Had my first experience with the bag searchers yesterday - I had to go from our main company "campus" (66th and Broadway) down to Times Square
Get to the top of the steps for the sourth bound 66th st stop, and you can see the sign at the bottom of the steps - "Bag Searches"

Go downstairs with my Becker Patrol pack - aka fairly good sized military style bag, loaded with about 40 lbs of gear EXPECTING to be stopped (in fact wanting to, so I could tell you guys what exactly they did), when I was waved through - guess I wasn't one of the random lucky ones, but the old lady who came down 30 seconds later with a smallish purse got stopped

The BIGGEST joke in all this? If you went to the northbound side, and came in there was no search, and you can take the cross over tunnel - also there was no search at the entrance on the south bound side - aka 3 ways to get in that station, ONE was being searched

As a high ranking Federal Officer I was talking to this AM said to me "It's a feel good security measure to make the public feel that the MTA is doing something. It will end when the ACLU files their suit today or Tommorow. It wasn't really meant to catch anyone"