Police to Check Arriving Trains During Republican Convention

[newyawker99]

New York City police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs will board trains during the Republican National Convention and search the cars as they approach Pennsylvania Station, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said yesterday.

The announcement comes as the police and the Secret Service continue discussions as to how to secure Penn Station, the busiest commuter rail station in the country, when the the convention is held at Madison Square Garden from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2. The station serves about 600,000 passengers on a regular workday.


Mr. Kelly has said the city would remain "open for business" during the convention, including the train station and "all major thoroughfares." Yesterday, Mr. Kelly said police officers and dogs would board New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road trains at undisclosed stations outside New York City and reiterated that Penn Station would remain open.

"We're going to make certain there is absolutely no disruption of the train," Mr. Kelly said. He said there would not be "one standard approach" to the searches, but that they would be conducted while the trains are moving.. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Tom Kelly, said similar sweeps had been conducted during periods of heightened alert status since Sept. 11 and that they created minimal delays.

Likewise, a spokesman for the Long Island Rail Road Commuters' Council, Gerard Bringmann, said the police presence would be welcome and that the presence of the officers and dogs would be better than closing Penn Station.

MORE:......

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/nyregion/29convention.html?ex=1083902400&en=6e046b2d75b39d8d&ei=5053&partner=NYTHEADLINES_POL

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[leftynyc]

2. All that would do is piss off millions

(and I do mean millions) of NYers who have to go thru Penn to get to work. And if it was found out to be done by "leftists", how exactly would this help?

3. not only that but if there was a real threat

it might get missed because of the police being tied up with the nuisance.

[benburch]

4. You have a point there.

But how do we keep Americans from being treated as criminals and terrorists on a routine basis by the police in the service of this fascist government?

That's my problem with this whole thing.

5. How do we keep Americans

from being treated as criminals and terrorists?

I'm afraid I don't have an answer for that one.

Hopefully the judicial process will begin to work.

[benburch]

6. Not if

George gets to name any more Supreme Court justices. :(

I think we need to explore our options. Passively gumming up the system for one thing. Actively protesting for another.

[tom_paine]

7. Dude, that's horrible. Please shut up.

Things have not gotten so bad that something like this should be approved of.

Plus, prank-fucking with security at either convention is the surest way to get a one-way ticket to the Stripey Hole.

PLUS all the innocent commuters (most of them Dems) who would be screwed by this.

Finally, you mentioned this act on a public forum. If it happens like that, you will be the FIRST one to get a visit frfom the SS so you'd better have witnesses of where you were on the days in question.

This is a dumb idea. Bad. Wrong. "I give it two thumbs down, Gene."

:thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

[benburch]

8. I have asked the moderators

to delete that posting. You are right. We are not there yet. But we are perilously close to being there.