"After one day, Minneapolis airport halts random searches of vehicles"

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

After one day, airport halts random searches of vehicles
By Dan Wascoe Jr. 
The Minneapolis (MN) Star Tribune 


Responding to concerns about possible violations of civil liberties, police
at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Tuesday suspended their
day-old practice of randomly searching cars and trucks entering the airport.

The enhanced security was ordered by the federal Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) in response to the elevation of the national
terrorist-warning system from yellow to orange. Airport officials said a
modified version of the inspections could resume after they receive a
clarification of the TSA order.

Airport spokeswoman Amy von Walter said that airports around the country had
interpreted the inspection order in different ways. 

In Atlanta, Von Walter said, airport officials decided not to conduct any
searches of incoming vehicles, while in Dallas-Fort Worth, police were
stopping every incoming vehicle.

Heather Rosenker, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security
Administration headquarters in Washington, D.C., said every airport has
different procedures for responding to an elevated security threat level.

She said that if the Twin Cities airport stopped conducting random vehicle
searches at curbside, "it was obviously deemed not necessary from a security
threat perspective to continue those random searches."

Although she wouldn't discuss specifics, Rosenker said she could say with
confidence that "in some airports somewhere, there are random searches going
on."

In the Twin Cities, airport Police Chief Mark Rosenow said that during the
day and a half of inspections, no arrests were made and no suspicious
materials were found. Most motorists who were pulled over randomly were
delayed no more than four to five minutes, he said.

"The folks we've stopped have been cooperative, pleasant and understanding,"
he said.

Tim Anderson, the Metropolitan Airports Commission's deputy executive
director for operations, said the commission decided to halt the searches in
an effort to "balance the traveling public's need for security with an
individual's civil rights."

'Unconstitutional stop' 

But pulling cars over randomly and without specific suspicion is "the
classic example of an unconstitutional stop," said Hamline University Law
School Prof. Ed Butterfoss. 

Roadblocks erected to check for drunken drivers are considered
constitutional partly because they aren't made at the discretion of an
individual officer -- for instance, checks are made on every fifth car.

To search vehicles at the airport, officers should be required to find
individualized suspicion, such as a vehicle riding extra low or windows
being covered in a certain way, Butterfoss explained. 

"Beyond that they'd have to go to a scheme that would take away the
discretion of the officer," Butterfoss said. 

"I think it's the right decision," he said of suspending the searches.

Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union,
said Tuesday that although the searches had stopped, he was dismayed that
they had even taken place.

"I'm not quite sure how doing this is going to stop terrorism," he said.
"Someone intent on blowing themselves up isn't going to stop because an
officer tries to pull them over."

Revisions? 

Von Walter, the commission spokeswoman, said that the inspections might
resume under a revised method that establishes criteria for stopping
vehicles. 

Asked if that might include vehicles that appeared heavily loaded, she said,
"That seems to be the direction we're going." 

But she said discussions are continuing among MAC lawyers and security
officials.

Meanwhile, she said, police will increase their patrols on airport property
and will watch for suspicious people, vehicles and activities.

Before the TSA's most recent order, airport police were routinely inspecting
every vehicle entering the valet garage at the main Lindbergh terminal and
every vehicle entering the new parking ramp next to the Humphrey terminal.


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