The Freedom Files
columnist: RS Davis

Topic: War on Drugs
Welcome to the Police State

---

Washington DC's War on Drugs has turned into an Iraq-style occupation.

---

by RS Davis
(Libertarian)
Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Washington Post reports today that in the Trinidad area of Washington DC, they are having a lot of trouble reducing violent crime and drug dealing.  Apparently, there were seven murders in the area last weekend - three in Trinidad - and in the 5thDistrict, where Trinidad is located, police report that since April 1st, there have been "16 robberies and 20 assaults with dangerous weapons...In many cases in Trinidad and across the city, gunshots are fired from passing cars, victims are found in cars or cars are used to make fast getaways."

That's odd, considering they have the strictest gun laws in the country.

So, it's clearly getting bad there. But according to The Washington Post, local police and the mayor have a solution - turn Trinidad into Soviet Russia:

D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a military-style checkpoint yesterday to stop cars this weekend in a Northeast Washington neighborhood inundated by gun violence, saying it will help keep criminals out of the area.

Starting on Saturday, officers will check drivers' identification and ask whether they have a "legitimate purpose" to be in the Trinidad area, such as going to a doctor or church or visiting friends or relatives. If not, the drivers will be turned away.

(...)

"In certain areas, we need to go beyond the normal methods of policing," Fenty (D) said at a news conference announcing the action. "We're going to go into an area and completely shut it down to prevent shootings and the sale of drugs."

The checkpoint will stop vehicles approaching the 1400 block of Montello Avenue NE, a section of the Trinidad neighborhood that has been plagued with homicides and other violence. Police will search cars if they suspect the presence of guns or drugs, and will arrest people who do not cooperate, under a charge of failure to obey a police officer, officials said.

The enforcement will take place at random hours and last for at least five days in Trinidad, with the option of extending it five more days. Checkpoints could be set up in other neighborhoods if they are requested by patrol commanders and approved by Lanier.

Holy crap. Welcome to the Police State, can I take your coat and freedom?

Arthur Spitzer of the DC chapter of the ACLU responds: "...this is craziness. In this country, you don't have to show identification or explain to the police why you want to travel down a public street."

Wilhelmina Lawson, a twenty-year resident, said, "I knew eventually we'd be a police state. They don't talk to us, they're not community minded."

Ms. Lawson hits the nail on the head. The Drug War has turned police and communities against each other. When the very people you are charged to protect don't trust you, there's a problem. It turns policing into something resembling a military occupation of an unfriendly territory with a wealth of insurgents.

Reason's Radley Balko sat down with Ed Burns, former Baltimore police officer and co-creator of HBO's The Wire, for an interview in this month's issue of the brilliant magazine.

Burns zeroed in on the same problem that Ms Lawson highlighted, saying, "In Baltimore, they're not connected to the people because they've alienated everyone in the neighborhood. So when you need to know something, when you need information, where do you go?"

And when you turn neighborhoods into war zones, public streets into Soviet-style checkpoints, it doesn't engender much added trust.  Add to that the fact that the police are also planning on arming themselves with automatic weapons beginning this summer, and it begins to look a lot less like DC and a lot more like Iraq.

If you've been a Freedom Files reader for awhile now, you might remember the story I wrote about Boston's Safe Homes Initiative, where police wanted residents to sign away their Fourth Amendment rights and allow the police to search their homes for weapons whenever they want.

That program didn't really get off the ground because of community backlash, so of course officials in embattled and untrusting DC decide to foist the same tyrannical plan on them, with exactly the same results:

Ronald Hampton, executive director of the National Black Police Association, questioned the Washington effort. As a lifelong D.C. resident and a former police officer, he said, he would not consent to his house being searched.

"They haven't earned that level of access or respect from the community," Hampton said. "I just can't believe they're trying to do that. I've never heard of anything like that in my life."

Arthur B. Spitzer, legal director of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the program is "a very bad idea." He said officers might act so aggressively that residents feel coerced into letting them in.

"It sends the message to the public that the police ought to be able to search your house anytime for any reason," Spitzer said. "People will be intimidated. That cheapens civil liberties and privacy for everyone."  

And they wonder why the community doesn't trust them.  They wonder why it is so hard to track down criminals.  As Burns told Radley Balko: "When I was a cop, having informants was a rare thing. They were looked down upon. I had sometimes as many as 50 guys working for me. I didn’t have to go out on the street. I could sit by the phone and just wait for the information to come. But you got that by being decent to people, working with them, helping them out on their little charges, stuff like that. That’s a lot of work, and a lot of money comes out of your pocket to keep them happy and cooperative, but the amount of information you get back is profound."

And when you don't treat the citizens as partners in protection, the lack of information you get is also profound.

Thanks to Coho for the tip.

Did you like this article?
If you did, Thumb It!
8 thumbs so far

2008 RS Davis, all rights reserved.
Published: Thursday, June 5, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, June 5, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of RS Davis only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. RS Davis is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

Report violation by RS Davis of Nolan Chart LLC's terms of use policy.