The Mobius Trip

Beginning Saturday, DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier has decided to set up random roadblocks in one DC neighborhood to check citizen identification reminiscent of SS tactics in Nazi Germany or Occupied Paris.

These checkpoints are a clear violation of the Constitution and should be REPORTED and COMPLAINED ABOUT to the DC Office of Complaints: (866) 588-0569

Police plan vehicle checkpoints in DC neighborhood

By BRIAN WESTLEY
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Matthew Simmons, 79, watches as a police car drives by his house on Trinidad Avenue in Northeast Washington, Thursday, June 5, 2008, near where a police checkpoint will be set up Saturday. Stung by an outbreak of violence, including eight killings last weekend alone, police are taking the unusual step of establishing vehicle checkpoints in the crime-ridden neighborhood in the nation’s capital. (AP Photo/Leah L. Jones)

WASHINGTON — Stung by an outbreak of violence, including eight killings last weekend alone, police are taking the unusual step of establishing vehicle checkpoints in a crime-ridden neighborhood in the nation’s capital.

Starting Saturday night, officers will check drivers’ ID and turn away any who don’t have a “legitimate purpose” in the area – a plan that has drawn swift criticism from civil liberties groups.

“The Constitution and the Bill of Rights should not become the next victim of the street violence,” said Johnny Barnes, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union for the National Capital Area. “This plan will treat every resident of that area the way criminals are treated.”

Read the rest of this sad tale here.