The commuter train that I take to work will begin having person and bag searches starting this Friday. I understand that normally if I don’t want to be subjected to a search then I can simply say no and walk away. This puts a crimp on my getting to work, but I guess I can deal.
However, this morning on the train they came on the intercom and said “Starting Friday, while in transit you may be subject to random inspections.” If this is true then there would be no practical way for me to opt out of a search since we’re already moving. It would almost be as if they decided to let us on a plane and then search us.
So what are my rights in such a situation? If I say no can they remove me from the train even though I might have no way of getting either home or work? Can they force me to submit to a search? Will they simply arrest me and then search me?
I understand that most people, well everyone I’ve talked to already, has said “What’s the big deal? Don’t you want to be safe?” They don’t seem to care that their rights might be violated and that’s a lot more important to me.
Sounds like a clear fourth amendment violation if you have no option to get off of the train. You can ask them, “Am I under arrest?”, depends on how badly you want to fight it. You could be the guy that gets a ruling on this sort of stuff.
The National Lawyers Guild might be able to at least advise you on this; members volunteer a lot of their time at demonstrations and protests to make sure participants’ civil rights aren’t violated. At the very least they might be able to tell you what to say and/or do to stop an unwanted search, if you’re not feeling up to the task of actively taking on the corporate heads that decided to pull this stunt.
Whatever steps you take, I wish you the best of luck and I fully support your right to legalistically tell the Metro cops to go chase themselves.
Subway searches at station entrances have been upheld as permissible. However, random searches of passenger luggage on Greyhound while in transit were held to violate the fourth amendment in Bond v. United States.
I am not your lawyer; this is not intended nor should it be deemed to create an attorney-client relationship. This is not legal advice but rather just anonymous chat.
Ugh, this is the problem with people today. They gladly accept their personal liberties being trampled upon in exchange for a false sense of security. And the worst part is they think you are the strange one, or the one that has something to hide. :smack: