I see a bad moon risin'
Posted on 06/08/2008 4:47:33 PM PDT by blam
'Baghdad-style' checkpoints in US capital
By Tom Leonard
Last Updated: 8:14PM BST 08/06/2008
Police in Washington DC have set up vehicle checkpoints in the American capital in a controversial measure aimed at tackling a wave of gun violence. In a move that critics have compared to the security clampdown in Baghdad, police are stopping motorists travelling through the main thoroughfare of Trinidad, a neighbourhood near the National Arboretum in the city's northeast section.
Drivers' identification are checked and those who didn't have a "legitimate purpose" in the area, such as a church visit or doctor's appointment, are turned away.
The checkpoints were set up after eight people were killed in the city last weekend.
Most of the killings occurred in the police district that includes Trinidad which has already seen 22 murders this year.
But civil liberties groups have criticised the measures and have dispatched a team of lawyers and law students to monitor the situation.
"Trinidad should not be treated like Baghdad," said Mark Thompson of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People.
The group and various other organisations have threatened legal action if residents' constitutional rights are violated.
"It seems interesting that police are willing to easily cast aside fundamental freedoms for quick-fix, lazy law enforcement tactics," said Johnny Barnes, executive director of the local American Civil Liberties Union.
Washington's police chief and mayor have insisted that the checkpoints are a legal and necessary step to stop a spike in violence.
"It would be unconscionable, maybe even a dereliction of our duty, for the police chief and I to not do something different, to not turn up the heat," said Adrian Fenty, the District of Columbia's mayor.
The checkpoints will be enforced at random hours for at least five days, though it could be extended to 10 days, police said.
Officers will search cars only if they observe guns or drugs and pedestrians will not be affected.
Civilization to the rescue.
No. Liberalism begets this sort of crackdown . . . the same thing they complain about when others do it.
Liberalism is defective by definition. Liberals can’t protect themselves from each other, that’s why they run to the conservative bastions: for public safety and education.
Maybe if the residents of certain neighborhoods didn't act like they live in Baghdad then such steps wouldn't be necessary?
Funny, but it is usually urban areas where rampant murder takes place. Care to explain this Mr. Thompson?
Well that is smart. Like the perps are going to deive through with their uzi and a bag full of coke or crack on the passenger seat!
I thought that DC had a ban on guns?
“Die Ausweiskontrolle, bitte!”
Just trying to prevent the next “Baghdad style” homicide.
ACLU=All Communists Lovers Union
DC is a quagmire. Pull out now!
Sadly, because of the crime in these areas, the rest of the nation has all these crappy laws foisted on them too.
I get a kick out of people who make comments like yours. How do you propose that they stop the violence this week, next week, and next month? Seems to me like you’d need to do this before your “long-term” fix could ever occur.
When states tried to reserve their welfare payments to residents they were told they couldn't do so because people had a right to free movement. Do people in DC not have that same right?
DC also takes away the peoples right to keep and bare arms.
Let me guess... Liberals have a long time death grip on DC city politics.
Just exactly WHO are these uncivilized violent animals who can not live a civil existence in the richest most advanced country in the world????????
ROFLMAO!
I beg your indulgence, and ask that I may use this as a tag line!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.