Baltimore proposes "street lockdown"

[KBCraig]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070517/ap_on_re_us/lockdown_zones_1

Street lockdowns proposed for Baltimore

Thu May 17, 10:30 AM ET

BALTIMORE - A city council leader, alarmed by Baltimore's rising homicide rate, wants to give the mayor the power to put troubled neighborhoods under virtual lockdown.

"Desperate measures are needed when we're in desperate situations," City Council Vice President Robert W. Curran told The (Baltimore) Sun. He said he would introduce the legislation next week.

Under Curran's plan, the mayor could declare "public safety act zones," which would allow police to close liquor stores and bars, limit the number of people on city sidewalks, and halt traffic during two-week intervals.

Police would be encouraged to aggressively stop and frisk individuals in those zones to search for weapons and drugs.

Baltimore has tallied 108 homicides already this year, compared to 98 over the same period last year. Police and prosecutors also say they are facing a "stop snitching" culture that discourages victims and witnesses from cooperating with investigators trying to get criminals off the streets.

Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., a mayoral hopeful, said Curran's idea was an interesting concept but it raised questions about civil liberties.

"We have to make sure we're not declaring martial law," he said.
(Yes, that's very important. So they'll do the same thing, only not call it martial law.)

Mayor Sheila Dixon had a lukewarm response after meeting with Curran on Wednesday, but she said she might support the idea with some changes.

"We're already currently in those communities. We're bringing the resources and services to the communities," Dixon said. "I want him to build on what we're attempting to do."

Curran said he modeled his plan after an approach advocated by Philadelphia mayoral candidate Michael Nutter, who won the Democratic nomination Tuesday. Nutter has called for declarations of a "state of emergency" in high-crime neighborhoods, where police would conduct aggressive stop-and-frisk searches and impose curfews.

Curran, who also sponsored Baltimore's recently passed smoking ban, said he expects opposition.
(At least he's a consistent tyrant!)

"Some of the critics of the smoking ban were telling me, 'If you want to save lives in Baltimore, do something about the murder rate, do something about the gun violence,'" he said. "I'm trying to stop the murders, to reduce the mortality rate from gun violence in this town."

[PorcupineSteve]

Sounds like some of those neighborhoods are ripe for a riot now that this might happen. Didn't Los Angeles try this for some time? Plus, I wonder what other neighborhoods will be affected by this???

[burnthebeautiful]

"We're already currently in those communities. We're bringing the resources and services to the communities," Dixon said. "I want him to build on what we're attempting to do."

They're providing government services and it hasn't made the crime go away, what a shock.

"Some of the critics of the smoking ban were telling me, 'If you want to save lives in Baltimore, do something about the murder rate, do something about the gun violence,'" he said. "I'm trying to stop the murders, to reduce the mortality rate from gun violence in this town."

That's what they get for arguing against a law on the grounds that it's not consistent. You say things like "If you really care about health, why not lower the murder rate, instead of ban smoking?" this is what you get - the government trying to do both. The government will more than happily impose even more restrictions in the name of being consistent...

[David]

wikipedia has an interesting thing on baltimore.  population of about 650,000 people with a couple million in the metro area.  They definately have an anti snitch culture.  I can only see that as a responce to the agressive anti drug efforts.     The following is a link to something called feral cities. 

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JIW/is_4_56/ai_110458726
The main argument is that it may be possible for some large cities to become so large, that they are completely unmanageable by the gov't.  It doesn't fit the profile, but methinks it is a candidate for becoming one. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

A friend who lives there says the cops are already doing this