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There are signs posted on both the St. George Ferry Terminal in Staten Island and the Whitehall Terminal in Manhattan reading, “All passengers are subject to screening.” While some have ridden the ferry daily for years and never been stopped, there is a group who, by rule, have their bag checked by bomb-sniffing guard dogs every time they board, on both sides of the water, many twice a day.
I am writing of the bicyclists.
Over 65,000 people ride the ferry to and from Staten Island daily on a total of 110 trips. During rush hours, there are anywhere from 3,000 to 6,000 passengers that board. At least two or three, and sometimes as many as ten or fifteen, are bicyclists. Every morning, before we and our bicycles are allowed to board the ferry, my peers and I must consent to the dog sniffing our bags, lest we're not permitted on. Every afternoon when coming home, I must again let the dog sniff my bag. They have never found anything; and, as I do not know how to construct explosives nor do I desire to learn, they never will.
It is not with the guards that I am angry. Except for one or two that seem hell-bent on giving me a hard time, they are just following orders. It is the rule with which I find fault.
I've had my bag sniffed; I've had my bicycle sniffed. I've been yelled at to place my bag on the ground, open it, and step away; I've been told courteously that I don't need to take it off, but rather just squat down and let the dog smell it. The same guard sees me every afternoon and has for a month, yet he will not allow me to enter the bike shelter until the guard and the dog come over. Other times I've walked straight into the bike shelter and waited for the guard to come around and check everyone at once right before everyone boards.
I've seen the dog allowed off its leash inside the ferry terminal, in full view of every passenger that it is supposed to be there to protect, as the guard tossed a tennis ball back and forth and cooed at the animal. I love dogs too, but not seeing my taxes wasted while my civil rights are stripped away twice a day.
I grew up under a Constitution where Americans are subject to search only when there is reasonable suspicion, where its citizens are innocent until proven guilty. Yet under this ludicrous rule, every bicyclist that boards is automatically guilty, as they are searched for a reason to suspect them of wrongdoing. There is no precedent; no inciting incident. As a matter of fact, there has never, ever been a bicycle-related attack or threat on any Staten Island Ferry in its proud century-long history.
Not only is the manner of the search consistently inconsistent, but so is the motivation for the rule. Is it because the bikes are added cargo? Fine, have the dogs sniff the bikes, not the bag. Is it the bag? I (and others I have spoken to) have walked upstairs sans bike but carrying the exact same bag worn while cycling, and the guards don't bat an eye. I have seen passengers upstairs carrying all manner of shopping bags, duffel bags, backpacks, messenger bags, strollers, large boxes, and small suitcases, and rarely have I seen a guard check them.
As a matter of fact, I have personally observed the influx of passengers into the terminal one hour (on St. Patrick's Day, no less), and counted two, of the potential thousands on that boat that boarded upstairs, whose bags were flagged by the guards. One was a suitcase large enough to fit a person inside; the other was a large metal box on a dolly. But don't worry, New Yorkers, 100% of the three bikers that afternoon were thoroughly checked. They were yesterday, too, and the day before.
Bikers are a small minority in comparison to the rest of the passengers, but their rights and privacy are just as important. I did nothing to deserve being treated like a criminal every day, and the same goes for the other cyclists that ride the boat with me. I've seen senior citizens and children alike have their bags checked. I am not implying that every cyclist is above the law and would never pack an explosive on the ferry; I am stating that screening ought to be based on reasonable suspicion, and reasonable suspicion is not the middle-aged man in the day-glo jacket or the girl on a pink bike with a white basket who ride the ferry every day and consistently don't provide any trouble. Nor ought it automatically mean everyone who brings two wheels aboard.
On March 12, 2009, the U.S. Coast Guard even downgraded security from Level 2, which has been in place since 9/11, to Level 1, indicating “lessened vulnerability.” Officials attribute new fencing and employee ID cards to the new classification. The terminals are actually considered safer, yet every cyclists' possessions continue to be screened every day, every trip—and I doubt that these disproportionate bag checks are why passengers “always feel safe.”
If ferry security is going to search randomly, based upon certain guidelines, that is fine. However, they need to apply the searches equally. Search everyone with a bag above a certain size. But they don't, because I'm sure officials suspect that if they start to search everyone with a bag they can't fit in “x” box (similar to airport checkpoints screening carry-on size), people will get bottlenecked, start to miss ferries due to security lag, and raise hell because their rights are being violated. It is far easier to marginalize a small group and scan them daily in order to reach their search quota to keep their government funding.
Imagine if you had to stop and allow a police dog to examine your bags before boarding the subway, or the bus, or crossing a bridge. Every day. Please join me in writing to Janette Sadik-Khan, Department of Transportation Commissioner, on behalf of every bicyclist who is forced to submit to a mandatory screening every time they board the Staten Island Ferry. She is a fellow cyclist and has done great things for bikers in our city, and for all I know has no idea this injustice is taking place. If they can do it to bikers, they can do it to everyone. It's one more step forward in turning our city into a police state. There are many measures that must be taken to ensure equal rights and treatment of cyclists, as well as citizens, and this is one.
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