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."
This is still America, right?
Not since 1968
Oh, not always - a cop came to my MIL's house to work a vehicle break-in, and when her dogs were barking at him I asked if I could borrow his gun for just a tiny little second to shut them up. He said it'd be too much paperwork.
unbelievable
Lets not go there, the real problem is that once they become 'authorized', the desire to buck the system and serve the citizens is lost to loyalty of the brotherhood and 'the job' {$$$}...
same with politicians...
of course there are exceptions to the rule, just waaaaaaay too few...
LFOD...
How Orwellian. Someone at the Ministry of Truth must have gotten a promotion for thinking that one up.
Absolutely unbelievable, the police are going to perform illegal search and seizure and also destroy private property without compensation. Gee, here's an idea, maybe if the DC heads actually sent their officers to find ‘bad guys’, instead of harassing innocent citizens, DC’s crime rate might actually drop for a change.
Whatever the reason, the politicians and their enforcement arm aren't going to go their separate ways on this, and any police who might be tempted to uphold the constitution will be weeded out by stuff like this.
("I notice Smith wasn't too enthusiastic about doing these warrantless searches."
"We'll put him behind a desk when the confiscations come along and use Jones. Jones didn't have any problems with it.")
************
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier
Poster child for the dumb blonde joke crowd.
************
Well, she does seem to be Mayor Fenty’s lackey.
He is. But his spirit lives on in the lost souls of bureaucrats, politicians and corrupt police everywhere. They only win if we let them win. In which case you get the government you deserve.
Good for the community leaders on this one.
Knock Knock
Policeman: "Hello, we are here to ask you to let us conduct a voluntary search of your premises for firearms."
Citizen: "Excuse me just a second officer."
Door closes, 6 gunshots fired.
Citizen Opens door...
Citizen: "Come on in officer but please don't trip over my dead wife, she just died cleaning her gun. Go ahead and search all you want while I am gone. I have to go down to the insurance office to claim the insurance money."
No means no.
This presupposes that the police/bureaucrats aren't lying about the amenesty, and we all know that government officials never lie.
What you missed last week is that last week was about discussing the issue, not issuing a verdict. Until June, DC is operating on the “collective right” theory, which apparently means they get to go door-to-door collecting rights.
She’s a ringer for the part for that old comedy “Police Academy”.
Should help point out the stupidity in a way even the DC gov should understand.
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