It breaks my heart to read about gun violence in the inner city areas of any city and I have written extensively about the victims, specifically in Chicago and Los Angeles, where it seems to be more widespread. However, Washington D.C. is not without its share of problems and I must applaud the police department there for coming up with ways to crack down on the widespread criminal activity. According to the Washington Post, 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.
The Neighborhood Safety Zone initiative is the latest crime-fighting attempt by Lanier and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, who have been under pressure from residents to stop a recent surge in violence. Last weekend was especially bloody, with seven slayings, including three in the Trinidad area. “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.”
According to the newspaper, 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. The strategy, patterned after a similar effort conducted years ago in New York, is not airtight. There are many ways to get in and out of Trinidad, not just on the one-way Montello Avenue. And pedestrians will not be stopped, which is something critics say might render the program ineffective.
Though there will be people who criticize the plan, the intentions are good and we must come up with concrete and zero-tolerance methods to deter such behavior. Too many innocent people are losing their lives to gun violence on a daily basis across this country. So, there have been many naysayers to my commentaries and so too will there be many naysayers to what the police department in Washington D.C. is doing, but it is for the benefit of the residents who do not deserve to live and their children play in an environment where gun violence is a daily threat to their very existence.
Since taking over as chief in December 2006, Lanier has struggled with the issue of violent crime. She has added patrols, revived a unit specializing in getting guns off the streets and changed commanders in six of the city’s seven patrol districts. Last weekend, officers were close enough in one case that they heard the barrage of gunfire coming from a triple homicide on Holbrook Street in Trinidad.
The program is aimed at the city’s most troubled areas. The 5th Police District, which includes Trinidad, has had 22 killings this year, one more than all of last year. Since April 1, the Trinidad neighborhood has had seven homicides, 16 robberies and 20 assaults with dangerous weapons, according to police data. 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. “We have to try to take away the things that are facilitating the ability to commit crime,” Lanier said.
Historical facts…..
The Washington Post said that New York police set up a nearly identical checkpoint in 1992 in a neighborhood of the Bronx that was plagued by drug dealing and drive-by shootings. Police ran the Watson Avenue Special Operation on a random basis, mostly in evening hours. Officers stopped drivers, but not pedestrians, coming into the area, to confirm that they had a legitimate reason to be there.
A federal appeals court upheld the legality of the New York effort, saying in a 1996 ruling that it “served an important public concern” and was “reasonably viewed as an effective mechanism to deter crime in the barricaded area.”
D.C. police have used various forms of checkpoints for years. In 1988, for example, they blocked streets and searched courtyards in a pair of apartment complexes in Northeast Washington in a bid to drive out drug dealers. That move came during the crack cocaine epidemic, in a year when the city recorded 372 homicides. Last year, the city had 181 killings.
Former D.C. police chief Isaac Fulwood Jr., who led the department from 1989 until 1992, said he liked using checkpoints because his officers were able to make arrests and gather intelligence.”They are effective. You recover stolen cars and firearms,” Fulwood said. “You’ve got to have a lot of them if you’re going to have them. You need to move as the criminal element shifts.” Some residents expressed support for the plan yesterday, saying they are willing to submit to the checks if it makes the neighborhood safer. “We can’t endure any more homicides,” said neighborhood activist India Henderson.
Final thoughts…..
So, while there are detractors to the city’s plans to crack down on crime, I can understand their decision to do so. There may be some issues with civil liberties being violated, but we cannot continue to raise our children in neighborhoods where gun violence keeps people under siege. This is crazy and this is not the American way of life. One small group of marauding thugs should not dictate what people can and cannot do. We have lost too many of our young people to gun violence and we simply, every one of us, cannot sit by and do nothing. I hope that Barack Obama, when he becomes the president, will implement and fund programs to help cities combat crime and implement programs to help at risk children who eventually turn to gangs. I purposefully said Barack Obama, because we all know that the Republican Party will not make gun violence and crime in the inner city a priority. Just my thoughts, you be the judge…..
Filed under: checkpoints, Mayor Fenty, Police Chief Cathy Lanier, Trinidad neighborhood, Washington D.C.
Black Political Thought 