Stop Random Bag Searches on Metro

Help us stop warrantless random bag searches on Metro! Our Member stated:

“I am a regular user of the Metro. But there are large costs, not only monetary.

The reason for our opposition to WMATA's decision to implement the searches was succinctly and well stated by one of our Members who wrote to the WMATA Board of Directors. The bag search idea strikes me as particularly dubious, an example of 'security theatre' that has very little likelihood of increasing our security. At best, it will move a terrorist from one target to another (perhaps simply by

entering a Metro station through a different entrance), which might be worthwhile if there were no costs associated with the idea. Each time we take another chip out of personal privacy, each time we insert a new police function into the everyday life of innocent people, we pay a price by becoming more like our adversary and less like a free people. Such intrusions should only occur as a last ditch way of saving lives, where there is a reasonably strong likelihood of success. This project does not pass a balancing test because it is so full of loopholes and ways for a terrorist to avoid being searched that it simply makes no sense.”

Did You Know?
- You have a guaranteed 4th Amendment protection against unwarranted search and seizure.
- WMATA is now conducting random bag searches outside selected Metro Stations and Buses.
- This program is completely ineffective in it's scale. The WMATA system consists of 86 Rail stations and 12,000 bus stops. Metro’s trains and buses carry more than 1.2 million passenger every weekday, and officials acknowledge the limitations of the plan.
- Should a terrorist see a security checkpoint, they may simply go to another entrance or elevator to the metro station. Once again, the bag search program is merely "security theatre" with no real effect.
- This new policy is in response to a grant from Homeland Security that was not specifically earmarked for bag searches and equipment. It includes millions of dollars that may be utilized for other law enforcement tools that actually make the Metro system safer, such as more patrol officers, equipment including cameras and radios, or new training techniques.
- One of the ion scanning machines that WMATA uses to perform the search costs roughly $25,000. This is half of the starting pay of a Metro Transit Police Officer's salary.
- WMATA and MTPD officials have stated publicly that this new security measure is in response to no specific threat.
- The Riders Advisory Committee of Metro (RAC) --- the official citizens advisory group for Metro --- voted 16-1-1 to halt the bag searches, but was ignored.
- If you do exercise your right to refuse the search, WMATA officials have stated publicly that those persons will be followed and observed, the extent of which has not been explained to the public.

---If you see a random metro bag search being conducted anywhere within the WMATA system, please alert us immediately.---

(1) Organizing mtg Tue 1/10 Montgomery Blair HS -- (2) NO TO SESSIONS

01/09/2017

(1) Organizing mtg Tue 1/10 Montg.Blair HS -- (2) NO TO SESSIONS

(1) Organizing mtg Tue 1/10 Montgomery Blair HS -- (2) NO TO SESSIONS Join us on Tuesday the 10th, 7pm, at Montg. Blair HS to help organize to resist Trump in Montgomery County. Meanwhile, call 877-959-6082 and let Senator Cardin and Van Hollen know you expect them to oppose Jeff Sessions for Attorney General!

MLKDay Annapolis police reform rally / Lobby night Jan 25: Protect the freedom to boycott!

01/15/2016

Annapolis rally / Lobby night Jan 25: Protect the freedom to boycott!

MLKDay Annapolis police reform rally / Lobby night Jan 25: Protect the freedom to boycott! (1) Join us next Monday evening in Annapolis as we Day with a rally for police reform in Maryland! (2) Then join us there again the following Monday as we lobby to protect the freedom to boycott!

MCCRC issues FOIA request about MTPD bag searches

01/12/2016

Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition: "For any law enforcement system to be truly accountable to the public, it must be able to demonstrate that its policies and procedures are functioning as intended. In this case, this includes demonstrating that stations and times chosen for bag search units are truly random, that persons requested to submit to a bag search are truly chosen in the manner described*, and elaborating on the surveillance and record consequences someone faces if they exercise their constitutional right not to be searched. Accordingly, using the online service “MuckRock“, we’re filing a “Public Access Records Policy” (PARP) request — a kind of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request under WMATA’s charter — with the Metro Transit Police Department."

MCCRC issues FOIA request about MTPD bag searches [SIGN OUR PETITION AGAINST BAG SEARCHES] The Metro Transit Police Department recently announced that it was resuming the practice of assigning bag search units to random Metro stations for random b...

07/03/2013

The U.S. government wants to ignore the 4th Amendment. Let's make that impossible. This 4th of July the internet will stand up for the 4th Amendment. Help us make it go viral to stop NSA surveillance.

06/12/2012

Latest on Metro's security theater.

Metro's random bag searches net no arrests Since Metro started searching bags in December 2010, nobody has been arrested, a request for public records finds.

04/20/2012

Thu, Apr 26 Takoma Park: NDAA military detentions forum w Heather Hurlburt, Shahid Buttar

Thu Apr 26, Takoma Park: NDAA military detentions forum w Heather Hurlburt, Shahid Buttar The ACLU of Maryland is proud to work with the Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition to pass this resolution in Takoma Park. We believe that NDAA is a historic threat because it codifies indefinite military detention without charge or trial into law for the first time in American history. It coul...

If you see something, say something: the WMATA MTP bag search announcement

04/11/2012

A counterannouncement to the familiar Metro announcement about random bag searches.

If you see something, say something: the WMATA MTP bag search announcement For more on this issue, visit https://mococivilrights.wordpress.com/tag/bag-search/

01/10/2012

Occupy January -- Occupy Your Rights!

Videos from symposium about Metro's bag searches at UDC Law School

04/11/2011

Panelists included Mike German (ACLU), Jim Harper (CATO), Prof. Andrew Taslitz (Howard Law School), and others.

Videos from symposium about Metro's bag searches at UDC Law School Organized by students at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law and the ACLU-NCA.

Obsidian Wings: Metro's random bag searches (I)

03/07/2011

Second post below. As mentioned there, some good discussions have resulted which you may want to join. The site gets several thousand visits a day -- not the New York Times, but "ObWi" does have a national following, so the issue is getting a wider airing.

Obsidian Wings: Metro's random bag searches (I) by Guest/incoming-front-pager Thomas Nephew (I): Taborn's bombshell: In mid-December, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, or WMATA -- better known as "Metro" -- and its police force announced a new random bag search policy: ...police will randomly select bags or...

Obsidian Wings: Metro's random bag searches (II): A flawed policy made worse

03/07/2011

Pretty good discussions have resulted from these two posts to the nationally respected blog "Obsidian Wings." You may want to chime in.

Obsidian Wings: Metro's random bag searches (II): A flawed policy made worse In my prior post I introduced the DC area Metro system's random bag search program, and provided footage of the transit system's police chief Michael Taborn stating that bag search refusers would "be observed. Be watched."

Bag search opponent coalition press conference, 3/3/2011

03/04/2011

Video by MCCRC of the half hour press conference. It is now embedded at the MCCRC blog post two posts down -- http://mococivilrights.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/bag-search-opposition-press-conference-at-wmata-building/ . That post now also features excerpts of remarks by speakers, and a growing list of media mentions of ACLU's opposition to the bag search program.

Bag search opponent coalition press conference, 3/3/2011 The ACLU-NCA, ACLU-MD, Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition, and the DC Civil Liberties Coalition announced a sustained education and petition campaign against Metro random bag searches. Johnny Barnes also announced that the group was searching for...

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Stop Random Bag Searches on Metro

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