These are the words of police commissioner Ray Kelly, arguing for the necessity of bag searches on the New York City subway, a practice, that, by the end of the weekend will be extended to most major transit systems in the region, although no plan has been proffered to address securing the largest bus fleet in the world — not an inconsiderable gap, considering that the combined ridership of the systems in question approaches 10 million daily.
The decision to execute on the searching plan, which came two hours after a failed second attack in London (and just before a far more deadly effort in Egypt), was “over a year and a half in the making”. It’s interesting to see the decision framed in such terms, considering that just two weeks ago, we were presented with the far more distressing news that $600 million allocated to the MTA had gone nearly unspent (aside from the proverbial consultants). It seems implausible that the money that lingered unspent while the MTA went its merry way, consumed by the usual retinue of graft and accusations of corruption inhibiting any clear planning while somewhere in a corner there was lengthy and introspective process about this new strategy.
It’s not that I believe the police are executing some master plan to restrict freedom. It looks mostly like more bumbling and irrational fear. Lacking the usual dynamics of control and machismo that are the hallmark of big city policing and faced with a supposed enemy of more cunning and ability than our protectors, they respond as one would expect: by more bullying of the innocent and mostly harmless.
The failure of this attitude was evidenced in nearly simultaneous tragedy of the Metropolitan Police in London gunning down what appears to be a hapless innocent who was only trying to run and catch a train. It had all the hallmarks of bluster and force, with no insight, an unfortunate recipe that is present in most unnecessary deadly force incidents: a man inadvertently throws football on a cruiser and ends up dead; a man reaches for his wallet and his shot 41 times; another is angry after being accosted by an undercover officer who is trying to elicit a drug deal and is shot. Each case shows a striking degree of indelicacy and lack of forethought on the part of the police. The London case is especially poignant and telling, as it comes amidst an argument about arming officers. The willingness to use deadly force on ‘suspected bombers’ was shown to be exceptionally broad: the man shot (five times, mostly in head, while he was prone) had none of the characteristics of the previous attacks. He was wearing a winter coat. If wearing unseasonable clothing makes for an itchy trigger finger in London, I fear for the inevitable tragedies arising from confrontations here.
And if you do not believe that the police are unable to accurately assess risk, note that of the over 1,000 arrests made at the RNC, an event that was purportedly filled with potential leftwing terrorists, almost all the cases have been dismissed without trial, there is more than a little evidence of perjury on the on part of the police, possible collusion with the district attorney’s office, and the wrongful arrest civil suits are seeking nearly a billion dollars in combined damages.
How to oppose this wrongheaded policy? Well, you can walk in the sweltering heat. I wouldn’t recommend challenging the legality of the order, since we have seen that it takes only one day for a tragic overreaction to occur. So I am recommending that most tiresome of civil action: tee shirts. Messing with a number ideas, I settled on one, which I think carries the appropriate amount of challenge with both rather wry and bleak humor, along with a more metaphoric message, which unfortunately is already outdated. The inevitability of both real attacks and mistaken identity have occurred, and I hope we are not counting down against another, but with ten million harried and hurried commuters standing in sweltering lines every day, I don’t see how it can be avoided. Some may argue that a slight imposition — or even the extreme tragedy of this past week — is a valid trade-off, but such a calculus is precisely what the attacks in London are intended to induce, and anyone who thinks they can speak with bluster and pragmatism about such a trade would likely cower were they asked to trade their father, brother, or son in such a senseless way.
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“The issue is what the public will accept.”
These are the words of police commissioner Ray Kelly, arguing for the necessity of bag searches on the New York City subway, a practice, that, by the end of the weekend will be extended to most major transit systems in the region, although no plan has been proffered to address securing the largest bus fleet in the world — not an inconsiderable gap, considering that the combined ridership of the systems in question approaches 10 million daily.
The decision to execute on the searching plan, which came two hours after a failed second attack in London (and just before a far more deadly effort in Egypt), was “over a year and a half in the making”. It’s interesting to see the decision framed in such terms, considering that just two weeks ago, we were presented with the far more distressing news that $600 million allocated to the MTA had gone nearly unspent (aside from the proverbial consultants). It seems implausible that the money that lingered unspent while the MTA went its merry way, consumed by the usual retinue of graft and accusations of corruption inhibiting any clear planning while somewhere in a corner there was lengthy and introspective process about this new strategy. It’s not that I believe the police are executing some master plan to restrict freedom. It looks mostly like more bumbling and irrational fear. Lacking the usual dynamics of control and machismo that are the hallmark of big city policing and faced with a supposed enemy of more cunning and ability than our protectors, they respond as one would expect: by more bullying of the innocent and mostly harmless. The failure of this attitude was evidenced in nearly simultaneous tragedy of the Metropolitan Police in London gunning down what appears to be a hapless innocent who was only trying to run and catch a train. It had all the hallmarks of bluster and force, with no insight, an unfortunate recipe that is present in most unnecessary deadly force incidents: a man inadvertently throws football on a cruiser and ends up dead; a man reaches for his wallet and his shot 41 times; another is angry after being accosted by an undercover officer who is trying to elicit a drug deal and is shot. Each case shows a striking degree of indelicacy and lack of forethought on the part of the police. The London case is especially poignant and telling, as it comes amidst an argument about arming officers. The willingness to use deadly force on ‘suspected bombers’ was shown to be exceptionally broad: the man shot (five times, mostly in head, while he was prone) had none of the characteristics of the previous attacks. He was wearing a winter coat. If wearing unseasonable clothing makes for an itchy trigger finger in London, I fear for the inevitable tragedies arising from confrontations here. And if you do not believe that the police are unable to accurately assess risk, note that of the over 1,000 arrests made at the RNC, an event that was purportedly filled with potential leftwing terrorists, almost all the cases have been dismissed without trial, there is more than a little evidence of perjury on the on part of the police, possible collusion with the district attorney’s office, and the wrongful arrest civil suits are seeking nearly a billion dollars in combined damages. How to oppose this wrongheaded policy? Well, you can walk in the sweltering heat. I wouldn’t recommend challenging the legality of the order, since we have seen that it takes only one day for a tragic overreaction to occur. So I am recommending that most tiresome of civil action: tee shirts. Messing with a number ideas, I settled on one, which I think carries the appropriate amount of challenge with both rather wry and bleak humor, along with a more metaphoric message, which unfortunately is already outdated. The inevitability of both real attacks and mistaken identity have occurred, and I hope we are not counting down against another, but with ten million harried and hurried commuters standing in sweltering lines every day, I don’t see how it can be avoided. Some may argue that a slight imposition — or even the extreme tragedy of this past week — is a valid trade-off, but such a calculus is precisely what the attacks in London are intended to induce, and anyone who thinks they can speak with bluster and pragmatism about such a trade would likely cower were they asked to trade their father, brother, or son in such a senseless way.