A year after former Gov. Mitt Romney reinstituted random bag checks in MBTA stations, backpacks, purses and briefcases are still fair game for scrutiny despite the cries of activists, officials say.

MBTA employees were conducting random bag searches at the Harvard Square station for the first time last week, said spokeswoman Lydia Rivera, adding the MBTA chooses different T stations to search each morning.

“People are concerned, but there is more positive response than negative,” Rivera said. “Most people say, ‘It just took a minute but it makes me feel safer,’ or, ‘It was annoying but we can understand.'”

American Civil Liberties Union spokeswoman Nancy Murray said random searches are unconstitutional and provide an easy venue for racial profiling.

“I think there should be more opposition and argument against it,” Murray said. “It undermines the Fourth Amendment, so it’s a big mistake to think that it’s no big deal.

“This becomes problematic because the question that comes up is, ‘How do they decide?'” she continued, citing the ACLU’s ongoing defense of a black man who was approached by officers and asked for identification after departing the T and using a public phone. “It was clear that he was stopped because of the way he looked. . . . All he did was make a phone call.”

She said the MBTA’s program overlooks more pressing and relevant issues.

“We’ve had people get stabbed on the T, people get murdered on the T, there’s been sex on the T, but instead of taking care of that, we’re doing this,” Murray said. “We should be trying to keep people safe from crime-forget terrorism. Terrorism is like lightning. The chances of you being in a terrorist situation are very slim.”

Murray said many people comply with the MBTA searches too easily.

“I don’t know whether it’s because people get used to it or they’ve become more passive about national security measures in the past three or four years, taking it as they come because that’s just what our country does these days,” Murray said.