December, 20 2010, 12:08pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Pat Elder, 202-210-3467 patrickelder@verizon.net
or Sue Udry, 301-325-1201 or sue.udry@defendingdissent.org
Local Civil Liberties Activists Oppose Metro Bag Search Program
The DC Bill of Rights
Coalition and the Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition launched an online
petition campaign today in opposition to the random bag search program
announced on Thursday by DC Metro Transit Police.
It is available at: https://tinyurl.com/wmata-petition
SILVER SPRING, Md.
The DC Bill of Rights
Coalition and the Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition launched an online
petition campaign today in opposition to the random bag search program
announced on Thursday by DC Metro Transit Police.
It is available at: https://tinyurl.com/wmata-petition
"The online petition is just the first step in what is
sure to be a vigorous campaign against a program that treats metro riders like
criminal suspects and tramples on one of our most cherished liberties and
constitutional rights," said Thomas Nephew, a member of the Montgomery
County Coalition.
Metro Police said they intend to begin implementing random
bag searches at metro stations across the region. The program was
initially announced in 2008, but was not implemented due to widespread
community opposition. Security experts have called the program a waste of
resources that would likely make residents less safe overall.
A frequent metro rider and member of the DC Bill of Rights
Coalition, Karen O'Keefe, noted that "Random searches on Metro
would be a significant inconvenience to riders who depend on Metro to get them
where they need to go on time. Even if the searches are quite brief, as Metro
claims, they will undoubtedly cause riders to miss trains, making Metro's
customers late to meetings and work.
"Metro officials are referencing a recent alleged bomb
plot against Metro as justification for the random bag searches," said
Sue Udry, director of the Defending Dissent Foundation and a member of both
coalitions. "They should remember that the plot was not real. It had been
hatched by FBI agents, and the public was never in any danger," she
added.
"I am concerned about ALL and ANY kind of searches at
or on the Metro. What does "random" mean? Every other person or
every 5th backpack? Or will it really boil down to: every 20th
Capitols fan with brown skin, or every woman wearing a hijab and pushing a baby
stroller, or every homeless man with symptoms of schizophrenia?" asked
Arlington resident Desiree Farooz.
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"The United States has been a leader in the global fight to eradicate polio, which is poised to become only the second disease in history to be eliminated from the face of the earth after smallpox," said Liza Barrie, Public Citizen's campaign director for global vaccines access. "Undermining polio vaccination efforts now risks reversing decades of progress and unraveling one of the greatest public health achievements of all time."
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