Papers please: D.C. to cordon off neighborhoods

[PisnNapalm]

http://www.examiner.com/a-1423820~La..._violence.html

Lanier plans to seal off rough ’hoods in latest effort to stop wave of violence

Michael Neibauer and Bill Myers, The Examiner
2008-06-04 07:00:00.0
Current rank: # 1 of 8,810
WASHINGTON -

D.C. police will seal off entire neighborhoods, set up checkpoints and kick out strangers under a new program that D.C. officials hope will help them rescue the city from its out-of-control violence.

Under an executive order expected to be announced today, police Chief Cathy L. Lanier will have the authority to designate “Neighborhood Safety Zones.” At least six officers will man cordons around those zones and demand identification from people coming in and out of them. Anyone who doesn’t live there, work there or have “legitimate reason” to be there will be sent away or face arrest, documents obtained by The Examiner show.

Lanier has been struggling to reverse D.C.’s spiraling crime rate but has been forced by public outcry to scale back several initiatives including her “All Hands on Deck” weekends and plans for warrantless, door-to-door searches for drugs and guns.

Under today’s proposal, the no-go zones will last up to 10 days, according to internal police documents. Front-line officers are already being signed up for training on running the blue curtains.

Peter Nickles, the city’s interim attorney general, said the quarantine would have “a narrow focus.”

“This is a very targeted program that has been used in other cities,” Nickles told The Examiner. “I’m not worried about the constitutionality of it.”

Others are. Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the D.C. police union and a former lawyer, called the checkpoint proposal “breathtaking.”

Shelley Broderick, president of the D.C.-area American Civil Liberties Union and the dean of the University of the District of Columbia’s law school, said the plan was “cockamamie.”

“I think they tried this in Russia and it failed,” she said. “It’s just our experience in this city that we always end up targeting poor people and people of color, and we treat the kids coming home from choir practice the same as we treat those kids who are selling drugs.”

The proposal has the provisional support of D.C. Councilman Harry “Tommy” Thomas, D-Ward 5, whose ward has become a war zone.

“They’re really going to crack down on what we believe to be a systemic problem with open-air drug markets,” Thomas told The Examiner.

Thomas said, though, that he worried about D.C. “moving towards a police state.”

Staff Writer Scott McCabe contributed to this report.

[gnbrotz]

Looks like the officers from "DC" would be a great fit for this new effort in "D.C.".

[Karl/PA]

Didn't Hitler do this in the Jewish ghettos?

[PisnNapalm]

D.C. needs to let the people defend themselves. Once "victims" are allowed to shoot back, the criminals will think twice before they act.

[gf45acp]

Did I just wake up in some country other than the USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mikepro8]

Originally Posted by Karl/PA

Didn't Hitler do this in the Jewish ghettos?

yyyyyyyyyyup.

[Kenshin]

I think we woke up in Germany in the 1930s....

[mojo]

This was before my times ... but from what I remember ...
Didn't this happen in Cleveland years ago (~35yrs)? I could have sworn that I have heard stories of neighborhoods in cleveland were block off to people who didn't live there when the city was having problems with race riots.

[GunLawyer001]

I'm going to take the unpopular position here of asking, how is this conceptually different than a gated community, for which people pay extra to buy a home in?

Why should strangers have the right to lurk outside your home, make note of when you go to work and leave the house empty, sit on your car or porch and interfere with your life?

As I understand the plan, the DC police would allow anyone to visit a friend in the neighborhood, anyone is free to leave at any time, the only people who will be seriously inconvenienced will be the drug buyers and the home invaders.

This directly addresses a serious crime problem in a focused way. I like it, at least on a temporary basis.

Now, if they allowed the resident to shoot back, and imprisoned the thugs when they caught them, that would be even better. But removing the ability of gang members and predators to anonymously wander in and out of the vicinity of other people's homes is hardly the prelude to another Krystalnacht.

[PisnNapalm]

At best this is a very small band-aid on a very large wound. It's a stop gap feel good measure that won't amount to a hill of beans in the long run.

Did I use enough cliches yet?

I feel sorry for the people trapped in those neighborhoods. They don't have enough money to leave and are trying to stay alive everyday. I say give them a gun and let them fight back.