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Haveing us railfans as allies with the railroad

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Apparently, my point must be hard to grasp. In order to protect the railway, we need a profile that decribes a terrorist without producing a 99.9999% false alarm rate, wasting police and security resources. Frankly, multiple false alarms are worse than no alarm at all. Already, the wolf cryers are starting to be ignored - at least according to one policeman I know. A wrong profile is worse than no profile. If an accurate profile is not possible, then simple common sense and vigilence is the only available protection. Knowlegdable employees and private observers of the railway are then the best defense. So why chase them away. There are hundreds of reasons why someone might be near the tracks, photography is only one of them. Simple train watching is another. You might be waiting for something else, eating your lunch, or maybe you're even an artist painting a picture, or a business man going about his day. There are very few reasons why anyone would sit in a car in a residential neighborhood. But millions do work and play near the tracks; and watch trains or photograph them, not just railfans. Railfanning IS NOT against the law! And no official regulation has been published to limit it. Most of my train watching is done within the confines of a public park adjacent to the tracks. There may be hundreds of people in the park at any one time. Any one of them could be a terrorist fixing to do harm to the railway. Why is it that the park police have harrassed only train watchers, not others. When I pose as a hiker, I have no problem, even with binoculars and camera in hand. I say again - If I can pose as a hiker, then any terrorist can pose as anybody, not just as railfans. With this phony profile, they will go undetected until they do something really unusual. Who in the park but a railfan would even be able to tell what is unusual. They SHOULD be in the park, but the park police are too busy chasing railfans out. Besides, the A.A.R. profile won't identify a real terrorist to anyone. Interestingly, when the U.P. police come by, they give me no hassle at all and have been very cordial. They seem to see the "Stupidity" of all this. At least that is what they tell me. Also they have expressed appreciation for my staying in the park and not tresspassing - as many hikers do. Now are we going to chase everybody away from the tracks, or just those "weard-oh" railfans. I say again - There is no reason for all this paranioa and extremism. Train watching is a legitimate pastime, same as any other activity that takes place near the tracks. Oh - something my Daddy used to tell me - that the halmark of a totalitarian country or despotic government is that they fear their own law-abiding citizens. Now I don't suppose that we live in such a country at all. So why act that way. I believe the police and security forces of this country have been misled, foolishly, by the A.A.R. profile. If the Industry won't set it straight, then we should - for the good of the railroad - and America too! Rmc
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