What does random mean, anyway?

NEW YORK -- Alarmed by a new round of mass transit attacks in London, police in New York began random searches of bags and packages brought into the city's vast subway system.

The inspections started on a small scale Thursday in Manhattan and were expanded during Friday morning's rush hour _ a development welcomed by some commuters.

"I'm not against it," Ian Compton, 35, a computer consultant, said at Grand Central Terminal in midtown Manhattan. "I think any measures for safety that aren't terribly intrusive are worth doing."

Officers, some with bomb-sniffing dogs, were stopping people carrying bags as they entered subways, commuter trains, buses and ferries at various points in the city, police said. Anyone who refuses a search will be turned away, and those caught carrying drugs or other contraband could be arrested.

One man was arrested during Thursday evening rush hour at the Brentwood Long Island Rail Road station after police became suspicious, stopped his van and allegedly found a machete and other weapons. Gilbert Hernandez, 34, had been convicted of possessing a pipe bomb in 1996, police said.

Good for them...now do you think they'll start getting the guys who are really a threat to our society?

Michelle Malkin thinks the measures are laughable:

WHAT'S the point? In the wake of the latest terrorist attacks in London, Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD announced plans to conduct random searches of packages and backpacks carried by subway riders.

"Random," of course, is a synonym for blind. And we all know what it means when you put blind bureaucrats in charge of homeland security: Grannies and toddlers, prepare to be on heightened grope alert.

Reassuring al Qaeda operatives everywhere, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly pledged that his officers would not engage in "racial profiling." He also emphasized that passengers would be free to "turn around and leave" instead of consenting to a search.
Combined with New York City's inane sanctuary policy, which provides safe haven for illegal aliens, these new security-in-name-only measures prove that political correctness still trumps public safety.

A few weeks ago, I noted the vapidity of the trite phrase "heightened alert." New York's response yesterday underscores the point. It is madness to pretend that no profile exists of possible Islamist bomb plotters. It is reckless to prevent law-enforcement authorities from taking obvious national-security profiling factors (racial, ethnic, religious, nationality, behavioral or otherwise) into account. And it is deadly to refuse to enforce immigration laws in a manner that results in, yes, profiling.

"Look for things that are unusual," Commissioner Kelly implored. "Look at things through the prism of 9/11." Uh-huh. But don't dare note the obvious...

Further proof that The right people aren't getting screened:

Last October, Ann Coulter was pied by two idiots who weren't bold enough or smart enough to combat her verbally. I'm sure you've all heard about them. However, their inanity is not my reason for bringing up Coulter---rather, that she was 2.5 hours late for her speech because of airport security gone awry:

Coulter arrived two and a half hours late due to airplane delays and incorporated her experience into the speech. She said she thinks airport security needs to make changes in who they search and not be afraid to racially profile.

She said she was in a special line to be further searched for explosives and weapons.

"I realized the only people that need to be searched were the people doing the searching," Coulter said.

She said all of the people being searched were blonde women.

As a blonde woman, I can attest to this fact. When I flew back to college after Thanksgiving break in 2001, I was thoroughly patted down by a 50 year old man who could barely speak English. And yet, while on my layover in Chicago, four Middle Eastern men in full Muslim garb checked into my flight right ahead of me without any additional questioning. This was a little over two months after 9/11, kids.

Let me also say that there were many people working at the TSA counters looked really suspicious... and I think that given the recent firing of someone sympathetic to the Taliban, I think Coulter's onto something. I'd be interested to see what kind of screening process the screeners are subjected to before we put our safety in their hands.

Good luck, NYC...I just hope this will make a difference.

As Malkin says:

"Political correctness is the handmaiden of terrorism."

Posted by: Suzanne at 12:28 PM | Comments (20) | Add Comment
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