A few weeks ago, I read in the paper that the Washington D.C.'s mayor and his city's police department proposed the launch of the Safe Homes Initiative. "Police [would] target areas hit by violence and seek adults who let them search their homes for guns, with no risk of arrest... [It] also applies to drugs that turn up during the searches, police said...Residents who agree to the searches will be asked to sign consent forms. If guns are found, they will be tested to determine whether they were used in crimes. If the results are positive, police will launch investigations, which could lead to charges." Apparently Boston and Philadelphia [fyi-- allegedly has the higest murder rate of any US city] are considering launching the same initiative, too [courtesy of Washington Post].
Uh oh--classic showdown between civil liberties vs. civil rights.
We already have the critics of the plan as expected who feel the police don't deserve to come in their homes they haven't earned that privilege. Also, these critics feel it is unfairly targeting poor neighborhoods, which also happen to be predominantly black/Latino. All these things are true, however, I am tired of hearing, reading, or seeing another knucklehead arrested for blowing another brotha's head off -- when his ass should have been in school or at the very least in the house. These kids are young as hell and whoever their guardains are maybe mama n'em, grandmama n'em, auntie n'em, godmommy n'em, neighbor n'em [you get my point]should let them search their house. It is my belief that these roughnecks are housing these firearms not too far from where they are committing their crime.
Dire circumstances coerce us to be proactive and do something. These ruffnecks are blowing each others heads off and folks have an issue with MPD doing a search? N**** please, get a grip -- there are times when the welfare for the collective trumps the individual. The firearms are definitely complicit in the problem -- let's round 'em up. NOW.
cheers,
Bellini
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6 comments:
At the end of the day, any criticisms will probably be rendered moot. Amnesty or not, I just don't see too many people voluntarily letting the police search their house.
Is there amnesty just for the guns and drugs, or for any potential prosecution? Are the cops going to play "all I find I keep?" Desperate times may call for desperate measures, but this program has no teeth if the public doesn't cooperate. At that point, do they stop asking? Hello slippery slope.
I understand your desire to clean up the streets one knucklehead at a time, but at what cost? The government stays trying to create ways to invade our privacy (Patriot Act anyone?) for the sake of the greater good, but at what point does it end? I believe that when pushed enforcers would stop giving a flip about the greater good and more about the quotas they have to fill.
I don’t want average Joe Cooperative Citizen getting hemmed up because of a gun or some drugs an overzealous cop planted just because they didn’t like them… and I believe this outcome would be too common with such a policy. At the heart of it all, I think it’s the mentality of these knuckleheads that needs to be rounded up and changed. Taking away civil rights ain’t doing nothing but enslaving us to the whims of people with the authority.
liberity is a curse word in amaerica nowadays
Well, Black people have a healthy fear/skepticism of the police, usually for the right reasons. Which is why I find the article on Lanier trying to be the community's big sister: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032503206.html laughable... So first the mayor (who people aren't really feelin' right now) and the police chief (who people already look at sideways cause she's a white woman) really have to have a heart-to-heart with the community, and "reassure" them of their intentions. And from where I'm sitting, that might be hard to do, when you have off duty police officers shooting a child for riding his stolen bicycle. And then causing a he said vs. the community said telling of the events.
And I'm with Amaretto on this, I can see some very zealous coppers, who have been trying to get cases on certain people using very coercive methods to get into people's houses. For this to work, fear, doubt and skepticism have to be put aside, so that "safety" can triumph...Good luck w/ that Fenty & Co.
the status quo is not working -- and i understand the skepticism about law enforcement as it pertains to overzealous cops, etc. however nothing is unacceptable -- if you want an ACLU attorney to be present with officers as they patrol neighborhoods and ask to go in people's homes that's fine, but the status quo can not remain
This doesn't make any sense to me. If I have not committed any crimes and KNOW I don't have guns or drugs in my house, why would I sign up to allow police to search me?
Am I going to get a get out of police pass that from now on, whenever I'm stopped anywhere, I just show the pass and the police let me go by? If not, exactly what is the benefit to me? None. If a crime gets committed somewhere near me and the cops have a reason to search my place, it will happen, whether or not I actively consent to the search.
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