(no subject)

[camwyn]

So.

New York City's gonna do random searches of people's bags if they wanna get on the subway and 'people who don't want to be searched are perfectly free to turn around and leave the station'.

Show of hands- do I start carrying a bag full of mousetraps, or should I start carrying a bag full of some formulation of Play-Doh that feels like dog crap if a cop puts his hand on it? Not that I dislike the members of the NYPD; I'm very fond of cops in general. But since the city doesn't seem to think that the Constitution matters any more (small surprise, since Washington doesn't either)- or that this constitutes a reasonable search and seizure- I'd like to make it plain that if you're going to search me, ever, you are going to have to pay for that privilege.

I'm thinkin' the play-doh. Or a can of non-dairy creamer with a lid that comes off easily- no, then they'd go "ACK ANTHRAX" and I'd be late for work. But you get the idea.

Suggestions?

Comments

[lasa.livejournal.com]

My cousin came down here to DC a few months ago to do a test run for searches for the DC subway/Amtrack system. They had scanners like they had in airports, only portable. This will undoubtably change your tactics if this is the method they use.

[camwyn]

Oh, glee. Well, New Yorkers are a pierced bunch; that should make scans of that nature more interesting- unless you mean bagscanners, which would make more sense given the context- never mind. *sigh*

If they start using bagscanners, I'm buying two large bottles of Manhattan Special and tucking them under a jacket or something. I happen to love that soda to no end, but it comes in glass bottles that strongly resemble compressed gas containers on an X-ray. (This happened to me when I was in college. I had to open my carry-ons after a scan showed two canisters and a bunch of unidentified metal masses. It turned out to be my Manhattan Special and cans of Italian food.)

[derien.livejournal.com]

Bag scanning? Are these x-rays? I've never seen a good portable x-ray. We do have a portable x-ray where I work, but it's absolutely horrible. Technology advances so quickly, though.

[lasa.livejournal.com]

It was bag scanning - I'm guessing x-ray. She works for a company in Massachuesetts that does security systems for airlines. The thought was to scan bags going on Amtrak trains, but in DC, there are two stations that serve both the subway and Amtrak, so they were scanning them at the entrance (not the downtown location, thankfully!)

From what she told us, the test met with only limited success. The two problems were speed and training of people to man the scanners, but both of these I think would be problems with manual search as well. All I know for sure is that these devices were/are in development and testing with an eye to subway/train station usage.