SAFE-T COALITION
National Lawyers
Guild, ACLU of Massachusetts,
American Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee,
American Friends
Service Committee, MAS Freedom Foundation
PRESS RELEASE
Contact:
Urszula Masny-Latos, Director
D. Michael Coy
National Lawyers Guild, Mass. Chapter
MBTA Education Project
Coordinator
617-227-7335
617-821-1201
________________________________________________________________________
COALITION CHALLENGES MBTA SEARCH POLICY
Educational Campaign warns public
about threats to basic rights
Boston, October 24, 2006 ÑBeginning
on Wednesday, October 25, 2006, volunteers from Safe-T Coalition will be
distributing informational flyers and buttons to commuters at selected MBTA
stations.
MBTA has enacted a search policy under
which MBTA police, using police dogs, electronic scanners, and physical
inspection, can search any passenger on the public transit system without cause
for Òany kind of device or substance that could be used as a weapon... .Ó
ÒThe MBTA bad search policy is ineffective
and an infringement on rights in a free society,Ó says Nancy Murray from
American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. ÒWe can have effective security without sacrificing
our basic rights.Ó
Caline Jarudi from American Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee-MA (ADC) states that her organization is
Òconcerned with the disproportionate number of innocent Arab and Muslim
Americans that have been targets of similar, highly ineffectual, policies in
the past that only serve to increase fear and hatred.Ó
ÒThis policy proves that the current
government has no respect for basic rights to privacy,Ó adds Jeff Feuer from
the National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter. ÒLike spying on our e-mail, eavesdropping on our
telephone calls, and checking on our library books, the MBTA policy makes us
subject to another arbitrary intrusion by the government into our daily
lives. We can just wonder what
will be next.Ó
The SAFE-T Coalition is gathering
information about how, when, and where searches are being conducted.