Piscataway Council attendees are now frisked

Welcome to the Piscataway Council meeting. Raise your arms. Spread your legs.

For five months, according to a Ledger story on Monday, guests at the Piscataway council meetings have been patted down and subjected to wand searches. Yikes!

Piscataway is the only community in the state to frisk those attending Council meetings, and it's raising plenty of eyebrows.

Mayor Brian Wahler insists it's a sign of the times, but opponents argue it is an intimidation tactic.

Though some security 'experts' may argue this is the wave of the future (after all, it's a bread-and-butter issue to them), others in the security field don't see it that way.

The Ledger cites Vincent Smith, head of Long Island University's Homeland Security Management Institute, who says --

"It doesn't make any sense, the level of security should be tied to the level of threat," Smith said. "Piscataway is very pastoral, a nice place to live. It's not Newark or Camden. It doesn't have that level of threat."

"A basic American liberty is the right to go down to city hall and literally stand on the steps," he said. "To attend a town meeting, that is the bedrock of American democracy. So we have to be very careful with the level of security we implement, because we don't want to discourage people from participating in government."

Wahler was unmoved by the criticisms, saying "Get used to it."

That is certainly an attitude that I don't think would play well in Plainfield, where there is a long tradition of active participation in Council meetings, and a sense of community that recognizes people have a right to express their opinions -- even angrily -- to their elected officials.

Thank God Plainfield has not been fear-mongered.

Yet.

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Ledger: "Security gadgets gaining upper hand"
Piscataway: "Piscataway Township"

-- Dan Damon

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