Another Creeping Slide Towards Big Brother - Where exactly did this authority come from?

[kpete]

Federal Agents Searching People at Indianapolis Bus Stops: Air Marshals Patting Civilians Down

Welcome to another creeping slide towards the big brother state. On August 2, 2007 over two dozen agents of the TSA setup two checkpoints at bus stops in Indianapolis Indiana and searched passengers who wanted to ride on city buses. Federal agents, including Air Marshals were present and patted people down, looked in bags, and performed "behavior" tests for the stated purpose of finding weapons and people who were a threat to public safety.

Anybody know what's going on? There are TSA stations with about 20 agents each set up in at least two spots in downtown Indy, 1 is near Capitol and Market, the other is near the federal building. They're stopping and searching people getting on and off city busses and travelling on the street. This is going a little too far. Where exactly did this authority come from?

more at:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/8/3/03736/76330

.................

TSA checks IndyGo bus passengers


Screeners from the Transportation Security Administration checked passengers at two Downtown city bus stops this morning, looking for weapons and suspicious behavior.

......................

"It's called Visual Intermodal Prevention Response. We have plainclothes inspectors, blue-gloved uniformed security officers who are checking baggage, the behavior detection officers, and federal air marshals, which are the law enforcement arm of TSA."

Security stations were set up at bus stops at Capitol Avenue and Market Street, and Ohio and Meridian streets.

Some passengers were patted down or submitted to having bags checked.

more at:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070802/LOCAL/70802006

[Zensea]

1. Sounds not far from NYC subway common practice

The patting people down bit however is definitely crossing some line I would think.

[lynnertic]

2. Patriot Act

There was a lawsuit in Denver before 2004 I think, where a woman sued because she was detained for not showing papers on demand to a Federal marshal.

The bus route went through a federal facility. I think the resolution to that case was 1)yes the marshalls can ask for papers under the Patriot Act 2) the lady did have to show them to stay on the bus but

3) since it was such a problem the bus stopped going through the federal facility and the marshals stopped asking people for papers.

Thanks for the heads-up. I ride public transit and I normally don't think about what I carry in my bag.

:patriot:

[bryant69]

3. Perhaps they had credible evidence that someone was planning on hitting that bus line?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Richard Steele]

6. And perhaps monkeys will fly out of my ass.

Perhaps.

[bryant69]

8. So your theory is they just woke up one day and decided to harrass a bus line? n/t

[Richard Steele]

11. Since they admit these "security measures" are VOLUNTARY, then, yes. That's exactly right.

Just more "Potemkin Protection" which provides no actual security.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. Authority doesn't have to "come from" anywhere...

It is assumed and if no one stops it, it grows.

Stopping it could be as simple as asking "Who the fuck are you?" But, EVERYONE has to ask.

[Subdivisions]

5. Visual Intermodal Prevention Response...

VIPR

Nice.

[bonito]

7. VIPR info link

http://www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/vipr_cities.shtm

[suffragette]

9. And it looks like its been creeping up for awhile

From 2005, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/13/AR2005121301709.html

Marshals To Patrol Land, Sea Transport
TSA Test Includes Surveillance Teams On Metro System


Federal officials said there is no new intelligence indicating that terrorists are interested in targeting transportation modes. Rather, the Transportation Security Administration is trying to expand the role of air marshals, who have been eager to conduct surveillance activities beyond the aircraft, and provide a beefed-up law enforcement presence at bus, train and public transit stations over the busy holiday period.

Air marshals "are trained to covertly detect potential criminal terrorist pre-attack surveillance and other suspicious activity," states a TSA memo written by Patrick F. Sullivan, deputy assistant director of TSA's Federal Air Marshal Service flight operations office. Air marshals "assigned to support the VIPR team will also be looking for individuals attempting to avoid or depart areas upon visual observation of the VIPR teams."

The concept of employing more surveillance techniques to identify unusual behavior -- typically, signs of nervousness, such as sweating and avoiding eye contact -- has been around for some time. In London, police used the tactic after the terrorist bombings on the Underground to track and then shoot a young man wearing a backpack who was running from police. The man was later determined to be unconnected to the suspected bombers.


Hmm - VIPR, so I imagine they pronounce their own acronym as viper. I didn't see Indianapolis mentioned in the article, so this must mean the program is expanding.

[ThomWV]

10. "behavior detection officers, and federal air marshals, which are the law enforcement arm of TSA"

Be afraid, be very afraid. When behavior detection officers constitute law enforcement we are in very deep trouble.

[tom_paine]

13. Exactly, Thom. No question about it, we are now in middle-phase transition

into Totalitarian Tyranny. I have watched with horror in the last six years, as what I have called Early-Phase (12/12/2000 to Iraq War) and Early-Middle Phase (3/27/2003 to Nov. 2006) and now Middle Phase has CLEARLY begun.

You realize this is all autodidactic terminology and so you'll have to find a sociologist to describe what I am saying in scientific and historical terms, but I believe Middle Phase can be accurately characterized as the moment when Nazi/Bushie tactics begin, ever so slightly, to encroach on people's personal lives.

This is but one of a handful of these kinds of incidents I have read about in the last 18 months, and I would guess there are many more that I don't know about because they were pepetrated on poor people without internet access to get their story to Kos or elsewhere.

With 2008 coming up, and the Bushies becoming (seemingly) more cornered and desperate every day, one wonders how long Middle PHase will last and what is coming next in Late Middle (or Early Endgame? I am making this up as I go, you see) Phase.

Finally, is LIHOP/MIHOP #2 :nuke: (God Forbid, but it is looking more possible all the time, judging from the Bushie chatter) the thing which will catalyze the jump?

"Behavior Detection Officers" are quite frightening, Orwellian, and Gestapo-like in form and function as well as NAME .

Better not be depressed over a recent breakup or job woes while travelling the bus or train lines. Once this becomes more ubiquitous, whether that takes months years or even decades, and when these uniformed Nazis are visible at 30% or more of every bus/train station (let alone part of the sation's "normal" security forces), then we will know for sure that Endgame Phase has begun.

[Mist]

12. And, as is so often the case, it falls on those of more modest means--they

take the brunt of these deranged ideas about "security." Who in the hell would think about damaging a public bus, and to what end?

[tom_paine]

15. This could simply be a cover for implementing the next phase of The Program

(i.e. The transitioning of America from the Old Republic and Freedom to the New Bush Totalitarianism)

Using legitimate national security fears allows them to insert this quietly.

I wonder how many times to how many communtiies this has already been done in that we don't know about.

[tnlurker]

14. This is the way it creeps in.

First they start at the airports checking everybody and everything...everybody is already used to that.
Then they start on the busses and trains...people will complain and bitch but they will get used to that also.
Then they will start randomly pulling over cars and stopping people walking down the street asking for your papers...and we will get used to that...then it will be too late to do anything about it.

[tom_paine]

16. Yep. This thing is creepy, when thinking about it in a detatched way

Watching it unfold, on a day by day basis, KNOWING what it is and predicting it's utcomes years in advance, talk about an unfolding nightmare.

Something bad is slouching towards America to be born. maybe many somethings. May God help us all.

[Hubert Flottz]

17. BUSHTAPO

Welcome to the fourth Reich...

America has been stampeded to the edge of the cliff.

[IDemo]

18. "Behavior Detection Officer"? What comes after that?

Office for the Presumption of Sinister Thinking?

Orwell would have wadded up a news story from today's headlines as too ridiculous for inclusion in 1984.

[progressoid]

19. "Blue Gloved"....well that makes it more acceptable I suppose.

[Summer93]

20. Kick and Recommend

[Hydra]

21. Apparently it's time for me step back and keep my mouth shut

Anybody who doesn't see the writing on the wall by now isn't going to get it until they end up in their own 4x4 cell, arrested on their way home from work under suspicion of subversion.

Time to go deep underground. :scared:

[fed-up]

22. more conditioning of the masses to be stopped & searched anytime/anywhere/for any reason- nt

[High Plains]

23. This could use a Fourth Amendment challenge.

Remember the Fourth Amendment?

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

I don't see anything in there about "except at bus stops."

[warren pease]

24. Now take your soma....

And always remain perky and upbeat even when waiting an hour for a bus that's supposed to show up at 10 minute intervals. Maybe engage a stranger in conversation about something innocuous, like the weather or sports. Since there's a good chance that the stranger will be a snitch, you want to leave the best possible, non-threatening impression. Be careful not to express impatience about the tardiness of the bus; that could be construed as a negative comment on our infrastructure, which is a particularly sore subject these days. So no toe-tapping or finger-drumming. Try to maintain a neutral expression, and smile when it's appropriate.

When those blue-gloved strangers stick their fingers into your purse or pockets, don't become annoyed because that's exactly the kind of reaction the behavior detection officers are trained to spot. Again, remain perky and upbeat and, above all, cooperative. The authorities don't like it when you become assertive; best to remain meek and compliant, even when they feel you up in the name of defending the homeland. Smile a lot.


So what's next, the two minutes hate? And speaking of Orwell, my favorite prescient quote is getting less futuristic by the day: "If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever."


wp


Edited subject line because SOMA is a district in SF and soma is a drug Huxley invented.

[warren pease]

25. k&r, along with a similar thread by babylonsister n/t