As posted by both the New York Times and Newsday this afternoon, the New York Police Department has announced it will begin searching bags at random at subway, railway, and bus terminals. This searching is to begin tomorrow morning.
As a rider of Metro-North coming into Grand Central Station, I will be looking out tomorrow to see if there indeed is a greater police presence for my line, but I would gather the NYPD will focus on the subways and buses. But are terrorists thinking the same thing?
The chatter I've heard around my Manhattan office is whether or not this will be a violation of an individual's rights for the police to conduct at random, or if they are following suspicions. I think this is a step in the right direction, but I can only imagine that there will be accusation of racial profiling, which is unfortunate. Alas, so is all of this terrorist activity towards civilians. But that's the way of the world.
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Article comments
1 - Mark Sahm
And here's the New York Times story link too, but only works if you're registered (but it's free).
2 - alpha
"But that's the way of the world."
It needn't be. "Random" searching of the personal possessions of subway riders seems both ineffective and terrifying. The terrorists will learn to get through and the result will merely be more inroads by a vengeful and intrusive government against its own citizens.
If it seeme that this would stop a London style attack; then it would make sense. But "random searches". Every citizen is therefore at the mercy of the growing police presence and its violence. The growing terrorist violence will continue unabated. It is scary.
I live in Mexico and am used to searches of my car -- one just last week by a dutiful soldier who was happy to chat with an American and totally forgot to look in the spare tire well of my Jetta.
Searches need to be the opposite of random; they need to respect respectable people and be not "random" but "effective".
3 - Mark Sahm
Alpha, I think a great deal of the media coverage on this is 'scare tactics'. While they advertise it as random, I'd bet they're looking for specific features in a potential terrorist.
But I'm sure Timothy McVeigh doesn't look as suspicious as Osama Bin Laden when both of them walk through the subway turnstiles...