August 04, 2005

Civil Rights Vs. The Uncivil

The NY chapter of the ACLU, NYCLU- is barking up that tree of selfishness again, putting at risk the lives of people who live in NYC.

The New York Civil Liberties Union will file suit against the city Thursday to keep police from searching the bags of passengers entering the subway, organization lawyers said. The suit, which will be filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, will claim that the two-week old policy violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and prohibitions against unlawful searches and seizures, while doing almost nothing to shield the city from terrorism. It argues that the measure also allows the possibility for racial profiling, even though officers are ordered to randomly screen passengers. "While concerns about terrorism of course justify -- indeed, require -- aggressive police tactics, those concerns cannot justify the Police Department's unprecedented policy of subjecting millions of innocent people to suspicionless searches," states the suit, a partial copy of which was provided to Newsday.

The policy does nothing to sheild the city from terrorism? How do they know that? Based on what happened in London (and Madrid, and over 2000 other places since 9-11) it doesn't take a PhD to see that had the terrorists been caught before the bombs went off, lives would have been saved. I haven't been around to keep up on too much of this story, but I would have read about any alledged racial profiling carried out by the NYPD. They have searched old ladies and kids; not the young, angry, nervous, sweaty and sultry Muslim men. I would have searched the very people who appear to be likely to carry out an attack. Racial profiling or not- it has to be.

Names of the plaintiffs -- subway riders who object to the searches -- were redacted in the copy, but are expected to be released Thursday morning. A city Law Department spokeswoman said that since officials had not yet received the suit, she could not yet comment. The city is named as a defendant, along with the police department and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. Thursday, before the suit was released, Kelly said that the searches were "just one more layer, one more tool." "No one thinks that will be the solution, but it does give a potential terrorist something more to think about," he said.

And I bet these plaintiffs were hired by the ACLU/NYCLU to stand in and do this. I bet they purposely drew attention to themselves to warrant a search. That's how these civil liberty groups work. It's all a play, complete with actors who are willing to play these stupid roles. It's a symptom of a much bigger issue- toying with the safety of the American people in general. Coughing up big lawsuits with lots of media coverage; the MSM will attach itself to this and promote it on all the AM talk shows. The NY Times will place this on it's front page...There is a pattern.

The civil liberties union has criticized the searches as over-reaching since Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the measure on July 21, after terrorists targeted London's mass transit system for the second time in two weeks. It also calls the stops ineffective because terrorists can walk through entrances where police are not screening.

You mean to tell me that if the police did their searches outside the entrances of the subway stations, these groups wouldn't be putting up such a fuss? Yeah right.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right of law enforcement to conduct random searches, said Barry Kamins, a professor of criminal procedure at Fordham and Brooklyn law schools. But it found that those checks can be considered unlawful if their primary purpose is for law enforcement, such as searching for evidence of a crime. Rather, police must use the stops chiefly to preserve public safety, he said. The suit comes as elected officials continue to tussled over racial profiling. Nine City Council members Thursday asked Bloomberg to direct officers to note the racial or ethnic identity of people searched. The call came after a city councilman and a state assemblyman suggested young Arabs should be targeted for searches to prevent terror attacks. Robert Lawson, a Bloomberg spokesman, said that the police already have adequate safeguards. "The mayor has repeatedly stated since the start of this policy that there would be zero tolerance for racial profiling," Lawson added.

Zero tolerance wouldn't be my policy, but I'm not interested in being in charge of this. Those in charge need to, they must have the safety of the public in sight when they decide upon this stuff. Civil liberties are important; but we must never forget the enemy is not interested in being civil with us.

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