After less than a week, DC police suspended their controversial initiative that sealed off high-crime neighborhoods to outsiders. Police have no immediate plans to resume at the first site (Trinidad in northeast DC) or elsewhere.

Under the Neighborhood Safety Zones program, all cars attempting to enter the targeted neighborhood are stopped and asked for identification papers. Those stopped must either live, work, or have a “legitimate” reason for being in the neighborhood. Anyone who refuses to produce papers can be arrested.

Although many questioned the program’s constitutionality, police defended it because the checkpoints stop every car, not just selected ones.

Checkpoints were in effect from June 7 through last Wednesday, June 11. During that time, police operated the checkpoint on 10 separate occasions for two hours each. They turned away 46 cars and allowed more than 700 to pass through.

Police consider the program to be a success because no one was shot or killed in Trinidad while the checkpoints were in effect. Elsewhere in the District, however, crime didn’t stop. On Wednesday night alone, eight people were shot in six separate incidents, including a police-involved shooting and one at a Metro station. The checkpoints were suspended on Thursday.

Said DC councilman Phil Mendelson: “As crime occurs elsewhere in this city, they’re going to have to go back to community policing…. Checkpoints aren’t going to stop crime.”

So whatever the reason for its suspension — constitutionality issues or ineffectiveness — it appears that sealing off neighborhoods is not the solution to crime and violence on a larger scale. Can’t say that I’m surprised.

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