In Face of Protests, Police Call Area Checkpoints a Success

Drivers will have to show identification to police before gaining permission to enter the Trinidad neighborhood. (By Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)
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"Checkpoints send the wrong message. It says that this area and the residents here are dangerous. And that's not true. The majority of the residents here are law-abiding, hard-working citizens," he said.

Police officials decided to implement the checkpoints in the neighborhood after three people were killed here last weekend. For the next five days, officers will check drivers' identification and ask their purpose for being in the area, accepting such reasons as visits to friends, attending church or seeing a doctor.

Those without such destinations will be turned away, and the uncooperative could be arrested for failing to obey an officer. Police will also search cars if they suspect there are guns or drugs.

Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier, backed by Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), announced the checkpoints after increased pressure from residents to stop the violence, they said. But residents who gathered yesterday said they would prefer a steady police presence, as well as education and job-training programs.

Cecilia Matthews, who has lived in the area for five years, pointed to a lack of surveillance cameras and said, "There are other things the city can do than violate the rights of law-abiding citizens," she said.

Some protesters said Trinidad was unfairly targeted because the area is made up mostly of African Americans. "The city wouldn't do this in Georgetown or Capitol Hill," said Ronald Hampton, a retired 22-year D.C. police veteran and head of the National Black Police Association.

Joanne Steinberg of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund said the group backed the city's fight against legalizing handguns but would "aggressively" watch to see whether the checkpoints violated residents' rights. "We are concerned about the constitutionality and the racial bias of this decision," Steinberg said.

Staff writer Martin Weil contributed to this report.