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D.C. Crime-Fighting Plan Expands Anti-Gang Tools
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"They are kind of an elaborate way to get around basic protections in the criminal justice system," he said.
Johnny Barnes, head of the ACLU's Washington office, linked the bill to two other crime-fighting strategies from the Fenty administration that drew criticism: the police checkpoints set up in the Trinidad neighborhood in Northeast after a spate of slayings and the Safe Homes initiative, in which officers knocked on doors and asked for permission to search homes for weapons. The administration scrapped the latter program but has used the checkpoints twice.
"There is a consistent pattern from this mayor and this chief that they seem willing to do something, do anything, just for the sake of doing something," Barnes said.
Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1, which represents D.C. officers, scoffed at the suggestion that the new anti-gang strategies would lead to abuses.
"If this is administered properly and carefully, we can make it work," Baumann said. "Good for them for being willing to try."
Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, said he was not consulted by the administration in the development of the anti-crime measure and was surprised by the timing.
Mendelson's committee has 24 other bills to deal with in a tight two-month council session, and he said it is unlikely that the council can vote on the legislation until next year.
Staff writer Paul Duggan contributed to this report.
