In the Times Square subway station yesterday I passed two cops who seemed to be warily eyeing my backpack. I felt like going over and volunteering to have them inspect it. Not only wouldn't I mind, it would have made me feel more comfortable about my journey.
The civil libertarians who are complaining about the NYPD's new strategy are doing their job, eyeing the slippery slope and being properly mindful of racial profiling. If they are concerned about the latter problem, let them organize teams of volunteers to discreetly monitor cops who are doing the searches and see if there is a problem.
My strong guess is that people carrying large, suspicious packages, or perhaps wearing heavy coats in the middle of summer, will draw the most scrutiny, not simply men who appear to be Arabs. Not only are the NYPD professional about threat-assessment, they have no interest in being sidetracked by bad publicity and/or lawsuits.
As to whether the searches are effective, I believe they are because suicide bombers are bascially cowards who shun any kind of conflict or engagement, preferring to blend into an unsuspecting crowd and detonate. The idea of being arrested and failing to accomplish their task probably scares the hell out of them.
Any subway rider should accept that even the worst inconvenience of being stopped, questioned and searched -- even as a matter of routine rather than at random -- is far better than the alternative of being less safe. Better to miss 10 trains than for the cops to miss one bomb.
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