Police Search

I was removed from the Long Beach-bound Metro Blue Line train on April 6 at 9:15 p.m. by two police officers who grabbed my backpack and searched its contents without my consent. Afterward I was asked to provide an ID, but even that wasn’t enough, as they wouldn’t let me leave for another five to 10 minutes.

I asked for an explanation and the officer told me I “matched the exact and specific description” of somebody who snatched a black backpack at the previous station. I was “allowed” to stay and wait for the next train after the “exact” description was specified over the radio as a black plastic bag.

But you can find comfort in the officer’s words. “I hope you don’t think this is the way we usually do business here in America,” he said to me before leaving me in the station.

I actually believed the 4th Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure was more than a dead letter of the law. Stupid me, I should be grateful that I had my Finnish passport and a valid visa with me and escaped the treatment for illegal aliens.

HENRI ALA-PEIJARI

Long Beach