutional effort to deal with the situation, and your objection is?????? You have no legal basis for your objection. But feel free to call the ACLU and they'll invent a reason for you to go to court.
Congressman Billybob
Last I heard, you didn't need a license to ride the subway. Your attempt to conflate driving a car with public transit is pitiful.
Random searches will prevent some bombers from doing what they seek? Are you kidding me? Are you really that much of a sucker?
The only bomber random searches will dissuade or intercept is one with room-temperature IQ. The stated policy is such that a young Arab male toting a large rucksack on his back, looking nervously around, muttering "Allah hu Akbar" under his breath over and over again, and clutching a small device in his hand, who, when he spots the police promptly turns around and walks briskly back up the subway stairs, "will be able to leave the station without further questioning."
Does this seriously make sense to you?
Instead of random searches, with police officers wasting their time rummaging through the bags of habit-wearing Catholic nuns in rigid adherance to their one-in-five search pattern in the hopes of not offending the sensitivities of suicide bombers and their apologists with "profiling," why not let the police do what they're supposed to do, and are trained to do - look for articulably suspicious behaviour by articulably suspicious people, such as the guy in a heavy coat in summer weather jumping a turnstile and dashing for a train?
Can't you see that random searches are just a wasteful, meaningless exercise in public relations?
How easy will it be for an ascendant American Taliban to impose Sharia Law if we've already done 75% of it ourselves in our futile, flailing efforts to look like we're doing something?
All these random searches will end the moment that someone continues to blow up things here. At that point they will profile the ones doingit and go after them.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.