June 4, 2008
Police to Seal Off D.C. Neighborhoods
Can you say Police State? The Examiner has the scoop on a controversial new program announced today that would create so-called "Neighborhood Safety Zones" which would serve to partially seal off certain parts of the city. D.C. Police would set-up checkpoints in targeted areas, demand to see ID and refuse admittance to people who don't live there, work there or have a “legitimate reason” to be there. Wow. Just, wow.
Some of the words used to describe such a plan by those quoted in the Examiner story include "breathtaking" and "cockamamie," but that hardly begins to scratch the surface. Interim Attorney General Peter Nickles actually said that measures of this sort have "been used in other cities.” Which cities are those, Mr. Nickles? Warsaw?
Today's proposal appears to be a desperate attempt by the city to tamp down recent violence that has ravaged the city, especially in Ward 5. The "Neighborhood Safety Zones" would last up to 10 days. It's a struggle to think of words to describe such a plan other than authoritarian or ghettoization.
The full description of this plan from the mayor's press release is below.
Photo by AlbinoFlea
The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative has been developed to help increase security for those who live in high-crime areas around the city and to help residents reclaim their communities. The program will authorize the Metropolitan Police Department to set up public safety checks to help safeguard community members and create safer neighborhoods in the District by increasing police presence aimed at deterring crime.The safety zones will be established only upon request by a District Commander where there is evidence to support the existence of neighborhood violent crime, such as intelligence, violent crime data, police reports and feedback and concerns from the affected community.
Potential Neighborhood Safety Zones must be approved by the Chief of Police, and will be in effect for a maximum of 10 days. Public safety checks will be established along the main thoroughfares of the established neighborhoods. Anyone driving into a designated area may be asked to show valid identification with a home address in that neighborhood, or to provide an explanation for entering the NSZ, such as attending church, a doctor’s appointment or visiting friends or relatives. Pedestrians will not be subject to the public safety checks.
“The Neighborhood Safety Zones is just another tool MPD will employ to stop crime before it happens. The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative will help residents terrorized by violent crime to take back their neighborhoods,” said Chief Lanier.
Initiatives such as the Neighborhood Safety Zones have been accepted by federal courts as a legitimate law enforcement practice in keeping with the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. The constitutionality of the NSZ initiative has been reviewed by the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.
The NSZ will be launched next week in the Trinidad area.
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ACLU challenge in 3... 2... 1...
i doubt this will help curb crime, but it makes the MPD look like they're trying to do something. i mean have they done a study finding that people drive into an area, commit their crime, and then leave? what about good ol' fashioned neighborhood crime where neighbor x rapes neighbor y or holds up convenience store z? you don't need a car to do that.
i put this into the category of the 'all hands on deck' idea. they're grasping at straws here.
Warsaw is a much bigger, cleaner, safer, and more affluent city than Washington
I just hope the police actually say "Your papers, please"?
What is the point of setting these up if "[p]edestrians will not be subject to the public safety checks"? Violent criminals can't also be pedestrians or park a couple blocks away?
Let's see here...Limits on internal travel? No elected representatives? Tropical climate? Welcome to our nation's banana republic.
"Pedestrians will not be subject to the public safety checks."
Little do the criminals realize this is an ingenious way to combat the obesity epidemic among the criminal underworld. Just think of the number of calories criminals will burn walking to and running from their crimes, rather than driving!
I am speechless.....
Tropical climate?! I don't know what it's like down in the low country, but in Columbia Heights we have a little thing called winter.
I just hope the police actually say "Your papers, please"?
I think it would be more apt if it were "Achtung, I vould like to zee your papers."
Can I be the first to predict more crime in the neighboring areas of Atlas, Gallaudet, Carver Langston, Ivy City, Old City next week? (thanks wikipedia)
cool. can we start with hillrat and hillman's neighborhood first? because i want to see the two of them fight crime together in leotards to the tune of "ebony and ivory."
This is actualy a last ditch effort by republicans to keep the homeless out of Georgetown.
WTF.
If this makes the national news, it's going to look great for DC.
Wow. As a Trinidad resident who's as sick as anyone else of the recent violence, I'm still completely gobsmacked by this proposal.
Leaving aside questions of legality or constitutionality that I'm not remotely qualified to address, how on earth do the police think they're going to separate "legitimate" nonresidents from ill-intentioned ones?
"Well, Officer, my purpose in coming into the neighborhood was to shoot my ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend... but I guess I'll just go home and watch 'American Gladiator' now."
I can only speculate that the police are hoping that barriers will intimidate and discourage potential troublemakers while reassuring (ha!) law-abiding residents, but in my opinion (and, I suspect, that of most rational human beings), the many drawbacks are simply not worth the marginal advantage.
So basically this is a 10-day hiatus on drive-by shootings and murder.
cool. can we start with hillrat and hillman's neighborhood first? because i want to see the two of them fight crime together in leotards to the tune of "ebony and ivory."
Only if I get the pink leotard, otherwise no deal. After our shift we'll stand around in the alley behind Eastern Market, drink a 3-liter jug of Carlo Rossi and toss the empty on top of Eastern Market just like they did in "The Wire." [cue music]
Maybe they'll recognize the address as being from a rival "neighborhood crew." Of course, if they knew how to call a gang a gang they might not need such ridiculous methods of controlling crime.
"I am speechless....."
No need for that just yet, BigL, they aren't planning to ban criticism of the government until August.
They did this in Bridgeport, CT back in the 1980s, and the neighborhoods targeted were those that were most frequently visited by out-of-town drivers coming in to the city to purchase drugs or sex. I was young, and not paying terribly close attention at the time, but my recollection is that crime actually did decline, at least a little bit. The problem was that several local businesses were destroyed or severely damaged because access to them was obstructed, and local residents were far more inconvenienced by the barricades, closed roads, and constant police contact than the drive-by lawbreakers who were theoretically being targeted.
One other thing to consider about this kind of measure: many, if not most, "quality-of-life" crimes like vandalism, joyriding car thefts, street harrassment, and the like are committed by people who actually live in the neighborhoods they are victimizing. Keeping strangers out of the neighborhood won't have much of an impact.
I say build a moat around troubled neighborhoods, fill the moat with lava and a single drawbridge, and full body cavity searches for anyone entering or leaving.
That's a much better option.
@ hillrat:
Carlo Rossi and "The Wire?" In the same sentence?
How dare you?
Natty Boh, at least.
Oh, how I miss that show already.
Much as this seems a bit much, something has to be done. Given that the residents of the neighborhoods affected by violence either can't or won't do anything to try and stem the tide, it is the charge of the MPD to try and maintain a state of law and order in the District.
I just hope that MPD is very clear and consistent with execution of their "hot zones" enforcement. If done well, it can set a good example.
That said, the track record for MPD and other DC services of that ilk is far from stellar. So perhaps it's time for the residents to show some civic pride and invest some sweat equity into their neighborhoods: offer alternatives to teens, make the streets attractive for the residents to be out and about. It can be done - it just takes a little work.
And if these neighborhoods take the initiative, the MPD action isn't necessary in the future.
Just my $0.02 - YMMV.
"This is actualy a last ditch effort by republicans to keep the homeless out of Georgetown."
Republicans in Georgetown? There's C. Boyden Gray and then just about nobody else. You're confusing rich with Republican. An easy mistake, but the reality is that Georgetown is just as Democratic as the rest of DC.
But what about the trust-funded (and those just trying to look it) Smith Pointers, you ask? They mostly live in Glover Park.
the only way this will work is if the Neighborhood Safety Zones are administered and enforced by a French Revolution-style Committee for Public Safety.
I nominate Jim Graham for the position of Robespierre. at last, the litter control department has been given some teeth.
this is going to be entertaining to see it attempted. so they're not stopping pedestrians, but are stopping cars, right? what about bikers?
the secret that the cops don't know is that us bikers are the cause of all the crime in the city. we sneak into your neighborhood on our huffys, rob your stores, shoot your kids, and slink off in 3rd gear to terrorize the next neighborhood.
as long as the MPD doesn't monitor this comment thread....
They should start by sealing off the block of Connecticut Avenue that Politics and Prose is on. Winzilla could man the ID-check barricade himself.
the po po's been at this (or something similar) in park view for the past few months. about every other week, they block off warder near park road and stop all cars. supposedly to check for ID and insurance.
it struck me as very strange, but maybe it has something to do with this. a test run, perhaps?
here's an idea--instead of barricading neighborhoods, why don't we try actually having a visible, engaged, and larger police presence in the neighborhoods?
I can hear it now...
We're sorry ma'am that your house was robbed. We were too busy at the roadblocks to your neighborhood to actually walk the streets of the neighborhood.
Apparently they've already done something more or less like this -- a manager at work was complaining about it this week. He'd been in a neighborhood nearish the Brentwood Giant, as I recall.
Is there any way to set up police checkpoints to keep people from leaving those 'neighborhoods'?
LA kind of did this during the Gang Wars of the 90's. They used to block off certain thoroughfares and restrict traffic to highly visible roads within the community. I guess it didn't work as they now have the Race Wars of the 2000's. It does look like these "safety” Zones have spurted up in CA and some have been challenged in court.
@angrypenguin
Carlo Rossi is the fine wine of choice for much of the DCist commentariat.
Actually all the crimes in Trinadad this weekend were committed within a block or two of police. There has actually been a high police presence there (due to the recent criminal activity), but clearly the criminals don't care. This points to something larger that no amount of policing (short of armed police on every corner and in every alley) can do anything about.
This, unfortunately, won't do much more than swirl the crime around. If we're in the market for ridiculous (yet loud) police action, I recommend the Baltimore model - big spotlights in the open air drug markets all night with police sitting in every alley. I enjoyed the way that moved the criminal activity somewhere else (ie, three blocks south).
here's an idea--instead of barricading neighborhoods, why don't we try actually having a visible, engaged, and larger police presence in the neighborhoods?
I've actually been seeing more of this over the last few weeks. Two weeks ago a couple of cops on horseback went clomping down my street and the other day I was walking around and zut alors! There was a cop on a bicycle just cruising around.
Current police practices are not stemming the homicide tide. Truth is, if the citizenry is hell-bent on mayhem, there is damn little the police can do about it. People say, the cops are lazy, corrupt, etc and as cops are people, there it's probably true. But even if every cop was 100% committed to excellence 100% of the time, those intent on committing a crime are going to do it and in most cases, get away with it.
I understand the concern but personally, I’m glad to see MPD leadership thinking "outside the box". They've stepped up patrols, redeployed officers - it's not working. It's time for new measures and props to the chief for not acquiescing to the violence.
i'm with cranky. there's nothing here that moats and medieval siege engines can't fix, or at least, make more entertaining.
and it just so happens I have a gently used sewage trebuchet for sale for the low, low price of three thousand quatloos.
Our own Green Zone!
About (yikes) 20 years ago, I helped stage a cultural event in a DC public housing community and was stopped at the entrance by an MPD roadblock (driving while white?). I arrived at the event site early to find neighborhood sportsmen throwing dice. Several were wagering small plastic bags of non-FDA pharmaceuticals in lieu of currency.
Containment is not necessarily crime reduction.
you're doing it wrong. instead of harrassing kids and law-abiding neighbors, we should be giving these people hope and a way out of their dead-end lifestyle. like with my Send a Kid to Summer Thrall Camp in Upstate Triskelion Program. and when the parents come to pick them up in August, we do the jedi mind trick and say "this isnt the camp you're looking for. you want the green slave girl fat farm on Orion." or we just say "there were never any kids. you never had kids" and we reach into a top hat and throw a smoke bomb and disappear in a cloud of echoing maniacal laughter.
WTF!!
here's just one example of why this sucks.
what if i'm driving from point A. to point B. and the only through street goes smack-through the middle of a "neighborhood zone?" will the wardens nazi's police make me drive all the way around their zone?
and really, i'd think pedestrians would be of more interest. doesn't take long to walk from one neighborhood to another. what's that in your pocket? oh, nothing? okay, you're free to go.
what's next, WALLS?
:: grumble ::
OK, it's a bad idea. But Sommer, don't you think you're a little over the top with all the ghetto rhetoric?
The point of the official ghettos in Europe, or de-facto enforcement of ghettos in American cities, was to keep undesirables *in* a certain neighborhood to make the other neighborhoods "safe" for the upper/majority class. The intent of this program appears to be to keep undesirables *out* of Trinidad, or wherever.
Like I said, still a bad idea, but can we try to avoid false analogies on this blog?
the only viable, effective, long-term solution to the problem of juvenile delinquency has been thoroughly documented in the film "The Vanishing." and I'm talking the original version, not the keifer sutherland remake. that thing still ives me nightmares and not the good David Lynch kind. I'm talking the nasty Demi Moore as Hester Prynne kind.
To the barricades, mon freres! We must liberate the Trinidadians!