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Subway searches: your baggage, please.


MOST PEOPLE ARE resigned to being searched every time they enter an airport. Now baggage searches are spreading to light rail, subways, and buses. Just before the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, the Massachusetts Bay Massachusetts Bay, inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. The bay, with its arms (Boston, Cape Cod, and Plymouth bays), extends 65 mi (105 km) from Cape Ann on the north to Cape Cod on the south.  Transit Authority (MBTA MBTA Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
MBTA Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918
MBTA Model-Based Tracking Algorithm
) introduced a new security policy: All carry-on bags are now subject to search. The policy remained in place even after the convention was over.

The bags of randomly chosen passengers entering a station are swabbed with a chemical-sensing cloth, which is inserted into a machine. If the machine reports a positive result, in come the bomb-sniffing dogs.

The National Lawyers Guild and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is an Arab-American civil rights organization. ADC headquarters are located in Washington, DC. ADC is part of the Arab, Muslim and Sikh Advisory Council, created after the 9/11 attacks in conjunction with the FBI.  have sued to stop the new policy. Lawyers Guild President Michael Avery argues that the searches are too intrusive, especially given that the policy was not prompted by any specific threat. "Law enforcement has only the vaguest, most general, speculative information" he says. "And I just don't think that kind of information is enough to compromise the privacy and freedom of everyday life."

Other cities are watching the case closely. "Virtually every other transit system in America has contacted us for information" about the new policy, according to according to
prep.
1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.

2. In keeping with: according to instructions.

3.
 MBTA Deputy Police Chief Tom McCarthy Tom McCarthy can refer to any of the following people
  • Tom McCarthy (ice hockey) was an ice hockey player for the Quebec Bulldogs and Hamilton Tigers in the National Hockey League
  • Tom McCarthy (b.
. On the other hand, none of the three major transit systems near the site of the Republican National Convention in New York--MTA, New Jersey Transib and Amtrak--searched carry-on bags as part of their heightened security measures Noun 1. security measures - measures taken as a precaution against theft or espionage or sabotage etc.; "military security has been stepped up since the recent uprising"
security
.
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Article Details
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Title Annotation:Citings
Author:Metchis, Hanah
Publication:Reason
Article Type:Brief Article
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Nov 1, 2004
Words:237
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