TSA 'Viper' squads now violating your rights at train stations, bus depots and ferry landings

[✖Ice✖]

This is the sole Reason why i bought a Shot Gun..


Bound and determined to violate the Fourth amendment rights of as many Americans as possible and not satisfied with doing so merely at the nation's airports, now the Transportation Security Administration has taken to violating the rights of Americans in just about every travel venue in the country.

The L.A. Times reports that the TSA has developed and deployed more than two dozen so-called "Viper" (which stands for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) teams that so far have conducted more than 9,300 "unannounced checkpoints," as well as "other search operations," in the past year at a growing number of train stations, subways, ferry terminals and other mass transit locations.

"We are not the Airport Security Administration," boasted Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte, N.C. "We take that transportation part seriously."

If only the agency - and the government that created it - took the Constitution as seriously, traveling in the post-9/11 world would be a heck of a lot more enjoyable, not to mention far less hostile to individual liberties.

TSA officials have sold this as "surface transportation security," even though there is no evidence whatsoever these roving rights violation patrols have prevented a single crime or act of terrorism. Privacy advocates are rightly questioning the legality of the added patrols. They say the TSA is stretching the limits of the law over the government's right to search U.S. citizens without probable cause - especially since there is no evidence the hit-and-miss patrols do anything to prevent attacks.

"It's a great way to make the public think you are doing something," Fred H. Cate, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, who writes on privacy and security, told the Times. "It's a little like saying, that if we start throwing things up in the air, they may hit terrorists."

Yet, the Department of Homeland Security spent tens of millions on the program last year and wants millions more next fiscal year, at a time when the White House is set to ask for a trillion more dollars to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

With the added TSA presence, of course, come added indignities. At a North Carolina train station recently, 57-year-old lawyer Rick Vetter got nosed in the crotch by a Viper team canine supposedly trained to sniff out explosives chemicals, but who instead only smelled the scent of the lawyer's own dogs on his trousers.


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034512_TS...#ixzz1iFTq2X6U

[BDF]

I don't live in the US. But if I ever go there for whatever reason, and they try to grope my crotch, I'll happily spend a night in a cell knowing that I didn't take their shit, then get sent back.

Right now... with increasing news reports of US "security" (police, anti-terrorist forces, etc.) becoming ever more intrusive, violent etc... it's probably one of the last places I feel like going to visit right now. Although maybe it's not as bad as it seems. Very likely that news just over-inflates the issue. Frequently does.

[dr2005]

It does sound a bit excessive, but if you receive information like that mentioned in the original LA Times article (that plots were devised against other forms of transport such as trains), you're damned if you do and damned if you don't when bringing in something like this. Introduce search teams in this way and you get complaints about civil liberties; do nothing and if a train is blown up then the administration doesn't have a leg to stand on. My gut instinct is that this is bordering on paranoia (we actually had trains blown up here back in 2005, and other countries have had the same, but we've never done anything like this), but that it's a paranoia matched on all levels of the political system right now and that this is the real problem.

[Loving Linux Penguin]

The TSA tried to pull this crap months ago in an Amtrak station, checking passengers getting OFF of arriving trains. The end result was the chief of Amtrak Police being furious and demanding that they leave. Amtrak doesn't take kindly to "unannounced security screenings", and they know that. Plus, unless they're better at it in train stations than they are in airports, they'd better be ready to compensate passengers who miss their departures, because nobody is going to show up for their train, ferry, or subway ride an hour early on the off chance that a viper team might show up.

[Kitty.]

I know that they are trying to 'protect' Americans, but in my opinion, this is definitely far too invasive. How far is this going to go? Will there eventually be random searches before entering the grocery store or the mall? This is complete nonsense and we are quickly losing our freedom as Americans.

[Loving Linux Penguin]

^It could happen. In certain other countries, security screening is typical at sporting events, malls, and other large public spaces.

Honestly though, the type of screening used in airports is logically speaking less effective for rail travel (at least intercity systems like Amtrak). Why? Because it's not a single-entry system. If someone REALLY wants to cause damage, they don't have to BOTHER going through a security checkpoint in an Amtrak station where their stuff will be confiscated. All they have to do is position their bomb or other device on a piece of railroad infastructure, such as a bridge, and set it to go off when a train is scheduled to run across it. Much less headache. Think anyone would try to smuggle anything on a train? Likely not. They'd go for the infastructure. I mean...what are they gonna do, post TSA units on every bridge and tunnel? Good luck.

[Tyr.]

Originally Posted by ✖Truth✖

This is the sole Reason why i bought a Shot Gun..

This is the most concerning part of this thread.

What the hell are you getting at with this comment?

[✖Ice✖]

Originally Posted by Yogi

This is the most concerning part of this thread.

What the hell are you getting at with this comment?

Consitution is being pissed on by the Government concerning 3 amendments
1 2 and 4

[Tyr.]

Originally Posted by ✖Truth✖

Consitution is being pissed on by the Government concerning 3 amendments
1 2 and 4

Irregardless of the debate concerning those Amendments (And I disagree with you on that, for the record) that is no reason to "buy a shotgun".

Are you implying you plan on shooting law enforcement officials?

Or do you want to exclusively kill TSA agents, in return for them having to search you?

[Loving Linux Penguin]

^I think that these claims are often exaggerated.

Regarding the 1st amendment: yes, that is being pissed on to an extent. Most relevant example i can think of is SOPA, which threatens free speech.

2nd Amendment: Actually, the United States Supreme Court passed a ruling a year or two back saying that United States citizens have the constitutional right to bear arms, even though the United States no longer has a militia which requires soldiers to use their own weapons. This is LENIENT being that the wording of the constitution CLEARLY specifies that this right is for the sole purpose of maintaining a militia for the good of our country.

4th amendment: Okay, I agree. Security Screenings in particular are getting to the point where they are crossing the line. HOWEVER, the TSA is currently working on rolling out new software on their scanners so that the image of your body is replaced with the generic outline of a person. If there is no alarm, the system simply reads "OK". If there IS a problem, the system will show the generic outline with symbols to represent the location of suspicious objects. So that complaint is in the process of being nullified.

[Cosmo]

Thank God I don't live in America. The place is headed to hell. It's getting more and more like 1984.

Actually, having just played Mirrors Edge, it reminds me a lot of that except much nastier, uglier, crime-infested and unclean.