PAUL SZOLDRA
Business Insider
August 7, 2013
The next time you have to take off your shoes and get searched by an
employee of the Transportation Security Administration, it may not be at
the airport.
Ron Nixon reports in The New York Times on the expansion of TSA’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response squads,
or VIPR, which are leaving the airports behind to perform security
checks at train stations, subway stops, and other transportation-related
hubs.
Created in the wake of the 2004 Madrid train bombing, VIPR teams — comprised
of explosives experts, behavioral detection officers, and canine
handlers — work with local law enforcement to move through crowds and
randomly stop passengers and ask questions.
Perhaps more surprising is their reach into places you wouldn’t
really expect: Rodeos, music festivals, and sporting events. Their
expansion has civil liberties groups pushing back on what they
call warrantless searches with no probable cause.
Full article here
