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 be? They have a civilian gun ban in DC!
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.
Your papers, please.
The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, 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.
“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.”
“We had to destroy the city, and its residents’ civil liberties, to save them”.
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.
There’s a bit of a loophole:
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.
“I guess the plan is to hope criminals will not walk into neighborhoods,” said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (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.”
Or – y’know – non-criminals, too?
I digress.
Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (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.
“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?”
Ironically, the DC Metro trains already run on time.
The even numbered Amendments don’t apply in Washington D.C.
“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.”
I’m half tempted to fly out there and rent a car. It’d be like hitting the lottery, only without the guess work.
“Your papers please” – to vote. You pick and choose your freedoms, Mitch – really.
Let’s spend time on laws that will be struck down, using complaints of violations of basic freedoms which we’re plenty happy to engage in violating if it might tend to reduce votes for the opposition. (National ID cards). Yep, that’s meaningful.
Now, Peev, all you’re doing is trolling for conflict.
I’m not even going to dignify your second graf with a response; it’s too logically vacant (and I’ve always opposed national ID cards).
Before the police entered DC, there were no criminals there. We created them.
With all the money spent in DC, just think about how much we could spend on education instead……(Chuck looks up how much is spent in DC per pupil, comes back and says)…..ummmm nevermind. I see we already through a boatload of money there on bad schools.
I’ll answer Peev……I have no problem with showing an ID to vote, or cash a check, or buy beer, or board a plane, or pick up Amtrak tickets, or take a professional exam.
The difference is randomn checks. And even there, if the person is engaging in suspicious activity (loitering in a parking lot after dark, or walking down a street right after an attempted breakin occured down the block), I am fine.
Why can’t we give these crime-ridden neighborhoods back to Maryland and just keep Pennsylvania Avenue/Capitol Hill/Washington Mall in D.C.?
I believe there’s a precedent, as Alexandria County/the area south of the Potomac was returned to Virginia in in the mid-1800s.
And I, too, am opposed to a National ID card (as well as NSA domestic surveillance).
Maybe the criminals will use the on-time train to get into Trinidad. No checkpoint there.
If private citizens build a gated community, and hire private security guards to check IDs for entry onto private property, that’s one thing.
But when armed government agents set up Checkpoint Charlie to restrict travel on public streets, that’s a whole ‘nuther thing.
I’m guessing Peev et. al. would hate the first, even as they support the second. Not sure I can articulate how little sense that makes.
.
Nate,
To be fair, it doesn’t need to make sense, since Peev isn’t even writing about the matter at hand. He’s dodged off into one of his little tangents, a strawman about voter ID. As usual.
Look forward to peeve\leftout\loftover\penigma\what ever he’s calling himself today, to post a 10,000 word essay on the disenfranchisement of illegal aliens.
Why can’t we give these crime-ridden neighborhoods back to Maryland and just keep Pennsylvania Avenue/Capitol Hill/Washington Mall in D.C.?
That’s a terrific idea! Of course it would be opposed by the very same people who insist that the citizens who live in D.C. must be given representation in Congress.