Matt,
My BIGGEST complaint with the so called "Random searches" on the subway is that they won't really work the way they have said they will do them

I object to having to go through BS for what is really (forgetting technical term this AM - excuse me) (edit: "Visual Deterrence") a SHOW of security, which does deter a less determined criminal, but that's not what we are dealing with.

We SHOULD use profiling - start with ALL known factors, hand them to a statistian, and have them work out the models, a good one will find factors you'd never guess at, and will end up discounting ones you think are obvious! If they turn out to be race/religion, so be it

Again, my complaint is when we lose rights for INEFFECTIVE measures. Heck, we can't even keep the homeless out of the subway with their big carts (court rulings) - what's to prevent someone from putting a bomb there? With the way it is right now, all they would have to do is have a guy with NO backpack case the station to see if they are doing stops, and if they are, they go down 7 blocks to the next station, and walk in.

AKA my complaint isn't with the searches so much, as in the fact that they are really useless searches. If I can figure out ways around them with the little bit of thought that I've given the problem, imagine the ways around the problem someone who is dedicating their life (literally) to the problem