NEW YORK CITIZENS SUPPORT RANDOM SUBWAY BAG INSPECTION

Sep 1, 2005 12:00 PM

A large majority of New York City's registered voters support random bag searches of bus and subway passengers, a poll says.

In a Quinnipiac University survey of 1,601 voters, 72 percent favored the searches while 25 percent opposed them. Support was solid among blacks, whites and Hispanics.

Random searches of packages and backpacks carried by people entering New York City subways began last month after the bomb attacks against London's transit system.

The searches have raised some questions about civil liberties, however, and 55 percent of those polled said government security measures should not violate basic civil liberties.

The 255 voters who considered themselves Republicans were an exception, with 60 percent of them agreeing that the government should take “all steps necessary to prevent additional acts of terrorism in the United States even if it means your basic civil liberties would be violated.”

Among the 854 Democrats polled, only 32 percent agreed with that proposition. Sixty-two percent said no steps should be taken that violate civil liberties. Among independents, 54 percent said there should be no such violations.

“Even in a city touchy about civil rights, New Yorkers pick a bag search over the threat of being blown up,” Quinnipiac polling director Maurice Carroll tells The Associated Press. “But most voters don't want to give government too much power.”

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue