AP Photo/Tina Fineberg

Jack Schinasi, of Yonkers, New York, left, has his bag inspected by members of the New York Police Department upon entering the Woodlawn subway station in the Bronx borough of New York, Friday July 22, 2005. Random inspections were made at the station whe

NEW YORK (AP) - Alarmed by a new round of mass transit attacks in London, police in New York have begun random searches of bags and packages brought into the city's vast subway system and elsewhere.

The inspections started on a small scale Thursday in Manhattan and were to be expanded during Friday morning's rush hour.

The new measures netted one arrest almost immediately, with authorities saying a man with a record involving a pipe bomb was found with a weapons cache outside a Long Island commuter train station.

Gilbert Hernandez, 34, was arrested during Thursday evening's rush hour at the Brentwood Long Island Rail Road station, where authorities stopped him after noticing something suspicious about his van. They reportedly found a machete, imitation handguns, an electronic stun gun and a martial arts weapon in the vehicle. They said Hernandez had been convicted of possessing a pipe bomb in 1996. It was unclear if he had yet been charged, and other details were not immediately available.

While the new measure was largely welcomed by commuters, some civil rights groups voiced concern it may lead to racial profiling or privacy violations - a fear city officials say is baseless.

Under the new system, officers, some with bomb-sniffing dogs, will stop people carrying bags as they enter subways, buses and ferries at various points in the city, police said. Anyone who refuses a search will be turned away, and those caught carrying drugs or other contraband could be arrested.

Police officials said they had considered taking the measure to thwart bombings for the past three years. Two terrorist attacks on transit targets in London forced them to act, said Paul Browne, the police department's chief spokesman.