Live Railcam catches shooting at Tucson station

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I don't know the details but if there is someone on board, or two people in this case, who are willing to shoot it out with law enforcement, maybe it's better law enforcement be the ones to confront the two vs Amtrak employees or passengers.
Amtrak staff have a long history of serving as confidential informants to help facilitate fishing expeditions so they can collect payment on seizure. I have no interest in risking life and limb as collateral damage for the DEA. In my view the war on drugs has failed in a predictably spectacular fashion and if it were up to me most addictive substances would be legalized and taxed to remove the criminal element. If someone is going to throw their life away on addiction making drugs illegal will not stop them.

The inspector general found that sources who had been deactivated, sometimes because of unsatisfactory behavior, continued to take DEA money [...] the DEA paid more than $962,000 to the Amtrak employee who was the subject of an inspector general investigation. More than $44,000 of that money came after the source was deactivated, according to the inspector general’s report.

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I don't know the details but if there is someone on board, or two people in this case, who are willing to shoot it out with law enforcement, maybe it's better law enforcement be the ones to confront the two vs Amtrak employees or passengers.
But maybe they wouldn't have started if these checks didn't happen?

Not necessarily agreeing with either side, but just pointing something out
 
Here's how MSN/CNN portrayed it.

Video: Routine search ends in dramatic shootout at Amtrak station (msn.com)

I was in a situation in Denver when the city police brushed past a lady alighting with her toddler and me and boarded a bus with weapons drawn to arrest a drug dealer. He pulled out a pistol and killed himself. I called Dispatch. The last time I saw the bus operator she was in tears on the shoulder of the first of our street supervisors (inspectors) to arrive on the scene and I don't believe she ever drove a bus again. There may be Amtrak employees who will at the least need counseling.
 
"No passengers injured" -- "I think it's incredible no other people were injured."

So, I guess these searches will keep on happening, just as before, and maybe no passengers will be injured.

But, the emotional injury of being in the midst of a shootout... well that's probably real, but hard to quantify.
So true.
 
PREACH!!

Amtrak staff have a long history of serving as confidential informants to help facilitate fishing expeditions so they can collect payment on seizure. I have no interest in risking life and limb as collateral damage for the DEA. In my view the war on drugs has failed in a predictably spectacular fashion and if it were up to me most addictive substances would be legalized and taxed to remove the criminal element. If someone is going to throw their life away on addiction making drugs illegal will not stop them.



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At least when the Chicago Transit Authority sends out a service disruption notice it will use the terminology. "due to police activity."
WMATA in the DC area does the same. I'd imagine the transit lines for most large cities do since their customers are generally in a hurry to get someplace and the delay not being due to an equipment failure or jumper reduces complaints about "why does this system never get fixed?" a teeny tiny bit.
 
WMATA in the DC area does the same. I'd imagine the transit lines for most large cities do since their customers are generally in a hurry to get someplace and the delay not being due to an equipment failure or jumper reduces complaints about "why does this system never get fixed?" a teeny tiny bit.
NJTransit Rail Operations used to always say "it is Amtrak's fault" even for delays on their own railroad sometimes. Now they have become a little more circumspect and descriptive. :D
 
Just my opinion here. They scan passengers before you board a plane for weapons and sharp items before you board a plane right? Why not before you board a train? A little more time getting on board would not bother me. Any thing can be brought on Amtrak, as was what just happened. Safety is getting less and less these days. They can scan me any time before I board a train. Bring back passenger peace of mind and the Amtrak police that are there to protect us please!
 
Just my opinion here. They scan passengers before you board a plane for weapons and sharp items before you board a plane right? Why not before you board a train? A little more time getting on board would not bother me. Any thing can be brought on Amtrak, as was what just happened. Safety is getting less and less these days. They can scan me any time before I board a train. Bring back passenger peace of mind and the Amtrak police that are there to protect us please!
I’m sure TSA agents would love to be assigned here. Easy-peasy duty.
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Just my opinion here. They scan passengers before you board a plane for weapons and sharp items before you board a plane right? Why not before you board a train? A little more time getting on board would not bother me. Any thing can be brought on Amtrak, as was what just happened. Safety is getting less and less these days. They can scan me any time before I board a train. Bring back passenger peace of mind and the Amtrak police that are there to protect us please!
Why not, you ask? Because you can't hijack a train.
 
Just my opinion here. They scan passengers before you board a plane for weapons and sharp items before you board a plane right? Why not before you board a train? A little more time getting on board would not bother me. Any thing can be brought on Amtrak, as was what just happened. Safety is getting less and less these days. They can scan me any time before I board a train. Bring back passenger peace of mind and the Amtrak police that are there to protect us please!
Might be possible at major staffed stations but not feasible at unstaffed stations. And what about luggage/carry-ons? Most stops don't have baggage services and baggage/carry-ons are easily accessible. That would add several minutes to every stop-n-go station along the route. Some routes could add a couple of hours. Only way would be to only allow a single carry-on and everything else into the baggage car. Then passengers and carry-on could be hand wanded. But most likely every carry-on would trigger an alert and have to be hand inspected. And there would have to be additional personnel and again time to issue claim checks and load the baggage.
 
Ever see Pelham 123?

Yes, I have seen the 1974 film and the 2009 film (have not read the 1973 book nor seen the 1998 film) I have seen also Star Trek and Star Wars ... doesn't make space travel real or common

It should be noted - The Taking Of Pelham 123 is actually a fictional event described in the '73 book The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three by Morton Freegood who was at the time writing by the pen name John Godey.

One of the reasons people travel by train is the ease of boarding and to avoid the security checks at most airports. This shooting was an extremely rare event.
 
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No, you can't hijack a train. But it seems you can shoot people on them. I didn't say I knew the technical aspects of scanning before boarding. Just that it would ease my mind if the did.
 
No, you can't hijack a train. But it seems you can shoot people on them. I didn't say I knew the technical aspects of scanning before boarding. Just that it would ease my mind if the did.
Given that one of the reasons that a lot of people prefer trains over planes is the lack of TSA security theater, I don't think there would be a great groundswell of desire to implement said security theater on Amtrak.

This is the second time this year that an armed passenger caused a dangerous incident at the train or station due to police intervention. Maybe the cops should leave these people alone if they're not causing any trouble, it might be safer for everybody involved. Was the potential to interdict a small amount of drugs or some possible drug-related cash worth the death of the DEA agent?
 
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