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Open the Bag, Please: New York City Takes No Chances at Subway Stations

Posted on: Friday, 22 July 2005, 18:01 CDT

Jul. 22--New York City police are set to begin randomly searching bags in subway stations this morning, the most aggressive security measure yet after two attacks this month on London's mass transit system.

New Jersey officials said they have no immediate plans to search bags at commuter train stations and bus stops. But one state official involved in security planning said it is a very real possibility.

"I would not be surprised if New Jersey saw searches in the near future on the trains," the official said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Thursday announced the plan to randomly search passengers with bags and packages before they pass through subway turnstiles.

"We just live in a world where, sadly, these kinds of security measures are necessary," he said. "Are they intrusive? Yes, a little bit. But we are trying to find that right balance."

After Thursday's attacks in London, as New York police nailed down plans for carrying out the random searches, security and transportation officials in New Jersey were trying to determine whether they should be doing the same.

"It's been discussed, but at this point there's no definitive decision on this," said New Jersey State Police spokesman Capt. Al Della Fave.

"We are working with homeland security officials to come up with the best policy," said NJ Transit spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett.

Some transportation officials expressed frustration with New York City's announcement, saying they learned of the plan Thursday afternoon.

"This may be a good idea, and this may be a bad idea," one New Jersey transportation official said. "There should be some national policy."

Police officers were already checking bags in at least one Manhattan subway station Thursday evening. Officers stopped five men over a 15-minute period as they entered the Union Square station, peering briefly into their bags before waving them on, according to news reports.

The inspections are expected to begin in earnest during this morning's rush, when commuters riding New York City subway, Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North trains will begin seeing officers from the New York Police Department and Metropolitan Transportation Authority police.

Police officials said officers will not profile passengers based on race or religion. Anyone who refuses to consent to a search will be asked to leave. And if a person refuses, he or she will be escorted out of the station and could be arrested, according to a police memo.

Police officials have said supervising officers will be at the checkpoints, and attorneys will be on hand to ensure that civil rights are not being violated.

"We don't look for individuals, we look for behavior," said NYPD spokesman Jason Post. "Our officers will use their discretion."

Civil liberties watchdogs and some transit riders, however, were wary of what today's searches will bring, and questioned how effective they will be.

"The NYPD can and should investigate any suspicious activity, but the Fourth Amendment prohibits police from conducting searches where there is no suspicion of criminal activity," New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a statement Thursday. "One of the dangers of random searches is that they can invite the possibility of racial, ethnic or religious profiling.

"The plan is not workable and will not make New Yorkers more secure but will inconvenience them as police go about finding a needle in a haystack," Lieberman said.

Rahfeal Gordon, a senior at Montclair State University who was waiting for a PATH train in Manhattan on Thursday, questioned whether the searches could really be random.

"Who are they really checking? What is the identity or description of someone they should check for bombs?" Gordon said. "They're taking precautions, which is a good thing, but is it really necessary for us to be checked?"

But other riders welcomed the more aggressive measures.

"The earlier they get started, the better. It should have started two weeks ago," said Frank Anderson, a Hoboken resident who rides PATH trains and the subway to work. "I got nothing to hide. If they want to check, go ahead."

The region's police and transit agencies have been on high alert since the July 7 bombings in London that killed at least 56 people. They have stepped up patrols of trains and buses, roaming stations with bomb-detection dogs and scanning suburban rail lines from helicopters.

"We think it is safe for our residents to go out and travel," said New Jersey Transportation Commissioner Jack Lettiere, who on Thursday afternoon was at the Trenton train station about to board an Amtrak train for Washington.

New York's subway system has 4.5 million riders on a given weekday, and roughly 1 million trips are made on New Jersey's commuter trains, buses and private ferryboats.

"We continue to operate on a heightened state of vigilance," NJ Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said, noting that the agency has doubled the number of transit police officers and state troopers patrolling trains and buses, while tripling the number of K-9 units.

On train platforms Thursday, officers handed out orange cards urging riders to report suspicious activity or unattended packages by calling an automated tip line, (888) TIPS-NJT.

Similar messages are announced over public address systems at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan and on NJ Transit buses.

"I'm just here to be seen, to make people feel more comfortable," a Port Authority police officer said at the Hoboken PATH station.

"It hasn't changed since 9/11, and it hasn't changed since two weeks ago when the bombings occurred in London," Port Authority spokesman Lou Martinez said of the agency's heightened security.

By Shannon D. Harrington, Mitchel Maddux and Eric Hsu

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Source: The Record - Hackensack, New Jersey

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