Posted by
Matt Purple on Monday, June 09, 2008 3:40:31 PM
From the Washington Examiner:
D.C. police will seal off entire neighborhoods, set up checkpoints and kick out strangers under a new program that D.C. officials hope will help them rescue the city from its out-of-control violence.
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.
So now Washingtonians will have to present "legitimate reason" to avoid being hauled off by police from areas of their own city. What's next, mandating that Americans present some sort of national ID card to avoid being hauled out of their own country? Oh yeah...
Crime in Washington is an undeniable and harsh reality for those of us who live there, but it's also sharply declining. DC crime rates have plummeted 50 percent since 1993. The former "crime capital of the United States" has been flooded by an army of middle-class, politically-connected, Blackberry-wielding, popped-collar yuppies who carry money exclusively in the form of Starbucks gift cards. Neighborhoods like Dupont Circle, Tenleytown, and Farragut have rapidly gentrified and are thus safe to wander late at night. These days, most of Washington's violent crimes are limited to its southeast quadrant, an area most Washingtonians terrifyingly equate with a Lebanese war zone and avoid like the plague. This doesn't mean the District's crime woes are over -- there were still 169 homicides in 2006 -- but implementing martial law in several neighborhoods seems a little extreme. Additionally, Washington is lorded over by the federal government and thus the Constitution -- a document Mayor Adrian Fenty didn't seem to consult when he was hatching this plan. Then again, what with the Second Amendment already out the window here, who knows what's next.