Police to seal off D.C. neighbourhoods

by cynthia yoo | June 5, 2008 at 08:45 am

1407 views | 14 Recommendations | 14 comments

Washington D.C. police have announced a controversial new policy "Neighbourhood Safety Zones," to cordon off entire neighbourhoods; setting up checkpoints to monitor who comes in and out.

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.

Critics describe the new plan as constitutionally unsound and that it is a move towards a police state.

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.”

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[.#43] Fabio Raphael

at 01:22 on June 6th, 2008

http://www.flickr.com/fabioraphael/

[.#43] Fabio Raphael has contributed a photo to this story.

intothelens4149

at 02:24 on June 6th, 2008

DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier on the new T3 Motion electric transporter during the "All Hands On Deck" roll call in the Sixth Police District.

intothelens4149 has contributed a photo to this story.

Dave Keating

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 03:29 on June 6th, 2008

wow this is really interesting news.

Jordan Yerman

at 04:23 on June 6th, 2008

It's a terrible plan, and (constitutionality aside for the moment) turning your city into another Johannesburg is not a good idea. In Jo'burg, the gated neighborhoods are common, but not sanctioned by the government. Also, they do little to actually stop crime: a friend of mine was carjacked in his driveway but someone else who lived in the neighborhood.

DavidSC78

at 04:45 on June 6th, 2008

13th W Street NW, at the hearth of now trendy U Street Corridor.

DavidSC78 has contributed a photo to this story.

SweetJen34

at 06:27 on June 6th, 2008

I live in this neighborhood and I appreciate something finally being done to call this attention to the public. For too long, there was no news about it and the only reason I knew what was going on was from actually witnessing one "sucker-punch and run" attack, and from reading the police listserv for my area. I was really worried about my neighbors who went about their normal activities oblivious to these neighborhood thugs.

Therein lies the problem though... these are NEIGHBORHOOD thugs. The kids doing most of these attacks live in the area. How is checking them going to do anything? They are supposed to be here so they won't be sent away. They are probably cracking up at this idea.

Caoimhin1

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:55 on June 6th, 2008

cynthia yoo, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Cristobel

at 14:01 on June 6th, 2008

This is absolutely ridiculous. What is this? Berlin during the Cold War?

Cristobel has contributed a photo to this story.

JohnKusumi

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 16:06 on June 6th, 2008

This is egregious. And it's not like they're stopping people for thought crimes -- this is kindred to taking a "guilty until proven innocent" attitude towards "suspicion of a thought crime." It's also in the absence of probable cause.

This plan needs to go back to the laboratory.

dunkelberg

at 16:35 on June 6th, 2008

It's the thugs down the street who will be doing the crime, whether it is here or in gated communities. I know it's shocking, but white, middle class and even rich kids steal too, as well as do other nasty things.

Of course, the best laid plans of mice and men will fall before the Jehovah's WItnesses.

Brockenbrough Photos

at 16:41 on June 6th, 2008

When I lived in DC, I used to ride my bike around the Capitol grounds.... and I mean all the way up to the door, around the sides...basically anywhere that was paved... it was good for running too. Now, the whole area is essentially on military lock-down. I was shocked the first time I saw the barricades around this public space.

Brockenbrough Photos has contributed a photo to this story.

dablyputs

at 07:19 on June 9th, 2008

This is the Big Bear cafe at 1sth and R and Florida streets North West in Washington, DC. This was weeks after it first opened.

dablyputs has contributed a photo to this story.

Theodore Jones

at 10:11 on June 9th, 2008

Cleveland Park apartment complex security is giving ideas to the District. On weekends and certain weekdays you may have to check in with the "front desk" of Cleveland Park and "sign-in" to go home. If you're just passing through you may want to find another way. None of these are facts I can vouch for. I just read that one headline and started typing.

Theodore Jones has contributed a photo to this story.