Judge OKs Police Subway Searches in NYC

Yahoo! News ^ | 12/2/05 | LARRY NEUMEISTER

[ctdonath2]

It's not protecting. It's stupidity writ large.

There's nothing protective about random searches where there's only a minority chance of being chosen for search, and the searchee can choose to just walk away. This kind of idiocy WILL get people killed, just to show us that our "security" is vapid.

This kind of idiocy, totally devoid of comprehention of reality, is the realm of leftists.

[libertarianPA]

That's why I said, I prefer profiling above random searches. But until we get over this PC BS, I'll take random searches. With or without random searching, terrorists will try to blow up our subways. If the searches discover or deter a terrorist (like, if you say, he just walks away), then that's obviously better than if we did no searches at all.

I don't see your point at all how a security presence is worse than no security presence.

I imagine you would be for active precise profiling, rather than random searches. If that's the case, I agree. Profiling is more protective than random searches. But I'd rather some security presence than none at all.

[ctdonath2]

Profiling is fine. If you think someone is going to attack, and you can articulate (to a level satisfying a judge) why a particular person is suspicious, fine - search.

I don't see your point at all how a security presence is worse than no security presence.

Remember the London subway bombing? 3 terrorists blew up on subway trains, 1 blew up on a bus. That is EXACTLY the scenario NYC's random "searches" will create - in a coordinated multiple attack, most will be randomly not searched, and the rest will just walk a few feet away to find another high-value target.

It's worse because not only is there no deterrent (at best, only a few minutes' delay; at worst, an attractive challenge), AND it trashes the 4th Amendment to no discernably useful end.

[libertarianPA]

If you think someone is going to attack, and you can articulate (to a level satisfying a judge) why a particular person is suspicious, fine - search.

I'd rather just search all young middle eastern men. Judge be damned. And in this case, 4th Ammendment be damned. Terrorists don't play by the rules when it comes to warfare. We shouldn't be restricted by rules when defending ourselves.

I'm a big proponent of adhering to the Constitution. But I won't let these savages use it to attack my country. Like I said, having respect for the 4th Ammendment is one thing. Having a fetish about it is quite another.

[mrsmith]

New York added most of the Bill of Rights to it's Constitution, but didn't add the Fourth Amendment until after passage of the 14th.

The Founders knew that it was easier to set limits on a government of limited powers like the federal than on general governments like the states.

Not that they didn't try of course.