"Since the ACLU thinks random searches are so terrible, and no one came to them to complain about the MBTA, they have decided to advertise in search of some clients.
Civil liberties activists yesterday launched an advertising campaign to question the MBTA’s random bag inspections and collect customer complaints that could lay the groundwork for a lawsuit.
The advertisements, which ask customers to tell their stories of being searched, will run on the T’s subway system during the next 10 weeks.
“We’re trying to have the public serve as our eyes and ears to see how this policy is being implemented and to see if it’s leading to an unconstitutional infringement on people’s rights,” said Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
The T reinstituted random bag inspections in October after a pair of federal court rulings that upheld the constitutionality of a similar inspection program in New York City. The T has also trained its police officers and front-line personnel to use behavioral recognition techniques to spot suspicious activity in passengers.
“Safety and security experts . . . have told us that random baggage inspection is another important element we can use to insert uncertainty into the minds of terrorists who may want to strike at the MBTA,” T General Manager Dan Grabauskas said.
The ACLU is against any kind of search no matter how it will protect us. They are against profiled searches, random searches, and searches across the board. If it were left to the ACLU there wouldn’t be any kind of searches allowed. Strange that the NYCLU has a sign warning visitors that all bags are subject to search.
It seems the searches are not the only security enhancement the ACLU is worried about. The complaint could not be complete without the race card being played.
"The people who hate certain laws are usually the one's with the most to fear from them..."Rose said the ACLU believes the T’s use of behavioral screening could open the door to a host of abuses. “We’re concerned it’s just a pretext for engaging in racial or ethnic profiling,” she said.
Grabauskas said, “Racial profiling is absolutely useless to us. This is training that points us in the direction of someone who may be acting suspiciously.”
That old quote certainly suits the ACLU and it's ilk, to a T. Many traveling loons are being busted for having that little bit of weed in their knapsack, or the small sniff of coke along for the ride, and are caterwauling to the high heavens about how hard it is to sneak past terrorist-driven security, when they aren't really breaking any laws. What's a little grass? C'mon, dude, it's only a couple joints. Busted for a snort of harmless coke? Get real. Don't they know that cocaine is sooo much more pure than alcohol, and like doesn't harm you at all? How's a dude to get through the day man?
No one in their right mind cares if the police nab a terrorist, as long as the cops leave THEM alone. And the minority mules who are toting some heavy cargo can't even make a decent living without having to circumnavigate all of those hassle-points because the dumb ass police can't tell a drug dealer from a crazy ass moslem, so what's up with that?
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