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NYCLU sues city over subway searches
NYNewsday ^ | August 4, 2005 | Joshua Robin and Dan Janison

Posted on 08/04/2005 7:34:11 AM PDT by bobsunshine

The New York Civil Liberties Union will file suit against the city Thursday to keep police from searching the bags of passengers entering the subway, organization lawyers said.

The suit, which will be filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, will claim that the two-week old policy violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and prohibitions against unlawful searches and seizures, while doing almost nothing to shield the city from terrorism.

It argues that the measure also allows the possibility for racial profiling, even though officers are ordered to randomly screen passengers. "While concerns about terrorism of course justify -- indeed, require -- aggressive police tactics, those concerns cannot justify the Police Department's unprecedented policy of subjecting millions of innocent people to suspicionless searches," states the suit, a partial copy of which was provided to Newsday.

Names of the plaintiffs -- subway riders who object to the searches -- were redacted in the copy, but are expected to be released Thursday morning.

A city Law Department spokeswoman said that since officials had not yet received the suit, she could not yet comment. The city is named as a defendant, along with the police department and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. Thursday, before the suit was released, Kelly said that the searches were "just one more layer, one more tool." "No one thinks that will be the solution, but it does give a potential terrorist something more to think about," he said.

The civil liberties union has criticized the searches as over-reaching since Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the measure on July 21, after terrorists targeted London's mass transit system for the second time in two weeks. It also calls the stops ineffective because terrorists can walk through entrances where police are not screening.

(Excerpt) Read more at nynewsday.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: aclu; bloomberg; homelandsecurity; lawsuit; nysubway; profiling; searches
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Also see the article in the NYTimes from: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/nyregion/04search.html?pagewanted=print

And post: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1456667/posts

Some differences in the articles: In NYNewsday, the wording about the council members asking the officers to note the ethnic identity of people searched while the next sentence says about more Arabs should be searched.

From the NY Times article, the asking for the ethnic identity of people searched was done so they could show that the officers where not profiling. And then about State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, a Brooklyn Democrat, said, "There is a terrorist profile for a potential suicide bomber, and it's not the 75-year-old grandmother with sloping shoulders, who has an oversized tote bag firmly tucked under her arm".

Seems NYNewsday didn't get the entire story, only pieces they wanted.

1 posted on 08/04/2005 7:34:12 AM PDT by bobsunshine
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To: bobsunshine

Personally, what I'd like to see happen to all these nuts is for them, as well as their immediate family members, be required to ride the subways on a daily basis and so when something happens, they'll be one of the first to reap the benefits of their hard-won efforts!


2 posted on 08/04/2005 7:36:03 AM PDT by Paved Paradise
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To: bobsunshine

I'm calling them the ICLU from now on....

the Islamofasict Civil Liberties Union


3 posted on 08/04/2005 7:36:07 AM PDT by finnman69 (cum puella incedit minore medio corpore sub quo manifestus globus, inflammare animos)
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To: bobsunshine
Number of weeks ACLU has remained silent about the latest example of abuse of women in Third World: 2
4 posted on 08/04/2005 7:43:36 AM PDT by pabianice
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To: finnman69

They are jihadist enabling scum. The ACLU turned down
milllions of $ from The Ford Foundation (another
terror enabler) because they wouldn't background
check their employees for terror links.


5 posted on 08/04/2005 7:45:34 AM PDT by Lt. Brickley
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To: Paved Paradise

I like your idea. In times like these, I view such lawsuits as "aiding the enemy."


6 posted on 08/04/2005 7:45:56 AM PDT by MizSterious (Now, if only we could convince them all to put on their bomb-vests and meet in Mecca...)
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To: Paved Paradise

Personally, I'd like to see you pulled over every day and have a cop try to trick you into consenting to a search of your vehicle.


7 posted on 08/04/2005 7:46:28 AM PDT by Haru Hara Haruko
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To: Paved Paradise

Subways are not for the elites. So why do they care about those who have to use mass transit. They ride around in limos paid with the money won from litigation of the Boy Scouts and cross removals all over this country. They must be held responsible when the inevitable happens.


8 posted on 08/04/2005 7:48:28 AM PDT by BigFinn
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To: bobsunshine

while doing almost nothing to shield the city from terrorism.


"Almost nothing". Isn't that better than "almost SOMEthing" in this case?

The terrorist thugs are cheering and laughing at idiots like this who just make killing a little easier.


9 posted on 08/04/2005 7:50:18 AM PDT by Just Lori (I'm too tired to play tag.)
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To: BigFinn

You are absolutely right about that! They act like they are one with the little guy but it's all smoke and mirrors. Just like Oprah getting all upset over the evil salesclerks who refused to keep the store open late so she could by her Hermes scarf. They don't have cooks and maids to do their work when THEY come home so they like to leave work on time. Duh!


10 posted on 08/04/2005 7:50:39 AM PDT by Paved Paradise
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To: bobsunshine

if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then you can't profile it as a duck and you can't search it to see if it is in fact a duck. you must let ducks do what ducks do.


11 posted on 08/04/2005 7:52:37 AM PDT by beekay
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To: bobsunshine

What is unreasonable about searching for explosives of those who choose to ride the subway?


12 posted on 08/04/2005 7:57:22 AM PDT by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians)
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To: bobsunshine
We need politicians that can ignore all this PC crap and make laws that work.

I look slightly middle-eastern and if it means cops/security look into my bag for 2 seconds I can live with it. It's better than having your head blown off by a "muslim male between the ages of 17 and 40" because the cops can't profile.

I ride the subway every day and see very few people that meet the terrorist profile. If it inconveniences 1 in 100 people it is not a big deal. And if the muslime does not consent to a search they should have someone to follow him.
13 posted on 08/04/2005 7:57:58 AM PDT by varyouga
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To: bobsunshine
An if these lefties think muslimes don't profile they should go to one of the muslime hellholes and see how long they last. A white person walking down the street in Gaza or Somalia can count the seconds on their fingers before they get shot.

When muslimes start accepting other religions in their countries I might accept theirs. When they stop profiling I might think about stopping.
14 posted on 08/04/2005 8:03:12 AM PDT by varyouga
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To: Haru Hara Haruko

Well a search of a vehicle would be quite time consuming, versus a quick search of a body for a suicide BOMB!!! I don't like this stuff either and wonder where it leads but when I have fellow Freepers sending me private emails of actual xrays of someone they know who has had nails from a nail bomb resting hither-dither inside their freaking pelvis, I guess I can suck it up and let someone wand me or whatever.


15 posted on 08/04/2005 8:09:33 AM PDT by Paved Paradise
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To: bobsunshine
Hmm I'd rather them (NYC) sued for wasting money , taxpayer time, police resources, and insulting NY's intelligence. If that were illegal they'd be getting sued every day ;)

But judging from the posts here, people actually believe this is a "good" thing to do as opposed to a waste of time and money that only accomplishes to make the none thinkers out there feel like the city is doing something in the WOT.

Actually you know what would help the WOT? If the police went in every one's house and searched for contraband. Yes it's a little inconvenient, but it'd just be a one time thing and they'd get all the terrorist living here in one swoop. Seriously if you can't trade a minor inconvenience while cops and SWAT look through your underwear drawer you are either an apologist or terrorist.
16 posted on 08/04/2005 8:12:30 AM PDT by tfecw (Vote Democrat, It's easier than working)
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To: Haru Hara Haruko


Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the
following multiple choice test. The events are actual
Events from history. They actually happened!

Do you remember?

1. 1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by

a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. a Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and
40

2. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were
kidnapped and massacred by

a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

3. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:

a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

4. During the 1980's a number of Americans were
kidnapped in Lebanon by:

a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

5. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown
up by:

a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

6. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked
and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and
thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:

a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

7. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and
a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was
murdered by:

a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

8. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:

a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

9. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first
time by:

a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

10. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
were bombed by:

a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild
Bill's women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

11. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were
used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers
and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US
Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the
passengers.
Thousands of people were killed by:

a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer
Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

12. In 2002 the United States fought a war in
Afghanistan against:

a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

13. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and
murdered by:

a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of
17 and 40

Nope, ..I really don't see a pattern here to justify
profiling, do you? So, to ensure we Americans never
offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing
us, airport security screeners will no longer be
allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct
random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids,
airline pilots with proper identification, secret
agents who are members of the President's security
detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and
Medal of Honor winning and former Governor Joe Foss,
but leave Muslim Males between the ages 17 and 40
alone lest they be guilty of profiling.

Let's send this to as many people as we can so that
the Gloria Aldreds and other dunder-headed attorneys
along with Federal Justices that want to thwart common
sense, feel doubly ashamed of themselves -- if they
have any such sense. As the writer of the award
winning story "Forrest Gump" so aptly put it, "Stupid
is as stupid does."

Come on people wake up!!!


17 posted on 08/04/2005 8:12:58 AM PDT by Sterco
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To: Sterco
Come on people wake up!!!

Ok, so in a sane world, we would round up and deport all Moslem illegals, and review the visa and naturalization status of the legal ones, and we would have real border security.

In the world of Hom3Lamer "security," we frisk Christians at random, violating the Constitution, thereby reducing the value of the very thing we are defending. Yeah, that'll work.

18 posted on 08/04/2005 8:18:38 AM PDT by Haru Hara Haruko
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To: rollo tomasi
What is unreasonable about searching for explosives of those who choose to ride the subway?

This is: The policeman doing the searching cannot articulate a reason to suspect you of being a terrorist, or any other kind of criminal for that matter.

19 posted on 08/04/2005 8:20:52 AM PDT by Haru Hara Haruko
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To: Sterco

19, that is the number

I know Louie Farakkan, NYCLU and Al qaeda can somehow add up to the number 19, have spaceships and make this the white mans fault.

I know it has to add to 19 somehow....


20 posted on 08/04/2005 8:33:12 AM PDT by edcoil (Reality doesn't say much - doesn't need too)
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