Can you say Police State? The Examiner has the scoop on a controversial new program announced today that would create so-called “Neighborhood Safety Zones” which would serve to partially seal off certain parts of the city. D.C. Police would set-up checkpoints in targeted areas, demand to see ID and refuse admittance to people who don’t live there, work there or have a “legitimate reason” to be there.

Wow. Just, wow.

Some of the words used to describe such a plan by those quoted in the Examiner story include “breathtaking” and “cockamamie,” but that hardly begins to scratch the surface. Interim Attorney General Peter Nickles actually said that measures of this sort have “been used in other cities.” Which cities are those, Mr. Nickles? Warsaw?

Today’s proposal appears to be a desperate attempt by the city to tamp down recent violence that has ravaged the city, especially in Ward 5. The “Neighborhood Safety Zones” would last up to 10 days. It’s a struggle to think of words to describe such a plan other than authoritarian or ghettoization.

Relax, its for your safety. If you don’t have anything to hide, then you don’t have anything to worry about comrade…, I mean my friend.




  1. alsam says:

    I hope this isn’t true.
    But believe it, yes…

  2. bobbo says:

    Some years ago I was on a car vacation visiting State Capitals. It may have been Virginia when I drove into a general parking lot just adjacent to the building and a State Cop waved me down and asked if she could “help me?”

    I said “No.”

    She said “May I see your license and registration?”

    I said “No. You must have a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or violation of law to ask for that. How is my wanting to visit the State House a criminal activity?”

    She said “Wait here.”

    She got her supervisor who came over and we repeated our conversation.

    He said==park your car and don’t cause any trouble.

    I said–“Of course, why add to what you are making?

    I don’t think I would get away with that today.

  3. Wretched Gnu says:

    bobbo — Check out CheckpointUSA on YouTube; you can still get away with refusing to cooperate with suspicionless stops and seizures — (and, yes, the Supreme Court has affirmed such stops are seizures) — but it requires a little verbal wrangling with the agents.

    I’m not sure how the Supreme Court would rule on these stops. They recently shot down checkpoints whose only purpose was “general law enforcement,” as opposed to sobriety checks, etc. And they’ve not yet ruled on the DHA suspicionless stops that are proliferating well inside the US Border. They have only ruled that they allow limited suspicionless stops at permanent, as opposed to temporary, checkpoints.

    The Constitutionality of the temporary checkpoints hasn’t been challenged yet; but the DHA don’t seem eager to press the matter, as the ultimate issue of the CheckpointUSA videos makes clear…

  4. NappyHeadedHo says:

    They just can’t get a grip on the knee grow problem.

  5. bobbo says:

    #3–gnu==thanks. I wasn’t really thinking about the law but rather dealing with the cops.

    Whats funny is that I was only responding initially very honestly==I didn’t need any help to park my car in the available open spots. My wife said I was an idiot asking for trouble. Some heroic freedom fighter she would make!!!

    I guess if I had a gun in the glove compartment I could have really faced these fascist down. I wonder how many freedom protecting NRA members ever actually say “No” to a cop–just as that first practice step?

    Now to the videos.

  6. The Outlaw says:

    And if Obama is elected president this will be even more true.

  7. Thinker says:

    Way to go Bobbo! I’m with you there. Why should they even need to…

    Somewhere along the line we went from an officer of the peace to law enforcement. 🙁

  8. tdkyo says:

    I guess I need to carry a copy of the constitutions, important rulings by the Supreme Court, phone numbers to all the major courts, phone numbers to ACLU and other legal related groups, a video camera that constantly streams to the internet (Justin.tv like), driver’s license, passport, and a library card to protect my rights when I am confronted by the police.

  9. RSweeney says:

    What do you expect from a city whose gov’t just argued before the Supreme Court that the 2nd Amendment doesn’t apply in DC because it’s not a state?

  10. Cap'nKangaroo says:

    can anyone say “surge”. from my understanding, this is what the us army did in baghdad. the only real difference was that they also erected 10 ft high concrete walls to further seperate neighborhoods. all traffic was forced into crossing points where identity checks and vehicle and individual searches could be conducted. if this is true, i would be half expecting general petraeus to be the new chief of police(state)

  11. joe says:

    I’m sure the article forgo to mention the part of the MASSIVE gun violence, gang crime, and drug dealing going on there. Is isn’t happening in some calm neighborhood, its happening is the city that tried (and supreme court will slap dowm) a gun ban.

  12. Nepon says:

    Its amazing how it all started with some guys from Saudi Arabia attacking the US by flying planes into buildings
    And now security is put into the hands of …
    who takes it extremes without much , if any thought
    The problem of living in a free society is that there are no shortage of targets
    Take away boxcutters and its..
    Take away building to fly in and its something new never thought of or protected now
    Its always yesterdays rules and games and yet the people who are protecting us are so busy worrying about enforcing last years rules to the hilt and being proud of it
    Sort of like a clerk giving out parking tickets and being so proud of his role in society

  13. John Paradox says:

    Kurt Russell stars as “Snake” Plissen in:
    Escape from D.C.

    J/P=?

  14. the answer says:

    So why are they only guarding the rich people’s homes? (making a joke) Sounds like homeland security got bumped down to home security.

  15. Timbo says:

    obviously, you-all are living in safe communities. These are anarchic communities where the citizens are secretly glad to see the cops bring some peace. If it’s this bad in relatively good times, what will it be like during bad times?

    In the coming depression our “safe{” communities will see raiders driving in. Neighborhood Watches will be with road blocks and shotguns. The communities adjoining the L.A. riots all had weapons and were prepared if the violence came out of the slum.

  16. Li says:

    Timbo,

    I like the idea of citizen led watches and barricades, even armed ones, far more than this sort of Nazi ghetto style centralized police state madness. Even a bunch of drunk hicks are only drunk on alcohol, not power and authority, and which of those intoxicants is really worse? A armed man can only shoot you, but a police officer can shoot you and arrest your sister for crying over your body.


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