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NYC Transit Riders Get Searched

In the wake of this week's London subway attacks, New York City police began subjecting commuters to random searches of bags and packages at entrances to the city's vast subway system.

"Does it bother you that you're going to have people looking through your bag to get on the subway?" CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod asked one commuter.

"Sure it does," was the response, "but at the same time, if someone is bringing in a backpack like these terrorists are, then I guess they have to wait and see."

Police shot and killed a man said to be wearing a thick coat at a London subway station Friday, a day after the city was hit by a second wave of terror attacks in two weeks.

"[Friday's London incident] shows that we all live in a different world since Sept. 11, and that's one of the reasons why we've put in place these random bag searches," said New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly on CBS News' The Early Show.

The inspections started on a small scale Thursday afternoon in Manhattan and were expanded during Friday morning's rush hour.

"Obviously, the events in London show they are continuing to focus on transit systems and we think this is a proven measure, a common sense measure to put in place," said Kelly.

The New York Civil Liberties Union was to monitor Friday's developments before deciding what action, if any, to take.

"It violates our right to privacy when the police search us, search our belongings, when we haven't done anything wrong," Donna Lieberman of the NYCLU told CBS News.

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

As police across the New York City region stepped up transit security in response to a new round of attacks in London, a man with a record involving a pipe bomb was arrested with a weapons cache outside a Long Island commuter train station.
Gilbert Hernandez, 34, was arrested during Thursday evening's rush hour at the Brentwood Long Island Rail Road station, where the police presence had been beefed up.

Suffolk County police, who stopped the driver after noticing something suspicious about his van, allegedly found a machete, imitation handguns, an electronic stun gun and chukka sticks in the vehicle. They said Hernandez had been convicted of possessing a pipe bomb in 1996.

Officers, some with bomb-sniffing dogs, are stopping people carrying bags as they enter subways, buses and ferries. Anyone who refuses a search won't be allowed to ride. Those caught carrying drugs or other contraband could be arrested.

"What's to stop them from moving to another subway stop?" Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm asked Kelly.

"Practically nothing. They can go to another stop. But they may be stopped at the next station as well," Kelly replied.

Police officials said they had considered instituting bag searches for three years. The emerging pattern of attacks on transit targets in London forced their hand, said Paul Browne, the New York Police Department's chief spokesman.

On Thursday evening, a cluster of officers was seen stopping five men over a 15-minute period as they entered the subway in Union Square. In each instance, the officers peered briefly into their bags, then waved them through.

"If it serves a purpose, I'm OK with it," said one of the men, James Washington, 45.

Officials declined to specify where and how frequently the checks would occur or how long they would last. The NYPD had already doubled the number of officers who patrol the subway after the initial attack in London on July 7, at a cost of $2 million a week in overtime.
"We just live in a world where, sadly, these kinds of security measures are necessary," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "Are they intrusive? Yes, a little bit. But we are trying to find that right balance."

New York's subways carry about 4.5 million passengers on the average weekday, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The system, the largest in the country, has more than 468 stations, most of which have multiple entrances, and during rush hours the flood of humanity in and out of key stations can be overwhelming.

William K. Williams, a 56-year-old Manhattan resident who rides the train every day, said the searches would frustrate New Yorkers.

"Sometimes you need to get to an appointment, you're running late and a cop stops you to delay you even further? That's going to create a mess," said Williams, who was carrying a briefcase outside the Brooklyn Bridge subway station.

"We don't want to slow the flow of traffic. We're going to adjust the numbers of people that we stop based on the traffic flow," said Kelley.

He also said officers would not use racial profiling in choosing which riders to stop.

"We're using a numerical criteria, one in five or one in ten, and obviously it has to be someone with a backpack or heavy container, something along those lines," he told Storm. "Racial profiling is against our policies."

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