In the wake of yesterday’s shooting in Colorado, moviegoers at the Regal Gallery Place movie theater might have their bags searched, according to an announcement from theater management.

After 18 months of random checks of passengers’ bags and luggage, Metro’s regime of random searches hasn’t yielded much, according to a new readout of Metro Transit Police’s statistics.

The American Civil Liberties Union apparently wants to take WMATA to court over its decision to randomly swab bags inside Metro stations — but it needs to find some people who have had their bags swabbed and are upset with the decision first.

Does the WMATA board of directors agree with Metro General Manager/CEO Richard Sarles’ assertion that bag searches inside Metrorail stations “make it unpredictable” for terrorists interested in attacking the system? Maybe we’ll find out tomorrow. The Customer Service and Operations Committee of the WMATA board of directors will discuss the controversial searches tomorrow, the first such official board dialogue on the procedure.

The Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition uncovered a interesting admission from the meeting Metro Transit Police had on January 5 with Metro’s Riders’ Advisory Council about WMATA’s random bag searches — that those who refuse such search will “be observed…be watched.”

Since the day Metro announced that it would start randomly searching bags throughout the 86-station and 12,000-bus stop system late last year, the transit agency has received plenty of criticism — including from the Metro Riders’ Advisory Council this week — that the measure would amount to little more than security theater.

Based on the comments we’ve seen, most of you find Metro’s random bag searches a) pointless, b) idiotic, c) a waste of time, or d) some combination of all of the above. So don’t let your opinions wallow in the internet ether — tell Metro how you feel during a public hearing!

Yesterday, news broke that Metro would start conducting random bag searches in hopes of sniffing out and preventing any terrorist attacks against the transit system. Then Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn showed us precisely how agents would be going through your stuff. This morning, the Washington Post flushed out more logistics regarding the searches in a front-page article. The Post reports that police at select stations will aim to search every third passenger, using explosives-screening equipment and bomb-sniffing dogs to detect any potential threats.

Hey look, Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn filmed a YouTube video to show us the process by which Metro will test the limits of the Fourth Amendment! Handy, eh?