| What Has Gone Wrong in Our Nation's Capitol? |
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| Written by Daniel White | |
| Friday, 13 June 2008 | |
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Last week, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier announced a plan to institute checkpoints in a Northeast neighborhood of the city in an effort to reduce the out of control criminal violence in the city. Since June 7, police have stopped all vehicles at the checkpoint to ascertain if they had a "legitimate purpose" for being in the area. As explained by police officials at the time of the announcement, 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. First of all, who are they do decide what constitutes a "legitimate purpose"? Since when do the police have the power to decide who is "allowed" to travel down a given street and who isn't? Not only does that issue alone raise all kinds of civil rights concerns, but what about the unlawful searches? If they suspect there might be contraband, they're free to search your private property? No warrant? No oversight? And if you refuse to cooperate (perhaps by reminding them they have no right to do that) you're hauled off to jail? When did our Washington, D.C. become cold war era soviet Russia? Well, the program has been suspended. Not because it violated civil rights, but because it failed miserably. With complaints puring in from civil rights activists and residents alike, yesterday Lanier suspended the program. The program was instituted in response to seven killings the weekend before it was announced. After the program went into effect, eight people were shot elsewhere in the city. Whoops. Police were calling the plan a partial success since none of the shootings were in the neighborhood withing the checkpoints. Tell that to the family and friends of the people shot elsewhere (fortunately, they all survived). This incident clearly illustrates Economist and pro-gun activist John Lott's research showing displacement. When criminals are unable to ply their trade in one fashion, they ply it in another. They rarely just stop being criminals. If the police are concentrated in one neighborhood, the criminals will just move their activities to another one. Which is exactly what happened. Jack booted thugs depriving citizens of their civil liberties did nothing to decrease the violence. All they did was foster a further mistrust and dislike of the police. This joins with another recent failed program in which the police went door to door and asked residents to voluntarily submit to warrantless searches. Indeed, civil rights are alive and well in our Nation's capitol... Fortunately, there is hope. The D.C. v Heller case is currently in the Supreme Court of the United States, and this case could finally overturn the city's oppressive gun ban and enable citizens to once again be able to defend themselves with firearms. At least then they'll have a fighting chance. Something they don't currently have now when only the criminals have guns. For some reason, they are not abiding by the gun control restrictions. |