Posted on 03/25/2008 3:40:01 AM PDT by raybbr
WASHINGTON -- A crackdown on guns is meeting some resistance in the District.
Police are asking residents to submit to voluntary searches in exchange for amnesty under the District's gun ban. They passed out fliers requesting cooperation on Monday.
The program will begin in a couple of weeks in the Washington Highlands neighborhood of southeast Washington and will later expand to other neighborhoods. Officers will go door to door asking residents for permission to search their homes.
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said the "safe homes initiative" is aimed at residents who want to cooperate with police. She gave the example of parents or grandparents who know or suspect their children have guns in the home.
Community leaders went door to door in Ward 8 Monday to advise residents not to invite police into their homes to search for weapons.
"Bad idea," said D.C. School Board member William Lockridge. "I think the people should not open your doors under any circumstances, don't even crack your door, unless someone has a warrant for your arrest."
Ron Hampton, of the Black Police Officers Association, said he doesn't expect many in the community to comply.
"This is one of those communities where the police even have problems getting information about crimes that are going on in the community, so to suggest, now, that the police have enough community capital in their hand that the community is going to cooperate with them, I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Hampton said.
If weapons are recovered, they will be tested and destroyed if they are not found to be linked to any other crimes.
A police spokeswoman said that if evidence of other crimes is found during voluntary searches, amnesty will be granted for that crime as well.
"Chief Lanier has been clear," Traci Hughes said. "Amnesty means amnesty."
They are trying to get all the guns before the SCOTUS tells them it's okay to defend yourself.
no way should they let the police in with a “warrantless” search..once on the slippery slope, it won’t be long, relatively speaking, before warrantless searches become the norm for all sorts of things..
I’m sorry officer I can’t let you in to my house because I ‘m too busy cleaning my Uzi.
“Chief Lanier has been clear. Fascism means fascism.”
Let’s search her home FIRST.
What an incredinly arrogant and intrusive act. I’d tell them to go to hell. What warrantless searches will they want to conduct next? Moreover, if they don’t let them search, does that “trigger” a search warrant based on probable cause?
This is really bad stuff.
Never surrender your firearms without a fight!
I thought Hilter was dead?
“A police spokeswoman said that if evidence of other crimes is found during voluntary searches, amnesty will be granted for that crime as well.
“Chief Lanier has been clear,” Traci Hughes said. “Amnesty means amnesty.”
So if you have killed someone say in a robbery or a car jacking, or even multiple people say in a drive-by shooting. This is your chance to walk free and clear.
That has to be the stupidest policy I have ever heard of and the liberal retards can come up with some stupid crap.
Do criminals now have two weeks to go on a killing and/or robbery spree then consent to a search and receive amnesty for their crimes?
Give it a few years. This will degenerate into a weekly 'bed check' by the police. We'll all be treated like inmates without the hassle of locking us up.
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier
Poster child for the dumb blonde joke crowd.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE
Stupid bastards, all they’ve got got to do is ban crime hic
Whoa what rights do they have for searching going doar to doar searching for Guns.
If they are allowed to do this in D.C. what keeps them from trying in all over the US.
I thought we had a 2nd amendment that took care of this? What did I miss last week?
Moreover, if they dont let them search, does that trigger a search warrant based on probable cause?
No.
How did a white female get elected anything in DC? Wow.
Oh and she reminds me of Alice Tinker in the Vicar of Dibley.
They can’t do their jobs so this is the easy way out. Just assume that whoever denies the cops access to their home is a criminal. Screw due process and assumed innocence until proven otherwise. However, there will be a flood of arms into the District from Va. if SCOTUS overturns the ban so the cops should be preparing for that instead of wasting their time on this.
(Smoke 'em if you have 'em)
If you speak to any D.C. cop on the down low they will tell you that if you don't own a gun, you are an idiot.
The cops aren't there to protect you, they are there to write reports about what happened to you.
And always remember that the rate at which the police actually identify a suspect (not arrest or conviction) is about 10%.
Lanier is an idiot, pure and simple.
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