{"id":2662,"date":"2008-06-06T05:24:59","date_gmt":"2008-06-06T10:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2662"},"modified":"2008-06-06T10:00:07","modified_gmt":"2008-06-06T15:00:07","slug":"us-out-of-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=2662","title":{"rendered":"US out of DC!"},"content":{"rendered":"

America’s real quagmire deepens.<\/a><\/p>\n

Only this time no surge is going to help it:<\/p>\n

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier<\/a> announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Er, wait – how can this be? They have a civilian gun ban <\/em>in DC!<\/p>\n

Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers’ identification and ask whether they have a “legitimate purpose” to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your papers, please.<\/p>\n

The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty<\/a>, who have been under pressure from residents to stop a recent surge in violence. Last weekend was especially bloody, with seven slayings, including three in the Trinidad area.<\/p>\n

“In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing,” Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. “We’re going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“We had to destroy the city, and its residents’ civil liberties, to save them”.<\/p>\n

The checkpoint will stop vehicles approaching the 1400 block of Montello Avenue NE…Police will search cars if they suspect the presence of guns or drugs, and will arrest people who do not cooperate, under a charge of failure to obey a police officer, officials said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s a bit of a loophole:<\/p>\n

The strategy, patterned after a similar effort conducted years ago in New York, is not airtight. There are many ways to get in and out of Trinidad, not just on the one-way Montello Avenue. And pedestrians will not be stopped, which is something critics say might render the program ineffective.<\/p>\n

“I guess the plan is to hope criminals will not walk into neighborhoods,” said D.C. Council<\/a> member Phil Mendelson<\/a> (D-At Large). “I also suppose the plan is to take the criminal’s word for it when he or she gives the police a reason for driving into a neighborhood.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or – y’know – non-criminals, too?<\/p>\n

I digress.<\/p>\n

Council member Harry Thomas Jr.<\/a> (D-Ward 5), who represents Trinidad and other parts of Northeast Washington, said he had informal discussions with Lanier in which she had mentioned the possibility of the checkpoint announced yesterday, but he got little notice before the news conference. Civil liberties are always a concern, said Thomas, who maintained that residents are so concerned about violence that they will be willing to give the latest program a try.<\/p>\n

“I think the general consensus is that we have to do something because people live in fear,” he said. “What would you rather have?” he asked. “A positive pattern of [police] checking things . . . or these folks who come into the community and wreak havoc?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ironically, the DC Metro trains already <\/em>run on time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

America’s real quagmire deepens. Only this time no surge is going to help it: D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area. Er, wait – how can this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}