Paramilitary Police State & Private Prisons

Bag Searches on DC Metro Start

December 22, 2010

Jason's View from DC - Metro has launched a new program of radom “voluntary” bag searches:

The inspections over the far-flung transit network, which has 86 rail stations and 12,000 bus stops, will be conducted by several dozen officers at most. Metro’s trains and buses carry more than 1.2 million passengers every weekday, and officials acknowledge the limitations of the plan.

This from a chat from the Washington Post’s transit guy:

Q.Isn’t “Baggage Checks” a misrepresentation of what they’re doing?

From what I can gather they’re only swabbing the outside unless it turns up positive - seems to me to be a reasonably non-invasive process that would take no more than a couple of moments if, and only if, you happen to get selected. It’s not like you’re going through a TSA-style pat-down...

A. Robert Thomson:

That’s a fair statement, and I’d like to make a couple of points.

Yes, this program is somewhat different from the program announced two years ago, at least on the surface.

It starts, as I just said, with a uniformed officer with a gun and a big dog asking you if you’d like to submit to an inspection of your property. Then you’re taken over to a security table where -- at least in this morning’s version -- a federal TSA officer swabs your bag, looking for the presence of something that could be used as an explosive.

If the test is positive, they’re almost certainly going to examine the contents of your bag and question you. (What would you think of them if they didn’t do that?)

None of what I’m describing here meets my definition of “non-invasive.”

I have to say I completely agree with Thomson.

How exactly does a small handful of police officers doing this going to deter a terrorist? Seems to me all they’d have to do is send someone ahead to see if a search is happening. Have that person come back and say a search is happening and then move on to the next station. Or the terrorist could just look into the station and see if a search was happening. If a search was happening, again just move on to the next station. I like the term many people are calling this: security theater.

Also the notion this is voluntary is a joke. If you say no to the search you may be further questioned and won't be allowed to ride. So exactly how is this voluntary.

Once again I'm reminded of Benjamin Franklin's quote on freedom:

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Passengers and ACLU Critique Random Baggage Checks on DC Metro

December 20, 2010

WUSA Channel 9 News - There's more fallout from Metro's plan to randomly screen passenger's bags for explosives.

The ACLU calls random screening ineffective and intrusive and is considering legal action if Metro ignores its request to stop.

Lots of riders are skeptical, too. In an unscientific poll, we talked to a whole lot of people getting on and off Metro at Dupont Circle and found very few who thought randomly searching bags was an effective way to fight terrorism.

Metro has a video on its website showing how the process works. It involves a swab and a ionization machine. Only if the scanner and an explosive detection dog alert on your bag will officers go through your belongings.

But the plan is already close to provoking a passenger revolt.

"I think it's ridiculous, all this stuff," said one rider.

Another said,

"It doesn't stop the terrorists. It's not an effective way to head off terror."

Still another said,

"Seems like it's too much. It's an overreaction."

According to one rider,

"They could start doing that with bus drivers, taxis.... People on the street."

Two years ago, Metro announced a similar plan, and backed down when riders complained. The ACLU hopes the agency will reconsider again.

"Suspicionless searches are not good. They're not good in terms of results. And they're not good in terms of the Constitution," says Washington chapter executive director Johnny Barnes.

Metro admits it's impossible to screen every single passenger, but attacks on trains in Europe and two recent potential threats to DC's system make it clear terrorists relish a spectacular attack on Metro.

Metro's police chief says random bag checks are helping in Boston and New York. "It is a way to throw the bad guys off who want to bring explosives into the system," said Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn.

And at least a few passengers agree.

"Considering the conditions, I think it's reasonable," said one.

One of the top complaints from security experts is that if a terrorist saw the police screening passengers up here, he could just walk to another entrance at Farragut North or Farragut West, which are just a few blocks away.