Hide Your Weed Under the US Constitution (NYPD to Search Bags on Subway)

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
and SEWELL CHAN
Published: July 21, 2005
New York City will begin tomorrow morning randomly checking bags at subway stations, commuter railways and on buses, officials announced today in the wake of the terrorist bombings in London.

Transit Union Hires a Security Trainer This is the first time the city has undertaken such a security effort of this scale on the commuter transportation system.

"We will be instituting random searches of bags and packages as people enter the transit system," Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, adding that the city is consulting with its attorneys to formulate a plan. "We're going to do it in a reasonable, common-sense way."

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Mr. Kelly said that the focus of the searches will be the subway system, but that the Police Department would reserve the right to check passengers' bags on buses and ferries as well. Officials said they would take pains to avoid racial and ethnic profiling.

"We live in a world where sadly these types of security measures are necessary," Mr. Bloomberg said.

The announcement raised concerns from some quarters about protecting New Yorkers' constitutional right to privacy.

"The police can and should be aggressively investigating anyone they suspect is trying to bring explosives into the subway," said Christopher Dunn, associate legal director at the New York Civil Liberties Union. "However, random police searches of people without any suspicion of wrongdoing are contrary to our most basic constitutional values. This is a very troubling announcement."

The threat level for the city has been orange, the second highest. since the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, but police officers have not previously searched the bags of mass transit passengers before - even after a firebombing on a subway station in Lower Manhattan in 1994, a deadly sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995 and a foiled plot to bomb the subway in Brooklyn in 1997.

Bags are occasionally checked during large events, like the annual New Year's Eve celebration at Times Square. Bags have also been regularly checked since the World Trade Center attacks at museums and professional sports events.

Officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said internal discussions about random checks had been going on for several weeks - before the bombings of subway trains and buses in London on July 7 and again today. No one is believed to have been killed in today's attacks in London, but the first series of bombings in that city killed 56 people and wounded 700 others.

"It was something that had been discussed for several weeks," M.T.A. spokesman Tom Kelly said in a telephone interview.

Police spokesman Paul Browne said that during a meeting at Police Headquarters this morning, police officials decided to start the random checks, which police officials have discussed periodically for the past three years.

"In light of what appeared to be the continuing nature of the attacks in London, the decision was made to move to this next step," Mr. Browne said.

M.T.A. officers will also carry out checks on commuter rail lines, including the Long Island Railway and Metro North.

Mr. Kelly acknowledged that the random searches were without precedent, but added that he hoped riders would not consider the actions an inconvenience.

"We're going to alert our passengers on the subways as well as the commuter rail lines that their packages are subject to inspection," he said. "It's a safety issue. People don't consider any measures that you take for safety to be an inconvenience. This is New York City."

Kareen Fahim, Shadi Rahimi and Jim Rutenberg contributed reporting for this article.