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NYers to NYPD: 'I Do Not Consent to Being Searched'
The Village Voice ^ | July 21st, 200 | by Chisun Lee

Posted on 07/22/2005 11:06:07 AM PDT by BigFinn


Spend $16.99 so you can wear this to your grave

Reacting to the NYPD's announcement Thursday afternoon that police would randomly—but routinely—search 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 obvious—that 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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; US: New York; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: baaaaa; libertarianfools; nonprofiling; nothintohidehere; nyc; nypd; sheeple; stupidliberals; tshirt; villagevoiceisarag; wot
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To: ArrogantBustard

I've seen more undercover cops on those trains than I've ever seen in NYC. Probably the system is small enough so that they can use other defenses.


261 posted on 07/22/2005 12:15:21 PM PDT by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
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To: Alberta's Child

That makes me laugh for some twisted reason. :)

Everyone seems to be having a hard time figuring out a good way to deal with the terrorist threat without infringing on anyones rights. That sure does pigeon hole your options and every opportunity available is another door for a terrorist to walk through.

There has to be an answer, somehow.


262 posted on 07/22/2005 12:15:40 PM PDT by TheForceOfOne (The alternative media is our Enigma machine.)
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To: SandyInSeattle
Who defines unreasonable?

A judge when the request for a search warrant is presented, or a peace officer when articulable probable cause or reasonable suspicion exists.

263 posted on 07/22/2005 12:16:03 PM PDT by Stu Cohen (Press '1' for English)
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To: AdamSelene235
Have you never heard of reasonable articulable suspicion?

Yes...isn't that limited to roadblocks and tips on drunk drivers? Can this be used to frisk a ME man with a backback getting on a subway?

264 posted on 07/22/2005 12:16:09 PM PDT by noexcuses
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To: Sandy
Amen. This is especially stupid considering the fact that the cops won't be profiling or picking out suspiciously looking people and packages.

You can't possibly profile because just about everyone who rides the subway or bus looks suspicious (except for me, of course). And if you narrowed your search profile to Middle Eastern or Paki men under the age of 40 carrying a bag of some sort, you would still have to search a million people every day. And I don't think I've had a cab driver in the last five years who's name isn't Isham or Muhammad, and so while the cops are searching MTA riders, Mo pulls up in front of Grand Central Station at 8:30 a.m. in his yellow medallion cab packed with explosives and yells, "Ali Akbar" just before he wipes out a couple of hundred people

265 posted on 07/22/2005 12:16:17 PM PDT by Labyrinthos
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To: durasell
If you live in NYC, you have little to no right to self defense anyway and most of the tools available are illegal.

So, if you have say, pepper spray, or a 3.5" pocketknife, and Officer Friendly finds it, off to the paddy wagon - see you in court. Or, he simply confiscates it and once again you are left to fend for yourself with a sharpened eyeliner pencil.

I feel safer already.

266 posted on 07/22/2005 12:16:30 PM PDT by xsrdx (Diligentia, Vis, Celeritas)
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To: AdamSelene235

You think it's unreasonable for the police to search backpacks of subway riders? So I guess you think it's unreasonable that someone might explode a backpack full of explosives in a subway car?
Gimme a break....


267 posted on 07/22/2005 12:16:43 PM PDT by RedRover
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To: SandyInSeattle
Public road. Same argument.
268 posted on 07/22/2005 12:18:05 PM PDT by beltfed308 (Cloth or link. Happiness is a perfect trunion.)
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To: petercooper

What's interesting about that picture is none of them have beards. I thought Muslims had a thing against shaving the beard.


269 posted on 07/22/2005 12:19:00 PM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1 (Lock-n-load!)
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To: RedRover
You think it's unreasonable for the police to search backpacks of subway riders?

I do.

So I guess you think it's unreasonable that someone might explode a backpack full of explosives in a subway car?

That would be very unreasonable, and that person would be a hideous bastard. Perhaps border control (which is 100% sonsitutional) would all put eliminate that probability.

Gimme a break....

Consider yourself broken.

270 posted on 07/22/2005 12:19:14 PM PDT by Stu Cohen (Press '1' for English)
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To: Cathy
We know a guy in London who is with a patrol unit and if they are in a dangerous situation they have to call for an armed unit. That is crazy.

When I was in London, I remember talking to one of the cops about some stuff, but he told me a funny story about some politician and a famous quote.

The politican told the press in regards to some law that the people wanted "The people have spoken....the bastards".

Same cop was pretty funny, but he though the whole thing about special training to carry a gun and being part of a special unit was absurd, but he made a joke about how criminals, who break the law, are sure going to respect gun control laws and the only thing keeping a criminal from trying to get a gun and kill him is that criminals obvious respect for the law.

I was cracking up.

271 posted on 07/22/2005 12:19:33 PM PDT by Sonny M ("oderint dum metuant")
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To: noexcuses
Yes...isn't that limited to roadblocks and tips on drunk drivers?

Er, no.

Can this be used to frisk a ME man with a backback getting on a subway?

Sure. If the backpack smells funny or he's wearing a big coat in the middle of a heat wave or a bomb dog indicates on him, etc.

A Terry frisk, mind you. Which does not include the contents of the backpack. However, the entire point of RAS is build probable cause for a search or arrest.

272 posted on 07/22/2005 12:20:41 PM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Truth has become so rare and precious she is always attended to by a bodyguard of lies.)
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To: Stu Cohen
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

A judge when the request for a search warrant is presented, or a peace officer when articulable probable cause or reasonable suspicion exists.

The order of the words in the fourth amendment is interesting. Probable cause applies to getting a warrant for search, but is separated from the first part of the paragraph. So, excluding the standard for a warrant, who defines unreasonable?

I feel the sudden urge to take a constitutional law class. I find this subject fascinating.

273 posted on 07/22/2005 12:20:45 PM PDT by Not A Snowbird (Official RKBA Landscaper and Arborist, Duchess of Green Leafy Things)
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To: Sabramerican
Maybe the Liberals are right in believing that if you scratch a Conservative you find an Authoritarian. Scratch a Conservative and he will break your nose.
274 posted on 07/22/2005 12:21:11 PM PDT by RedRover
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To: BigFinn
How about those who don't wish to be searched ride train "A" and those who don't mind the search for safety ride train "B" so that know ones rights get violated.

Which train will the terrorist take?

Which train will you take?

Me?? I'm walkin.
275 posted on 07/22/2005 12:21:23 PM PDT by TheForceOfOne (The alternative media is our Enigma machine.)
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To: durasell

MetroRail carries in excess of 700,000 passengers on a typical weekday. (See website at www.wmata.com)

How does that compare to NY Subway?


276 posted on 07/22/2005 12:21:36 PM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilisation is aborting, buggering, and contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: beltfed308

I don't agree.


277 posted on 07/22/2005 12:21:41 PM PDT by Not A Snowbird (Official RKBA Landscaper and Arborist, Duchess of Green Leafy Things)
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To: Labyrinthos
You can't possibly profile because just about everyone who rides the subway or bus looks suspicious (except for me, of course).

We best be gettin our bomb-sniffing dogs sniffin all day and breedin all night. ;-)

278 posted on 07/22/2005 12:22:10 PM PDT by iconoclast (If you only read ONE book this year, make sure it's Colonel David Hunt's !!!)
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To: Stu Cohen

" I have found that 90% of people who call themselves "conservatives" are no such thing."

Amen, brotha!!!

Conservatism today has been redefined in such a manner that some here actually think the GOP is "conservative". That is so far from the truth, TRUE conservatives were our founding fathers. Niether party resembles those great men, our political system has been pulled so far to the left.


279 posted on 07/22/2005 12:22:34 PM PDT by Stellar Dendrite (Support George Allen in 08!)
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To: gdani

Night clubs are private entities. Subways are not.


280 posted on 07/22/2005 12:22:36 PM PDT by SALChamps03
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