TSA Testing Houston for Expanded Police Searches

In the last couple of weeks a major new initiative for Homeland Security and the TSA.   Where they ran “Counter-Terror” programs which involved local law enforcement with TSA where they rode undercover and later ran dragnets to process people systematically to be stopped and searched.

In total, they used 81 uniformed police and additional support called this program “BusSafe” and it has immediately started up a firestorm of criticism. From lawyers and local citizens, all it has seemed to do is expand police state surveillance on people, where when people went through the busses there were arrests for prostitution, drugs, warrants and moving violations.   Yes, the police actually arrested people for not paying their moving violations tickets for when they were driving…. but not at that moment, the people they arrested were using public transportation much later.

 
It seems like the next phase in TSA/Homeland security sponsored programs are to visit citizens wherever they are.  Here the police did warrantless searches of people in a dragnet fashion. It is illegal under the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution to do exactly this, yet the police are pretending that their actions were done “by random searches” online… in person they say they never did any bag searches at all and are quick to tread over their admissions in own websites and press references.
Even though this program has elicited fast criticism and a law suit from a local lawyer, this program is supposed to continue and in as little of a matter of weeks the authorities say they are going to do this again.

Even against the Constitution, METRO Police Chief Victor Rodriguez says that his officers “does have the right to search your bag and may tell his officers to do it.”
Local Lawyer Mark Bennett has said that, “inviting the TSA to expand its authority would make no one safer but would instead inevitably limit freedom.”

America is no longer America if freedom to travel, even if only in ones own city, is predicated on a science fiction like security matrix where in order to ride the bus, walk the street or pretty much exist, a citizen must pass his daily ID check, bag check and dignity at the door.

Sorry this is not the stuff of America. This type of draconian police state must be opposed.  (Peacefully of course!)

-Peace, Love & Apple Pie!