Random searches on the T not their bag

Kicky Jen Stewart ponders how to have some fun with the searches. She recalls when her bag was searched during the Democratic convention and the Black Uniform pulled out the bra she'd just bought:

... You should've seen the look on the face of the guard who put his hand into THAT bag. Bwahahahahahahaha. *snort* Maybe I'll just carry a bag full of bras and feminine hygiene around! My own form of protest. Heh. ...

Third Decade: Here we go with this shit again:

... I don't know which joker in your pack of state officials convinced you that these searches won't add any more time to commutes, but based on personal experience, they're already slow and will become even slower. ... I suspect that this is just political bullying just before the election. Kerry Healey's campaign sucks and her opponents' supporters are mass-transit lovin' T riders. Romney probably figures this is a simple way to show that he and his party are tough on crime and terrorism and that Kerry Healey is the natural successor to carrying the torch. ...

On Pelican in Her Piety, Jason looks at existing case law and explains why the new search policy may not survive a court challenge. He adds:

... I especially find a focus on this irritating given the absolutely shoddy service on the MBTA. If you are asking people to give up their privacy there has to be some sense of competence on the part of the state and a feeling of trust. You don't get that with this and you won't get it with the MBTA. ...

Aaron Margolis on Hub Politics has no problem with random searches (although he'd prefer some profiling) but doesn't believe for a second they won't cause train delays:

... Oh, but how nice of them to say they will hold the trains so passengers being searched won't miss their rides.

Isn't that nice? How about holding the trains for the 20-30 commuters waiting for their CharlieTickets to print out because there are only 2 or 3 machines to support hundreds of commuters? Perhaps they should search passengers while they stand in the CharlieTicket line and kill two birds with one stone. ...

Bruce on mAss Backward says that without profiling, the policy is just a waste of money and resources; he describes a scenario in which terrorists intent on blowing up a subway could easily avoid a search (hint: it invovles two people).

Jenn Martinelli sees yet another slide on the slope toward the end of our freedoms:

... Does everyone not understand that people who are willing to blow themselves up aren't threatened by the idea of being caught by someone when their bag is searched? ...

Gary McGath agrees:

... This is not a way to protect us from terrorism. It's a way to get people used to a permanent state of "war," with concomitant loss of privacy and freedom. Romney was quoted as saying: "We are fighting a war against people that have as their objective mass murder and mayhem." The present "war" will never end, as long as politicans find it convenient as a way to grab more power.

The Transport Avenger doesn't have any problems with random searches (unless they get repetitive), but wonders what, exactly, will constitute "probable cause" for a search:

A kid with blue hair?

A person of a certain ethnicity?

Or do you actually have to be doing something illegal?