The Search, part III

Searches of bags by New York City cops, which began on 21 July after the London Tube was bombed a second time, are being argued in a case brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union (link to NYT article posted below). The NYCLU argues that the searches are a violation of the 4th amendment, and should the NYCLU lose the case, it will be the first time (that I have heard of, at least) a judgement goes directly against the Constitution of the United States and favors, as I see it, the tactics of intimidation and fear that the federal and New York City governments are trying to pass off as necessary evils. I was willing to go along with this farce for a while, as nothing pleases me more than letting cops know they are full of it and that they are nothing but losers someone picked up off the street to become cops. This is true because only a handful of New York City cops know what the hell they are on the force to do, and this is proven time and time again, whenever we hear of some hapless cop just shooting someone and saying that he saw the suspect draw a gun that was never there to begin with.

It turns out that the subway searches, just over three months old, have not revealed anything, not a dime bag or even a pen knife. Meanwhile, kids are getting shot in Brooklyn over basketballs and such and the guns continue to flow right on up I-95, the main thoroughfare for weapons imported from the dirty South, and over the George Washington bridge, and as far a i know, nobody has been that concerned with those things. Another thing that makes the subway searches a complete waste of time is the fact that the local government and the cops have been extremely half-assed about them, as I have said before. Funny, if I gave a half-assed performance on the job, I'd get fired (that is, if I worked in a normal place, which I don't, for better or for worse). I did a half-assed job in school for a while there, and I got the shit kicked out of me by my parents and teachers. Why is a half-assed response to terrorism of all things in any way acceptable? If the fuckers in Government are going to make stupid rules and say they are for the common good, then the rules should apply to everyone, everywhere, all the time, and due action should be taken ALL the time. Not just when law enforcement feels like doing their job.

In my opinion, the City better get its shit together before they go argue against the Constitution. But what do you guys think? Will there be a judgement against the Constitutional right of every American to privacy? Or will suspicion rule the day?

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/01/nyregion/01search.html