Posted on 07/22/2005 11:06:07 AM PDT by BigFinn
Reacting to the NYPD's announcement Thursday afternoon that police would randomlybut routinelysearch the bags of commuters, one concerned New Yorker quickly created a way for civil libertarians to make their views black-and-white. In a few outraged moments, local immigrant rights activist Tony Lu designed t-shirts bearing the text, "i do not consent to being searched." The minimalist protest-wear can be purchased here, in various styles and sizes. (Lu will not get a cut. The shirts' manufacture, sale, and shipment, will be handled by the online retailer. Lu encourages budget-conscious New Yorkers to make their own and wear them everywhere.)
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly had announced the legally obviousthat New Yorkers are free to decline a search and "turn around and leave." But Lu, who is a lawyer at Urban Justice Center, warned that even well-intentioned cops could interpret people's natural nervousness or anger as "reasonable suspicion." The possibility of unjustified interrogation and even arrest is real, Lu said.
Although police promised they would not engage in racial profiling, Lu said that, as with all street-level policing, people of color and poor immigrants would be particularly vulnerable, especially if encounters lead to arrests.
Actually that is a good idea and one everyone would like and support and makes the most sense.
The cops are going to be searching a lot of grannies.
New York City has large populations of Hispanics and Southern Europeans (Italians, Greeks, Jews, etc.), some of whom resemble Middle Easterners. Additionally, there are many Black Muslims among the city's large African American population, as well as substantial numbers of South and Southeast Asians, some of whom are Muslim. Other than the Northern European (Irish, British, German, etc.) and Northeast Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) minorities, the rest of the Big Apple's population could be profiled. Profiling on race alone may not work there.
Did you also take an oath to defend the Constitution against All Enemies Foreign and Domestic?
Probably, I've heard some of them talk about what they wanted to do after the london attacks, I don't know what them and their captains, or other guys in the brass said.
Oooh, aren't we testy!
The MOONBAT refers to anyone stupid enough to wear a T-Shirt that's "in your face" to cops that are probably a bit annoyed anyway.
As for unconstitutional, I doubt it. There's no constitutional right to get on a subway, therefore those who ride are subject to whatever security those who own it dream up.
Quote: "If you have done nothing wrong, comrade, then you have nothing to fear."
- Lavrenti Pavlovich Beria (1899 - 1953), chief of the Soviet Secret Police (NKVD) under Stalin.
Needs to be repeated
"Unless, of course, it's a cavity search."
I guess your farmiliar with the NYPD quota policy.
Bravo Sierra
As it is, we law-abiding citizens barely have any 4th Amendment protections, and here you are, in a conservative forum, no less, advocating pitching them all away, entirely. Just what the hell do you think we're fighting this war for---for the benefit of living in a police state?
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom--go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!
--Samuel Adams
If you have nothing to hide; then ya have no life ...
Which is to say, "we will not be searching mideasterner looking people".
If you've flown you've seen it at the airport too. Last time the statzpoli (screener) scrutinized my papers for so long I started to sweat. And that was just going from St. Louis to Houston. I said right then I wasn't flying any more if I could help it.
It's one thing to search people at random in the name of public safety, but it is grossly unacceptable in a place where law-abiding citizens aren't even allowed to carry firearms for their own protection.
"Public safety," my @ss.
Believing in the 4th amendment to the United States Constitution hardly puts one on the "left."
As requested :>)
FINE! Then you can go to jail instead of your job .. and then you get to explain to your boss your lack of concern for your job and your idiocy at refusing to have your bag searched.
Typical liberals .. me me me me me .. to hell with the employer who is expecting you to show up for work that day.
The liberals have no VISION for tomorrow - they live only in the present.
For the purposes of comparison, how much does a bomb-sniffing human cost?
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