CUSTOMS STRIP SEARCH A POLICE STATE TACTIC

Mesmerized by high-tech gadgetry, frightened by exaggerated threats of
victimization, Americans hardly utter a word of protest anymore as
they're led single-file toward the promised security of a police state.

What's the harm in surrendering one more civil liberty to avoid a
public security risk? The harm lies first in the loss of that single
liberty but all the more in its erosion of public will to protect
remaining freedoms. A building falls whether razed by cannon assault
or the removal of its foundation brick by brick. Sadly and
surprisingly, the latest infringement of constitutional rights has
been greeted by a muted public.

Air travelers are submitting, with hardly a whimper of protest, to
U.S. Customs strip searches, now a routine at airport
checkpoints.

Customs inspectors are looking at the naked bodies of air travelers as
they pass through a security system called BodySearch. The low-level
X-ray system built by American Science and Engineering Inc. was until
three months ago more commonly used for strip-searching inmates who
participate in work release programs outside prison walls. But the
Customs Service installed the systems at six airports, including Miami
and Atlanta, and plans to equip 13 airports to scan travelers for
hidden weapons, explosives and contraband. Mexico has used the system
at airports for more than two years.

The system "sees" through clothing, providing inspectors with a clear
image of the naked torso and any hidden objects like guns, bombs or,
oops, navel studs. Customs Service officials suggest there's no
invasion of privacy because the strip searches are conducted in a
private area of each airport and by trained customs inspectors of the
same gender as the air travelers being scanned.

The scans smack of government invasion of privacy. Air travelers
aren't inmates. Airports aren't "no privacy zones" exempt from the
Fourth Amendment guarantee that people and their property "shall not
be subjected to unreasonable searches and seizures." Although courts
have endorsed "administrative searches" at airports, hence luggage
checks and metal detector scans, the BodySearch scans should fall
outside the administrative search rubric.

Passengers have no assurance that the deeply personal knowledge about
their bodies available in the images will not be made accessible to
others without their consent. One has little doubt that if noncoerced,
passengers would object to have even "highly trained" and supposedly
dispassionate inspectors gazing at their naked forms. But even if the
Department of Transportation regulates how BodySearch can be used at
airports, a stronger argument remains for unplugging the scanners.

Unless specific facts indicate a passenger has or is likely to commit
a crime, the government has no probable cause to suspect that
passenger as a criminal. Detaining, questioning or searching that
passenger violates his right to privacy.

Improving airport security and reducing the flow of contraband are
worthy goals of the U.S. government. But better policing can be
achieved without trampling Americans' fundamental rights to privacy.

Brick by brick, the foundation of liberty crumbles: today strip
searching innocent travelers; tomorrow striking down Miranda. There
ought to be a hue and cry and soon before Americans are stripped of
much more than their clothes.