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Originally Posted by Ustwo
You know I was pretty horrifed with this, and then something hit me.
Whats the difference between an aircraft and a bus, besides the obvious?
What makes aircraft special that they require ID's and buses not?
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Ustwo, the obvious answer to your question is that what they do with the information is different. At the airport, an agent uses ID to verify that you are who you claim to be, and that identity is checked against a watchlist database. I'm sure you aren't suggesting that a security guard on a bus was doing the same thing. In fact, every time I have to show ID to get into an event or building I wonder how this prevents crime or terrorism. We are aware that terrorists don't have driver's licenses that identify them as such.
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Originally Posted by Chilek9
The officer was doing a "Field Interview" to identify people that might be connected to criminal activity later on. This requires "mere suspicion" which is basically a minor to moderate deviation from normal contact conditions. During that contact, the officer is permitted to do a "pat down" for weapons (Terry v. Ohio) or the "Terry frisk."
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You've got some interesting information - thanks for posting. I still think there is a difference between "suspicion" (even as slight as you describe) and blanket searches. Unless there is a reason to suspect every person on a specific bus or flight, I'd have thought that random ID checks are not an exercise of 4th Amendment seizure as there is no reason to do the check. Am I wrong in thinking there is a distinction between the two things?