Amtrak train-station spokeswoman: “We do have random baggage checks and we do have, at some of the larger stations, we have canine units and we do random sweeps of stations, tracks, infrastructure.”
On Thursday, TSA “VIPR” (Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response) units descended on California’s Bay Area to “look for signs of trouble in a place that can be difficult to police because of its wide open environment.”
According to a local ABC station “the Transportation Safety Administration put about a dozen agents at the (Amtrak) station to see and be seen, although some of the inspectors also work undercover.” The reporter also said that these “Viper” teams “aren’t just used to patrol transportation sites like train stations. They also have been used and will be used at high-profile events in the Bay Area.”
Emeryville Amtrak train-station spokeswoman Vernae Graham explained that the sudden emergence of TSA personnel, including undercover-inspectors, is the result of a joined effort of Amtrak and the TSA. She also explained that the element of surprise gives both the TSA and Amtrak the advantage over “the bad guys”.
“We do have random baggage checks and we do have, at some of the larger stations, we have canine units and we do random sweeps of stations, tracks, infrastructure”, Graham stated.
TSA spokesman Nico Melendez described the presence of black-clad TSA inspectors as a “visible deterrent”, so the “bad guys” know they’re there:
“The visible deterrent is making a presence known at the station, getting on the train, talking to passengers, lettings the bad guys know that we’re here, and letting the passengers know that we’re here, and working with law enforcement to really tailor our Viper teams to their needs.”
As we have know for some time now, special units of the TSA are regularly popping up at rail stations across the United States, as well as music festivals. They “make their presence known” both as black-clad TSA thugs and undercover agents. As Paul Joseph Watson reported in April 2012, TSA undercover units were deployed on Houston city buses to “perform bag searches, watch for “suspicious activity” and interrogate passengers in order to ‘curb crime and terrorism’.”
The initiator of the distinctly unconstitutional action was Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who explained that TSA agents will “ride buses, perform random bag checks, and conduct K-9 sweeps, as well as place uniformed and plainclothes officers at Transit Centers and rail platforms to detect, prevent and address latent criminal activity or behavior.”
Latent criminal activity or behavior. At a train-station in Savannah in 2011, children were subjected to TSA-pat downs after they had exited the train.
TSA thugs are already well known for their extreme pat-downs of the elderly, the handicapped and children at airports. Now we see those same inspectors everywhere across the country, not only at train-stations but also at “high-profile events”, randomly searching bags and patting down people at pleasure.
In May of 2012 Steve Watson reported that TSA Viper units were spotted at Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival, making their “presence felt.” When asked what the TSA was doing patrolling a music festival, one of the inspectors explained:
“We’re within 50 miles of the border, and can patrol anywhere we want to. We can enforce both state and federal laws.”
Read original here: http://explosivereports.com/2013/01/18/undercover-tsa-vipr-units-roam-bay-area-rail-station/
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