LTE on bus search

[Pat McCotter]

Today's Union Leader has a LTE from a Manchester resident (name and address given in print edition - could not find online) about a Concord Trailways bus enroute to Boston being stopped in Londonderry and the bus and all bags being searched. I do not know if this person is a FSP participant or not.

I found the story here:
http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20040708/FP_003.htm

Thursday, July 8, 2004
Terrorist check targets buses
By Karon Speckman and Dan Tuohy
Staff Writers

LONDONDERRY, N.H. -- A half-dozen police officers and two bomb-sniffing dogs tore through Boston-bound Concord Trailways buses and pored over passengers' belongings yesterday morning, giving rise to a local debate of civil liberties versus post-Sept. 11 preparedness.

Civil rights advocates and some passengers decried the searches as intrusive and unreasonable, while others and the bus company said the sweep was necessary because the buses are "soft targets" that could be commandeered by terrorists. Officers and police dogs searched the buses, passengers' briefcases and other luggage from about 6 to 9:15 a.m. yesterday as riders bought tickets for trips originating in Concord and Londonderry.

No explosives were found, said Londonderry police Capt. Bill Hart, who added that the next time his officers descend on the buses, they will pack bagels and coffee for passengers.

Hart said the search was part of several homeland security programs such as special training for police, firefighters and emergency medical technicians. It was timed to prepare for heightened security during the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Of the 250 to 300 people searched, only two or three were upset and expressed any discomfort, and no one refused to comply with the inspection, Hart said. However, buying a bus ticket compels passengers to agree to terms imposed by the company, including consenting to a search, company Vice President Ken Hunter said.

Hart added that in most cases, delays were only two to 10 minutes, and his department's goal was to make the searches even quicker.

But a speedy inspection and the promise of free breakfast fare isn't likely to satisfy everyone, especially since the searches are likely to continue through the summer.

"People were just furious, naturally," said Claire Ebel, executive director of the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union. "It is very troubling that it now appears to be acceptable for authorities to search people with absolutely no aspect of suspicion. That horrifies me. That is absolutely un-American. It is a violation of the fundamental rights of being an American."

Ebel said her office received nearly a dozen complaints as of yesterday. One irate passenger read the Fourth Amendment to her because she thought the police action constituted an unreasonable search and seizure.

Londonderry commuter Steve Inza, 45, said he was on the 6 a.m. bus and it wasn't searched. But he talked to several riders at South Station in Boston who rode the 7:20 a.m. Londonderry bus and were delayed about 20 minutes by the search.

"They were unhappy because of the time and the intrusion," Inza said.

He added that he heard authorities will search every commuter bus traveling to Boston during the week of the Democratic National Convention.

Another Londonderry rider, Linda M. Carter, 56, also took the 6 a.m. bus and missed the search. But Carter said she wouldn't mind it if her bus and belongings were searched.

"I believe in precaution," Carter said. "It's worth it, and it's not a problem if the bus is late. One accident on 93 backs it up anyway, and bus rides in wintertime have been worse."

A Concord Trailways supervisor and a police official said the searches are definitely worthwhile and they heard very little negative feedback.

Craig B. Middleton, 41, a former driver and now a driver-trainer for Concord Trailways, said the company only fielded one complaint.

He added that although Londonderry may seem like a low-profile area, terrorists can easily pick those types of soft target areas, just like those who entered the airport system through Portland, Maine, on Sept. 11, 2001.

"A terrorist will start here because the bus goes to the heart of the city -- not that people should be afraid," Middleton said.

He added that the company wants to cooperate fully and did not tell the drivers until Tuesday, the day before the start of the searches, so the news would not be leaked.

Although Hart's office issued an advisory yesterday morning, none will be forthcoming in the future. Yesterday's searches employed officers from the Londonderry Police Department, the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office and the federal Department of Homeland Security, but other agencies, including New Hampshire State Police, will be involved in the future, Hart said.

A federal Operation Streetsweeper grant of $3,000 is financing the searches. The office of U.S. Attorney Thomas Colantuono is doling out the federal dollars, which will mostly cover overtime for police officers conducting random checks and patrols. U.S. Sen Judd Gregg, R-N.H., helped secure the money.

Linda Tomlinson, a spokeswoman for Colantuono, said bus lines such as Concord Trailways are being scrutinized because some vehicles come down from the Canadian border. Most bus routes in New Hampshire are not undergoing similar checks at this point.

Jim Jalbert, president of C&J Trailways, a Seacoast bus operator that makes several runs a day from Portsmouth and Newburyport, Mass., to Logan Airport and Boston's South Station, said his customers were not subjected to similar searches.

But Jalbert said he is having ongoing conversations with police about heightened security measures regarding the Democratic National Convention.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

[Pat McCotter]

Ooops! The date on that story was dated July 8, 2004. Is this going to happen every year at this time?!?!?!?

[Russell Kanning]

at least for political conventions

[GT]

Hart said. However, buying a bus ticket compels passengers to agree to terms imposed by the company, including consenting to a search, company Vice President Ken Hunter said.

I don't beleive it's the bus company requireing the searches. Busses today cars tommorow.

[Lloyd Danforth]

GT makes an interesting point.  For years government has used our money to try to change our behaviour concerning, often, highly subsidised, mass transportation.
I grant you, when efficient and, not subsidised, using mass transport is a good idea.
Now, with stories of assaults on our rights when using this transportation, I can see people returning to using their cars.

[Pat McCotter]

Aug 2 there was another LTE in UL about another bus search in Londonderry (are these LTE's available online somewhere?!?!?) So I guess the random searches go on and Judd Gregg is probably still helping to extract the money from the taxpayers to fund the searches. 

[Pat McCotter]

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I just did a search for the LTE writer's name and came up with a story about the search.

http://www.unionleader.com/Articles_show.html?article=58174&archive=1

Baggage searches in Londonderry: prudence or intrusive?
By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
Sunday News Staff

LONDONDERRY ? Londonderry police say they will continue to use bomb-sniffing dogs to check all bags on Boston-bound commuter buses this week, after the latest attacks on the transit system in London.

But some commuters have begun to complain, including Greg Warner of Londonderry, who takes the 6 a.m. bus daily to his job as a scientist for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

What's his concern? "That it is a delusion. That it is a waste of time and energy by our police."

"We're not an attractive target to anyone, and this is just a waste of cops' money. If they were looking for something that was a danger to us, like drunk drivers . . . I might feel that they were doing a better job," Warner said.

"But this is more propaganda for this administration than anything else. It's, gee, look what we're doing for you, even though we're doing diddly."

U.S. Attorney Thomas Colantuono on Friday said his office is providing $3,000 in funding for the bus searches from "Operation Streetsweeper," a federal effort originally designed to target drug trafficking.

He said bus baggage checks were first undertaken last summer during the Democratic National Convention in Boston. He said it made sense to renew the effort, given the heightened concerns about mass transit systems.

Colantuono said the Londonderry department took the step on its own initiative, although the federal Department of Homeland Security recently issued a directive "that suggested extra security precautions be taken on mass transit facilities."

"They're doing this because of the immediate threat, on the assumption that if terrorists strike in one place, they might want to strike in another just to create the added terrorist impact, to show they're a worldwide organization that can strike wherever they want," he said.

Asked if the effort is designed more to protect folks who might board the buses here in New Hampshire, or their destinations in Boston, Colantuono replied, "It protects the riders who are on the bus, it protects the people along the way that might get injured if the bus were to explode, and it protects South Station and Logan (Airport) and wherever else the bus stops in Boston. It could detonate anywhere."

Londonderry Police Captain Bill Hart said the idea for the searches came from his department's Lt. Paul Furlone, who has a special interest in national security matters.

Hart said his department has used bomb-sniffing dogs from the New Hampshire State Police and the Rockingham County Sheriff's Department. On the days the details are conducted, the dogs check baggage on every Boston-bound bus from 6 to 9 a.m., he said.

Hart considers the bag checks "consensual."

"People are obviously deemed to have given their consent to a search when they purchase a ticket."

He said if someone objects to having a bag searched, the bus driver would have the authority to prevent that person from getting back on the bus.

And what if a bag check turned up something other than explosives ? drugs, for instance? "Obviously we're going to take each situation on a case by case basis, but what we're there to do is assure the security and safety of the motoring public," Hart said.

Still, there is legal precedent that allows authorities to act if they find something contraband in "plain view."

Hart, who is an attorney, said he understands the "intellectual" and Constitutional objections some have, though he disagrees. And he said, "I can understand the unsettling impact this must have when this has come to our country."

On the other hand, he said, he agrees with the defiant stance of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. "We are not afraid, we will not be cowed," Hart said. "We believe in the system of government that we have and the society that we have created, a society whose foundation is freedom and tolerance. And that is our bulwark against fanaticism of all kinds."

But folks such as Greg Warner worry that we are giving up too much liberty to protect our security.

Warner said his wife of nearly 37 years, Anne, is a historian. "As she points out, the ways liberties are lost are generally one small step at a time. People went from being peasants to serfs to get protection. . . The people of Germany accepted fascism to get some kind of economic security and a reduction in crime, without realizing they're stepping into the biggest crime of all, which is the loss of their liberty."

U.S. Attorney Colantuono said the Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure. But he said he considers having a police dog search for explosives "completely justified, given the tenor of the times."

And he said he heard only positive comments from travelers last summer during the Democratic convention. "The riders were happy the authorities were doing something to protect them. And I think you'd find most of the riders today feel the same way."

Indeed, Hart said there have been few complaints about the new procedures. "The vast majority of people first of all appreciate the work done by the public servants who are completing these tasks on their behalf, to make sure they are safe and secure as they ride buses in the very same manner as those people who were tragically killed in London just two short weeks ago."

The search of baggage on Warner's bus last week was uneventful. "The dog went by, it sniffed everything, it sniffed the bus, it sniffed a girl ? it's still a dog," Warner said.

But he said he wasn't the only one grumbling.

"I just didn't want to make a fuss because I didn't want to get delayed going to work. We put up with petty tyrannies for the most mundane reasons."

He is considering making a speech to his fellow passengers this week, however, once the bus gets rolling ? "after we get rid of the gendarmes," he said.

"I don't like being considered a suspect without any reason. That's all part of the whole English law bit, you do not question your citizens on just random searches."

"I mean, we are headed rapidly to a situation where any cop can walk up to you and just for no particular reason say, 'Papers please,' ? and slap you in jail if you don't have them."

Hart said it hasn't been decided just how long the bus checks will continue. "We're sort of taking it week by week and balancing our commitment of resources against the need to do those things as well as the needs of our citizens here in Londonderry," he said.

Meanwhile, Hart said it's important for people to ask questions like those Warner has raised. "It is the raising and discussion of these very appropriate security questions that assure that we remain a free society," he said.

[Pat McCotter]

Just did a search on UL website for "Londonderry bus search" and came up with three articles in past month:

PUBLISHED: 08-07-05
By RUSS CHOMA
Sunday News Correspondent
Bus searches in Londonderry raising questions
LONDONDERRY ? Just off Exit 5 of Interstate 93, the Londonderry Park and Ride seems an unlikely place to look for terrorists. But over the last month, the lot has been the focus of one of New Hampshire's most visible anti-terrorism efforts ? and subsequently the debate over how effectively tax dollars are being used to keep the region safe.

PUBLISHED: 07-24-05
By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
Sunday News Staff
Baggage searches in Londonderry: prudence or intrusive?
LONDONDERRY ? Londonderry police will continue to use bomb-sniffing dogs to check all bags on Boston-bound commuter buses this week, after the latest transit system attacks in London.

PUBLISHED: 07-09-05
By RUSS CHOMA
Union Leader Correspondent
Londonderry police inspect buses bound for Boston
LONDONDERRY ? Aided by a state police bomb-sniffing dog, Londonderry police stopped and searched several Boston-bound buses yesterday morning in response to a heightened federal terror alert. 

[GT]

I saw a program on the local government cable channel a few weeks back. THe show was all about the Londonderry PD. The PD will replacing all of their existing firearms (shotgun if a reacll correctly) carried in the police cars with M16's. Why do they need automatic weapons?