I am speechless. Where the hell am I living?
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.
DCist aptly captures the zeitgeist:
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?
Let's not forget Fallujah. An update press release says this will only apply to people in cars, which is very slightly less offensive, but also infinitely more pointless.
DC has had a spate of violence recently, and I applaud the police department's urge to do something. However, this something seems to follow the logic outlined by Bryan Caplan:
1. Something must be done
2. This is something
3. Therefore, this must be done
Crime tears the fabric of society, but so does a government which believes that it may at any time control the movements of its citizens like so many (presumptively suspicious) sheep. It's fun to call Rudy Giuliani a crypto-fascist, but he and Bill Bratton managed a stunning drop in violent crime without setting up checkpoints.
I hope that when the police ask for their papers, people will hand them a copy of the Bill of Rights too. It might prove instructive. If not, at least we'll all have the grim pleasure of saying "Here are my civil rights. Please take them."
Some time ago Bridgeport, CT had a problem caused by drug dealers driving up from New York City. The city erected Jersey barriers in neighborhoods where this was happening, turning through streets into dead ends. The residents knew how to get around these, but people from out of town didn't. The police watched for people who looked lost and stopped them.
I'm embarrassed to be a resident of this city. Oh, and it looks like they are coming after Ward 5 too, or else Tommy Thompson wouldn't be involved. Brilliant. Of course, they'll probably waive me through because I'm white and drive a VW which makes me even angrier.
Corey,
Tommy Thomas, surely? I was highly confused as to why the former Gov. of Wisconsin and Secretary of Health and Human Services would be involved.
Yeah, this is pretty remarkably bad. The excuse that it is a chance to search drug traffickers doesn't really impress me as I am quite dubious about the whole "war on drugs" anyway in terms of cost vs. benefit.
These measures will stop criminals for a very short period of time (until they get around them) but harass honest people forever. We used to be shocked at how tolerant Eastern Europeans were to spending large parts of their day standing in queues.
But suddenly, in the name of security, we have added these queues to airports and neighborhoods. There is still no evidence that they do ANY good at all but they have a huge human cost.
I thought internal passports were something best left to 20th century European dictatorships. On the other hand, this presents a great oppurtunity for civil disobedience. If they arrest you for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial, what happens when you don't show the constable your papers?
Tommy Thomas, you are right. I get my bureaucrats confused from time to time.
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? . . .”
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Local news station WTHR 6 reports, “That in the interest of national security the sights and sounds of war will be brought to Indianapolis.” Why do residents of Indianapolis need to learn the sights and sounds of war? Could it be a conditioning process? Considering that numerous urban training environments which exist within military bases in the U. S. and around the globe the explanation of “a need to train in realistic urban zones” is doubtful. More likely the real purpose is to condition the civilian population and military personnel to living under martial law. Too many this hypotheses may sound farfetched, that is until you realize the plans for martial law and the detention of U.S. citizens have already been made. (Sect. 1042 of the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), “Use of the Armed Forces in Major Public Emergencies,” gives the executive the power to invoke martial law.)
Most Americans are completely unaware of the Continuity of Government Commission created in the fall of 2002 to study and make recommendations for the continuity of government institutions after a catastrophic attack. This commission is made up primarily of professional lobbyists. The plans approved from this commission advocates a constitutional amendment calling for the appointment of individuals to the House of Representatives to fill the seats of dead or incapacitated members, a first in American history. I will say that again: our representative government will cease to exist as individuals to the House of Representatives will be appointed and not elected. An examination of the proposal reveals that it is both unnecessary and dangerous.
Out of the COGC came the National Security Presidential Directive NSPD 51. This directive establishes a comprehensive national policy on the continuity of federal government structures and operations and a single National Continuity Coordinator responsible for coordinating the development and implementation of federal continuity policies. This policy establishes “National Essential Functions,” prescribes continuity requirements for all executive departments and agencies, and provides guidance for state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, and private sector organizations in order to ensure a comprehensive and integrated national continuity program that will enhance the credibility of our national security posture and enable a more rapid and effective response to and recovery from a national emergency.
Therefore it is not much of a leap to conclude that the true purpose of these exercises is to prepare and condition the population and the military to the prospects of martial law. In a San Francisco Chronicle article published this February former U.S. Congressman Dan Hamburg revealed that beginning in 1999, the government had entered into a series of single-bid contracts with Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root (KBR) to build detention camps at undisclosed locations within the United States. The government has also contracted with several companies to build thousands of railcars; some reportedly equipped with shackles, ostensibly to transport detainees.
Rep. Henry Waxman (R-CA) has complained about these contracts, saying that more taxpayer dollars should not go to taxpayer-gouging Halliburton. “What kind of “new programs” requires the construction and refurbishment of detention facilities in nearly every state of the union with the capacity to house perhaps millions of people?” ask Lewis Seiler and Dan Hamburg.
Disturbingly since 9/11, and seemingly without the notice of most Americans, the federal government has assumed the authority to institute martial law, suspended Habeas Corpus, arrest anyone labeled a dissident (citizen and non-citizen alike), and detain people without legal or constitutional recourse.
It saddens this U.S. Army veteran to see our Armed Forces misused by those who have no respect for our nation’s laws or traditions.
http://www.dailynewscaster.com/2008/06/03/marines-to-begin-martial-law-training-in-indianapolis/
I know this is a cliche, but this stuff terrifies me, and it terrifies me that it doesn't terrify everyone.
How is this plan even remotely constitutional? Where is the ACLU when you really need it?
The Giuliani crack is a bit weird; did he ever suggest anything even remotely like this? Or like CPD's Special Operations Sections?
Never mind; I completely misread the sentence. Ugh. Brain needs coffee.
Wasn't the reduction in crime under the Guililani administration in NYC as much a factor of national demographics (for a number of reasons, crime went down nationwide) as anything effective that he did?
I hope that when the police ask for their papers, people will hand them a copy of the Bill of Rights too.
Your friend getting arrested at the park didn't prove instructive in regards to not teasing people who have a lot of temporary discretion?
tut, tut, gkoutnik,
Don't disabuse the Giuliani worshipers of their fantasy that Rudi Giuliani, Super Crime Fighter was solely responsible for the NYC's reduction in crime during the 90s. I mean that little fantasy got him wealth, fame and a run at the presidency; he’ll be drinking off of that story for the rest of his life, so don't spoil it for him.
I wonder what happens when someone can't get home because they didn't carry proof of address with them?
Of course, I know what happens if people start feeling safer and take fewer precautions: a boom in fake id.
Where is the ACLU when you really need it?
Complaining (justly) about it, as the article notes.
Wasn't the reduction in crime under the Guililani administration in NYC as much a factor of national demographics (for a number of reasons, crime went down nationwide) as anything effective that he did?
Certainly I believe that that helped, but it also went down more in some areas and less in others. For one, DC's famous ineffective police department was not helped by the national demographics. Nor was the New Orleans police department. Many places went down, but NYC crime went down more than most. (There were other places not as big or famous as NYC also deserving great praise, certainly.)
In any case, even if you don't believe that Giuliani was responsible for the decrease in crime in NYC, Megan's point that, for all he was called fascist, he didn't do this is still well-taken. (Though I note that DCist commenters are still somehow trying to blame this on the Republicans living in DC, all 9% of them.)
(for a number of reasons, crime went down nationwide)
One of the reasons the national crime rate went down was that NYC, which supplied a lot of the nation's crime, experienced a drop in crime.
Washington, D.C. is under the control of a mayor and a city council, and is overseen by the U.S. Congress. So, the people with authority over this decision are:
Mayor:
Adrian Fenty (D)
Council:
Vincent C. Gray (D), Council Chair
Carol Schwartz (R), At-Large
David Catania (I), At-Large
Phil Mendelson (D), At-Large
Kwame R. Brown (D), At-Large
Jim Graham (D), Ward One
Jack Evans (D), Ward Two
Mary Cheh (D), Ward Three
Muriel Bowser (D), Ward Four
Harry Thomas, Jr. (D), Ward Five
Tommy Wells (D), Ward Six
Yvette M. Alexander (D), Ward Seven
Marion Barry (D), Ward Eight
Congress:
Nancy Pelosi (D), Speaker of the House
Harry Reid (D), Senate Majority Leader
Henry Waxman (D), Chairman, United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Joe Lieberman (ID), Chairman, United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Danny K. Davis (D), Chairman, United States House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Post Office, and the District of Columbia
Daniel Akaka (D), Chairman, United States Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia
Why is anyone surprised at this?
The DC administration has already shown that they have no respect for the Constitution with their patently unconstitutional firearms rules.
Once you decide that you can trump the Constitution at a whim where is the stopping place?
Good thing that gun ban is doing such a good job at keeping people safe.
This gestapo-like tactic comes as no surprise to me. I don't know what the residents of DC were supposed to expect having surrendered their personal sovereignty years ago to an all-powerful government.
Yet, the liberals will still insist that Bush is the biggest threat to our civil liberties.
Fascism, thy name is Adrian.
If only they could just make guns harder to get, possibly illegal they'd be able to get things under control...
Six months into Mayor Fenty's term, I told my friends that Mayor Fenty was George W. Bush Jr. They chuckled. None of them are chuckling now. We are appalled. The arrogance, secrecy and sense of entitlement of the Mayor and Mr. Nichols is frightening. I cannot wait until the next election to exercise the power of my vote. I can only hope that others will do the same. This is assuming of course that we will still be able to vote. At this rate, our constitutional rights will go the way of the dinosaurs.
Well, when fascism descends you can always flee to Canada...
Er, maybe not.
Those in positions of power give an all new meaning to the term "POWER CORRUPTS". The rights
of citizens are slowly but surely being eliminated
by some who claim to be doing this type of tactic
in the best interest of the people. Strange, that is similar to what Hitler said about the Jews and
"cleansing". I guess it would take to much logical
and rational thinking to have a plan that wouldn't
create the hate, discontent, distrust, and disgust
which exists. However, there is enough blame to go
around and include judges and those who make the laws which are supposed to keep the violent and hardcore types locked away for life, or carry out
the death penalty in a speedy manner!
Those in positions of power give an all new meaning to the term "POWER CORRUPTS". The rights
of citizens are slowly but surely being eliminated
by some who claim to be doing this type of tactic
in the best interest of the people. Strange, that is similar to what Hitler said about the Jews and
"cleansing". I guess it would take to much logical
and rational thinking to have a plan that wouldn't
create the hate, discontent, distrust, and disgust
which exists. However, there is enough blame to go
around and include judges and those who make the laws which are supposed to keep the violent and hardcore types locked away for life, or carry out
the death penalty in a speedy manner!
Those in positions of power give an all new meaning to the term "POWER CORRUPTS". The rights
of citizens are slowly but surely being eliminated
by some who claim to be doing this type of tactic
in the best interest of the people. Strange, that is similar to what Hitler said about the Jews and
"cleansing". I guess it would take to much logical
and rational thinking to have a plan that wouldn't
create the hate, discontent, distrust, and disgust
which exists. However, there is enough blame to go
around and include judges and those who make the laws which are supposed to keep the violent and hardcore types locked away for life, or carry out
the death penalty in a speedy manner!