Running “late” at 8:20 this morning (I’m usually at least an hour behind that time), I entered my usual subway stop at W. 86th Street and Broadway and experienced my first random bag search checkpoint.
Although by “experienced” I mean I saw it and kept moving through the turnstiles. It was manned by four uniformed cops, silently standing around and looking mischievously bored, as only the NYPD can look. (Or maybe they were counting in their heads 1...2...3... because they had to stop every fifth or tenth person for a search. I wasn’t going to hang around to watch or ask them as I wasn’t in the mood for a brisk bag-riffling.) One of the guys was holding a megaphone. They also had a semi-professional sign made with blue vinyl press-type letters and temporarily tied at eye-level to the back of the exit gate. It read: “Backpacks And Other Containers Subject To Inspection.” I imagined that the cops themselves made the sign and that their commanding officer had awarded them each with a gift certificate for a free 99-cent menu item at Wendy’s for their expeditious and top-rate craftsmanship.
Four cops seemed intensive for my lowly station, which has no connections and only one line passing through it. On the other hand, it’s on a direct route to both Times Square and Penn Station, which probably accounts for its selection. You could see why it could be the choice of subway suicide bombers as an entrance point: it’s far enough from those big stations to be out of the limelight, but not so far that you nod off on your train on the way there. Plus, we have a quiet, accommodating neighborhood. It’d be a perfect place for the potential bombers to kick back before the big fatwa Downtown. They’d be able to find a great parking spot off West End Avenue, maybe pick up a Snapple at Gristedes.
The 86th Street station actually has two entrances—the main one consists of a block of four separate stairway entrances, covering the uptown and downtown trains. Then there’s a lesser-known mini-entrance at Broadway and W. 87th Street that’s only open for downtown trains during the morning rush hour. I noticed that entrance wasn’t covered by the cops at all.