Queens Man Says He Was Stopped For A Bag Search Three Times In One Day

NY1 ^ | July 27, 2005 | Solana Pyne

[KateatRFM]

He could quit carrying bags that look like the ones the bombers use. He could consider changing his demeanour so he doesn't look as if he's hiding something. But if he's quit riding the subway (and I hope he's being searched before he boards buses too), so much the better.

I'm searched every time I go into a motorsport facility and whenever I go into a casino. I don't care, as I'm not carrying anything I ought not to have.

[gridlock]

I felt humiliated. You know, there's a certain anxiety level every time I walk through a subway station or walk through a security checkpoint,” says Yogi Patell, a CUNY Law student.

I will not say "if you have nothing to hide, why do you have a problem having your bag searched?" I think that is a weak argument, because I don't like having my bag searched, ever, simply because it is an invasion of my privacy.

But "a certain anxiety level"? Why anxiety? Does he really think the police officers are going to harrass or harm him if his bag does not contain anything dangerous?

I have been to some Third-World hellholes in my time, and a certain level of anxiety is completely understandable in those cases, because the young illiterate kid sticking an AK-47 in your ear is not, shall we say, well trained, and the chain of command can be somewhat casual. But these conditions do not exist in New York City.

So you have this man, by his own account, meeting people in the train station and carrying bags onto subway trains while experiencing "a certain anxiety level" every time he walks through a subway station or walks through a security checkpoint. Completely absent any racial aspect, this is just the sort of activity the police are looking out for. You want them to be stopping nervous men carrying bags who are meeting people in the stations and boarding multiple trains, regardless of race.

But Patell questions whether searches are the best use of police resources, and said that even if they are random, “There's a certain amount of stigma with these searches.”

This statement makes no sense, whatsoever. If the searches are random, why is there "a certain amount of stigma"? If the searches are random, they are completely neutral with regards to "stigma".

In any case, even assuming things are completely random, if the police are searching 50,000 out of 2,000,000 passengers a day, it is statistically inevitable that at least a few passengers will be searched three or four times in a day.

[csvset]

You want them to be stopping nervous men carrying bags who are meeting people in the stations and boarding multiple trains, regardless of race.

Heck yes, the nervous guy with the bag should be the one pulled aside. If he doesn't like it, lump it.

[Junior]

Coincidence. In a city of several million odds are coincidences will occur.

[dirk33]

IDP is a leftist groups helping people skirt immigration law... I smell a setup... Here's what the group is all about http://www.nysda.org/NYSDA_Resources/Immigrant_Defense_Project/immigrant_defense_project.html#About

[csvset]

So we don't have enough "civil rights" lawyers, now we have to import them??

He aids and abets foreigners accused of crimes. As far as I'm concerned, he's an agitator, an agent provocateur, a subversive element.

[Eagles Talon IV]

“I felt humiliated. You know, there's a certain anxiety level every time I walk through a subway station or walk through a security checkpoint,” says Yogi Patell, a CUNY Law student.

I hear there are planes and ships leaving this fine country almost hourly. If the searches upset you there is a remedy. If you choose to stay then do all of us a favor and please STFU! Thank you.

[TaxRelief]

Queens Man Says He Was Stopped For A Bag Search Three Times In One Day

Good.

[AirForceBrat23]

Actually, my bet is that he's an American-born child of Indian parents (guessing from his name). My boyfriend is from India, lived in Bombay during the riots of '92-'93 (and actually got hit by a stray bullet), and he doesn't mind one bit when he gets searched before getting on city transit. Most people from India are very aware of the effects of Islamic terrorism, and many feel they are being helpful when they allow themselves to be searched (and therefore eliminated as a threat).

BTW, this is my very first FR post! I've been lurking for about two years, but just signed up for an account today.

[caver]

Good!! I'm glad to hear that they are profiling to some degree and searching the suspicious looking characters. It's past time to get serious about terrorists.

[TaxRelief]

"I was on my way to Brooklyn. I'm interning at the Immigrant Defense Project, and I started off here in Flushing," he says.

After picking up papers at CUNY Law School, where he's a third-year law student, Patell says he went to get the No. 7 train and was searched. He made his way to Penn Station and got off the train to meet a friend. Before re-entering, he says, he was searched again.

Great. How much are American taxpayers paying to train the enemy to undermine the country?

[AnAmericanMother]

Hey, Yogi!

[sgtbono2002]

I think I could make a fortune in New York selling see-thru bags.

[Cboldt]

"It's hard for me to say it's anything else other than profiling," he says.

He's obviously not versed in queue theory. Random events exhibit "clumping."

[TaxRelief]

my bet is that he's an American-born child of Indian parents

If that's true, they must be devastated that he has got involved with the communist-run Immigrant Defense Project.

[kittymyrib]

Schools all over the USA require clear plastic backpacks so that students can't carry weapons and drugs in them. That should be required to ride public transport. Carry a clear bag or no bag at all. Get used to this new life style brought to you courtesy of the ROP.

[Cboldt]

If the searches are random, why is there "a certain amount of stigma"?

I am occasionally taken aside by TSA for more invasive searches. I figure that event stigmatizes THEM, not me. Especially when, after they announce their thorough search is complete, I point out zippered sections of my carry-on that they have overlooked.

[AirForceBrat23]

That depends; India DOES have a communist party!

[Stonewall Jackson]

Welcome!

I work with an Iranian refugee who feels the same way. He is one of our delivery drivers, and every time he takes a load out to Fort Knox he makes a point of insisting that they at least give the truck a quick, but thorough, search. If any of the guards try to point out his familiarity, Paul informs them that most bombers scout their targets moltiple times and try to become familiar to any security personnel.

[COBOL2Java]

What is "NY1"? Is it a New York Times / CBS wannabe? Do they regularly publish these kinds of sob stories?