http://www.breitbart.com/…
Amtrak will start randomly screening passengers’ carry-on bags this week in a new security push that includes officers with automatic weapons and bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains.The initiative, to be announced by the railroad on Tuesday, is a significant shift for Amtrak. Unlike the airlines, it has had relatively little visible increase in security since the 2001 terrorist attacks, a distinction that has enabled it to attract passengers eager to avoid airport hassles.
Amtrak officials insist their new procedures won’t hold up the flow of passengers.
“On-time performance is a key element of Amtrak service. We are fully mindful of that. This is not about train delays,” Bill Rooney, the railroad’s vice president for security strategy and special operations, told The Associated Press.
Nor will the moves require passengers to arrive at stations far in advance, officials said. Passengers who are selected randomly for the screening will be delayed no more than a couple of minutes, Amtrak chief executive Alex Kummant said.
“We’re very conscious of the fact that you’re in an environment where commuters have minutes to go from train to train,” he said.
Concern about Amtrak security has been mounting since the 2004 bombings of commuter trains in Madrid that killed 191 people. Trains also have been bombed in London, where 52 people were killed in a series of blasts in 2005, most of them on subway trains, and in Mumbai, India, where 200 people were killed in 2006 on commuter trains. Russia also has had several bombings on subway, commuter and long-distance trains.
The new procedures draw heavily on measures being used in the New York City subways, Rooney said. That model has been upheld in court challenges, he noted.
Amtrak plans to roll out the new “mobile security teams” first on the Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston, the railroad’s most heavily used route, before expanding them to the rest of the country.
The teams will show up unannounced at stations and set up baggage screening areas in front of boarding gates. Officers will randomly pull people out of line and wipe their bags with a special swab that is then put through a machine that detects explosives. If the machine detects anything, officers will open the bag for visual inspection.
Anybody who is selected for screening and refuses will not be allowed to board and their ticket will be refunded.
First planes, then buses, now trains… how long till our cars at tunnels and bridges? Then highways? Gotta love how they justify this partially because they (the taxpayers) subsidize their operations. How else could “that model [have] been upheld in court.”? I also love how they have to explicitly mention that since many people’s reaction to this news would be something to the affect: “They can’t do that!” Oh but they can… some guy in a black moo moo said so. It’s clearly justified by that one part in the Constitution… you know… Article 1 Section mumble mumble. Don’t pay any attention to that “4th Amendment” thing. Doesn’t say a thing about terrorists or trains. It’s nice of them that those “selected randomly for the screening will be delayed no more than a couple minutes.” Even though they say next that it takes but a few minutes to get train to train. I’m sure those who miss their train will be more than happy to do so to help ensure that they aren’t someone planning to blow up the train.
At least they’ll give you a refund. The NYC subway won’t if you refuse to a search. From my understanding explosive sniffing dogs are not also drug sniffing dogs. Is that because they can’t or they simply aren’t trained for both? How long till they show up with drug dogs in the train stations and subway?
I’ve started carrying around a digital camera and have been snapping photos of the cops in NYC when they are doing their psyops near Staten Island ferry and random police state things. I’m waiting to be stopped by the NYPD… from my understanding you aren’t supposed to tape cops on duty.
