August 17, 2006
Are There Too Many Cops in the Wrong Place?
Almost a month into the District's crime emergency, a stricter curfew is in place, surveillance cameras are being installed, and more police are working longer hours on city streets. But is the additional show of force being efficiently applied? Maybe not.
One resident explained their grief with the beefed up police presence in today's edition of D.C. Watch's online newsletter, The Mail. Describing a recent experience on U Street, she wrote:
By now, if you patronize any of the businesses on the U Street corridor you have noticed the exorbitant presence of the Metropolitan Police Department in the last week or so. Yes, DC’s finest abound on U Street. Well, at least they are en masse at the intersection of 12th and U Streets, the rest of it be damned. And it isn’t because of the donuts and hot dogs at the corner Seven-Eleven either, though a few of the boys in blue appear to ingest more than their share of both. I am a regular patron of at least three establishments at the intersection of 12th and U Streets. Last Saturday, August 12, while dining at The Islander Caribbean Restaurant, a number of patrons and I set in wide-eyed amazement as MPD practically barricaded the intersection. They stopping practically every car that crossed the intersection, impacting the flow of traffic, and holding the very people they are hired to protect hostage for no given reason.It's like we've argued in the past -- it's not the amount of police officers you have, it's how you use them. Has anyone -- U Street residents and patrons especially -- noticed this amped up deployment? Does it seem effective, or it overkill? Everyone else -- have you seen an increased police presence in your neighborhood? Comment away.There are truly areas in the city that warrant this level of police activity, but the “hot spots” are deemed so by sporadic incidents of crime that have impacted on a chosen few, while high crime areas that are affected by even more crimes go practically unnoticed. There is a lot more to be leery of in far more places than at the intersection of Twelfth and U Streets. Could Chief Ramsey spare a few of the U Street detail where crime is a reality, instead of deploying them at the doorsteps of hardworking business owners who rely on customers not police presence to earn a living? It gives rise to an important question, were they there to protect or to harass?
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Common on now, this is just ignorant critisism of the police department. They set up check points near my house in Columbia Heights all the time, and they usually catch 4 or 5 wanted crimials every time.
I'm sick and tired of this attitude in DC that "we want safer streets" but "cops are violating my rights". Its stupid, of course anytime an opinion starts off with "hot dogs and donuts" when talking about the police, you pretty much know their motive is going to be a non-rational rant about how cops aren't doing their job.
you should see them on Friday and Saturday nights, when they post up in the alley between Republic Gardens and the Ellington. Just sitting there, with the lights on, talking to girls...
"Does it seem effective, or it overkill?"
This question can be easily answered by calling the lietenant in charge of this check point to find out how many wanted criminals were caught that night, how many expired tags, dui's, and under age drives were caught! There's an idea - check out the facts before you go planting seeds of disarray.
Agree with previous posts. I've seen police checkpoints in Ledroit Park from time to time, and I am always heartened by the sight. Why not set up a checkpoint where you have the maximum traffic coming through, and where you are likely to find lawbreakers? You want to tell me they should set up a checkpoint in Chevy Chase to look for... what? People who cheat on their capital gains taxes? DCIST needs to get off this endless "police deployment is the problem" rant.
"holding the very people they are hired to protect hostage for no given reason"- I thought they were setting up a checkpoint, not senselessly taking hostages by "practically" barricading the intersection. That and the "instead of deploying them at the doorsteps of hardworking business owners who rely on customers not police presence to earn a living" basically lost me.
I live in Chevy Chase and have seen a slew of cops in the area of late--usually just driving around with their lights flashing. I saw one pull over a van that had an expired sticker yesterday though. That made me feel safer.
As a U Street/Columbia Height resident, I agree with Cliff. I've seen numerous people detained at these checkpoints for DUI, stolen plates, warrants, etc... I hope they keep it up.
So here's a fine example of the misuse of our police force. A few Saturday evenings ago, around 8 PM, my boyfriend and I were driving on Porter between Mt. Pleasant and Cleveland Park. There was a long string of cars slowing and stopping ahead of us as police officers waved them over. They indicated that we should do the same. We pulled over. An officer approached the car and asked him for his license and registration. When we asked why, he said that it was a safety check. He took my boyfriend's license, walked behind the car, and began copying down the license plate number.
After five minutes, he stuck his head out of the car and asked another nearby officer what this was all about. She very rudely said that it was to ensure people were wearing seatbelts. It was VERY obvious that we were both wearing them. We asked if that was the purpose, why they were recording his driver's license number, license plate, etc. She said that's what they were instructed to do.
I got annoyed and said, "Aren't we in the middle of a crime emergency? Is this really the best use of your time?" The officer didn't like that. Luckily, my boyfriend kept a cooler head and said nicely, "isn't it a little ridiculous that they're asking you to work overtime because of the crime emergency and this is what you're doing?" The officer then explained that if he was concerned, he should take it up with the police commissioner.
The whole thing felt like a serious violation of our civil rights and now his car registration, license plate and driver's license information (none of which are DC) are in some database or something that is being created for God knows what. Yuck.
Hey DCharley - sorry you had to wait awhile at the check point but a ton of people out there don't understand the purpose of a police checkpoint. Sure they should have bee quicker and gotten you on your way in less than 5 minutes, but they are runing your information to see that you're not wanted for something (even if you have MD tags). Also I wish the cops could use this crime emergency to do a bunch of undercover stuff, but it's turning out that a lot of crime is spur of the moment and you attack that with police presence like this!
um, DCharley aren't your drivers license number and registration info already in some kind of database somewhere that can be used for who know's what? Isn't that the purpose of registering vehicles? I've been through a couple of these checkpoints and I actually support them. It's a small inconvenience but I know I don't have any warrants so it's not a problem for them to run my data for a minute. The last time they did it in Columbia Heights they told us at our PSA meeting how many weapons they recovered, drugs they found and people they arrested who had outstanding warrants. These are the exact things we say we want off our streets: weapons, drugs and criminals, so I'd say they're doing a good job. And if they didn't stop everyone it would be considered profiling for sure.
DCJB,
What the police did in the case described by DCharley is plainly illegal. Well, I would think so, and certainly hope so. If you're going to stop a bunch of cars under the pretense that you're checking if drivers are wearing seatbelts, than check that and nothing else. The police should only have been able to run the information of those not wearing seatbelts, not anyone else. I can't imagine the country remaining free for long if police officers can start pulling people over to "check seatbelts" and then proceed to enter their information in a computer or database.
Civil rights? Yeah, who needs them.
Stopping someone without probable cause. No problem. All you namby-pampy left-wing pinkos are obviously just criminals if you don't support being stopped at random for ZERO reason.
As long as I feel safer you can shove the Constitution straight up your a$$, thank you very much.
Please note a photo I took yesterday at the corner of 11th & U of a policeman on horseback in front of our neighborhood convenience store.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allison_dc/217747024/
It seems a bit of a strange use of police presence for the neighborhood to me. The horse is quite the conversation starter, so I guess if they were trying to foster relationships or something that could help, but I kind of doubt we'll ever see the guy on the horse again.
I do feel like I've seen more cops randomly standing around the neighborhood recently. I was stopped a few years ago in a blockade on W st, but I've never seen them block traffic on U before.
i was robbed two weeks ago along 9th and U leaving DC9. id say put more cops around U street.
The whole thing felt like a serious violation of our civil rights and now his car registration, license plate and driver's license information (none of which are DC) are in some database or something that is being created for God knows what. Yuck.
Why is it a violation of your civil rights? Were you searched, did you have property confiscated, were you detained for an inordinately long (more than 30 minutes) time?
As for the database, who cares? Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that MPD now knows that you were on Porter at whatever time it was, you were wearing your seatbelt, and cooperated fully. Seems to me like that would be information that you would want the police to have.
Listen, as a Black man I'm very sympathetic to paranoia about police stops; but IMHO this is the police being proactive, not reactive and I like that.
What bothers me is all of the Metropolitan Police Department officers and squad cars in front of the Best Buy on Wisconsin in Tenleytown all of the time. Sometime there are as many as four or five squad cars at the Wisconsin and River Road intersection, with four or five MPD officers inside the store or in the lobby between the door to the street and the doors to Best Buy.
Does Best Buy compensate the District for what appears to be preferential protection? Is these officers being deployed there on the public's time, or is this a private detail using MPD cops and squad cars? Either way, something about it rubs me the wrong way. If Best Buy is concerned about robbers or shoplifters, they should use private security guards to augment their yellow-shirted loss protection crew. The MPD should respond as needed, but it should not be a default police post.
I can tell you car 368 has been parked outside the WSC on Connecticut Ave NW just above M for well over a week. Purpose unkown.
its a check point.
deal.
all the civil liberties talk over something so trivial is making me into some sort of republican.
thanks dc.
How dare the MPD inconvenience me by pulling over my out-of-state SUV. Why are they wasting their time pulling me over when they could be out solving crimes? Doesn't the MPD know that the cars with blinking signs that say criminal are the ones they should pull over and not me? For god sake, I'm a Caucasian, why are they pulling me over? Five minutes are so important to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
At this point in time, it appears legal, though questionable. That being said, I've noticed a few additional patrol cars along Rhode Island Ave. NE, but I'd be happy to take some of the excess a few of you seem to have in NW and assign them to a checkpoint or three. Might have helped deter the spate of carjackings and armed robberies we had down the street from my house late last week.
did anyone ask the police why they were there stopping traffic? if they had asked they would have discovered they were doing traffic stops and seat belt enforcement.
u street is not only a busy commercial corridor, its also a busy traffic corridor.
Periodic traffic checkpoints like this are perfectly legal. The police do not need probable cause to ask for license and registration for any car on the road at a check point. As for the comment above, the driver of this car was not pulled over and there was no search of the vehicle.
As licensed drivers, we should all know what our rights and obligations are. This is covered in Driver's Ed.
As for the police presence - DCist was asking for more cops on foot and out of patrol cars, interacting with citizens, in an earlier post. This seems to fit the bill. Certainly the business owners on U haven't expressed any frustration with this activity (at ANC meetings I've attended).
I'm also a resident of that area, and those of you who come over there from the burbs and are annoyed that a cop is standing in your way to get into Ben's Chili Bowl need to stop complaining. We have been asking for MORE police presence due to threats, drug activity, robberies, and other problems that I know you don't want in your neighborhood. The cops aren't harassing anyone who is minding their own business, and if you don't think they belong there, you clearly don't follow what really goes on in that neighborhood. Thanks to the increased police presence, those of us living in the U Street area are safer.
A very nice cop (Officer Heinz) checked in with my band at DC9 the other night to make sure some musical equipment he found on the street wasn't ours. It struck me as pretty strange at the time, insofar as I 've never seen a cop actually OUTSIDE his car in the U St. corridor before, much less walking around and talking to people in a civilized manner, but it was pretty cool. Usually I just lug my gear through the haze of pot smoke on Ninth and try to look a little meaner as I pass by the groups of kids standing on the corner eyeing my guitar case. Hopefully this whole "protect and serve" ethos catches on and outlives the crime emergency.
Two weeks ago I watched a man in his early twenties push his private parts (which were exposed out of his fly) into me and then several other females in a very crowded Addams Morgan Pizza Mart. When I crossed the street and explained this to a male and female police officer, both agreed to check out the situation since the man was still in the store. As I walked away, I watched them get in their car and drive off without doing anything. Half a block later, I watched a different police officer walk directly past a young man who was passed out on the sidewalk and had urinated and vomited on himself. I asked her if she was going to do anything and she said that he looked fine. Increased police presence, maybe. Increased effectiveness of said police? Not that I have noticed.
I can vouch for increased presence on 12 and U. I have noticed that the presence is largely "congregational" in that they just seem to clump together and chit chat, but I'd much rather have them there than not. I've also seen more around the area on bicycles and even a few on foot, so I'm glad for the changes being made.
On the other point, traffic stops are perfectly legal and used in many places across the country, sometimes as a seat belt check, but more often as a drunk driving screen. They basically have you pull up with the window down so they can smell your breath and be on your way. Taking your information down to run a license plate check does not violate your rights. Searching your car, or otherwise introduing on your personal space without probable cause is a violation. Don't give the cops out there doing this work a hard time - I'm sure that some of them think it's as pointless as you do. But they are protecting the peace as best the MPD sees fit. If you've got a better strategy, talk to the Chief.
I just wonder if all this street presence is going to disappear as soon as the crime emergency falls out of the headlines and the mouths of people. Hasn't this all happened before?