Training Exercise
Corridor were deployed to 150 train stations in 13 states and the District of Columbia to conduct security drills, familiarize themselves with the rail system and work as a team. Amtrak Police Chief John O’Connor called the initiative “the longest wall of security ever mobilized along the East Coast.” Twenty-one additional law enforcement agencies were expected to participate, but duty called elsewhere, and officers could not be spared.
As passenger Darnell Donahue stated to the press upon seeing the increased police presence, “It doesn’t necessarily make me feel any safer, but it doesn’t hinder my feeling one way or the other about taking the train.”
But when does this police presence and random bag checking become a hindrance? Barry Steinhardt Director of the American Civil Liberties Technology and Liberty Program said that asking for identification and performing bag checks “may be interfering with the right to travel, which is constitutionally protected… What do you do if someone refuses to present identification? Prevent them from getting on a train?”
Steinhardt also posed yet another question that has crossed the mind of anyone who has had to throw out every liquid in their carry on bags at the airport, “You have to ask yourself if this isn’t just security theater.”
Dr. Picore, CEO of Picore Worldwide stated, that this type of drill is critical and necessary in order to respond properly to a credible threat.
Gemma Beristain, COO Picore Worldwide