Boston to Begin Random Baggage Checks on Trains

BOSTON, June 8 -- The head of Boston's mass transit police said Tuesday that officers will begin random baggage checks in the first program of its kind instituted by a major American city to help guard against explosives being detonated in stations or on trains.

The checks, which will also use police dogs, are scheduled to begin just weeks before Boston holds the Democratic National Convention July 26-29 -- the first national political convention since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- and come in response to the train bombings that killed almost 200 people in Madrid in March.

"This is one important piece of a holistic approach to trying to prevent terrorists from striking here," said Joseph Carter, police chief of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). He said each of his force's 247 officers will be trained to conduct the searches.

Since the bombings in Spain, U.S. officials have focused on trains as possible terrorist targets. In May, the Department of Homeland Security directed local and national rail networks to beef up security.

Last month, the federal Transportation Security Administration tested new technologies for examining carry-on baggage by machine at the commuter rail and Amtrak station in New Carrollton, Md. The second phase of that program, aimed at cargo and checked baggage on long-distance Amtrak trains from Washington's Union Station, began Monday.

Boston's program will differ in that screening will be conducted not by machines, but by people and dogs trained to detect explosives.

Carter said the MBTA will begin a public relations campaign, including signs posted in stations and on trains and announcements over the public address system on subway platforms, to explain the initiative to the system's 1 million daily passengers.

But privacy rights advocates are concerned that the baggage checks will be discriminatory and ineffective.

"We endorse their commitment to safety, but we are very worried about a policy that would basically throw out the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure," said Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. "Too often these types of programs are a mask for ethnic and racial profiling. And if it is truly random, I don't see how that improves security."

Carter said steps will be taken to ease such concerns. "We want to strike a proper balance between preserving individual rights and our obligation to keep customers safe and secure. There will be guidelines to ensure people are not stopped selectively or discriminatorily."

The city has also begun replacing ordinary trash cans in stations with bomb-resistant barrels, and has offered training in the identification of explosive devices to its 5,000 employees.

Carter said the random checks will begin in early July to give authorities time to "work out any kinks," before the Democrats gather in Boston later that month.

During the convention week -- designated by the federal government as a National Special Security Event -- passengers will be asked not to bring baggage into Boston's subway, known as the T.

North Station, one of the city's two main rail hubs, will be closed for the week, because it is adjacent to the Fleet Center, where the convention will be held. A section of a major interstate highway running past the center will also be closed.